Good Bye to Nursing for me...

[healer27]

Well, the start of a new year and I'm kissing nursing

good bye after only 5 short months. I graduated in may and started at a hospital in august. My very first preceptor was a nightmare, on my 3rd day on the floor she said I was too slow and put me down in front of other

nurses or whoever was in distance of hearing her. At one

point she even said, "well, I have her she know's nothing I have to show her everything." So being enthusiastic I decided NOT to let it get to me and proceeded to take her C*ap for another couple of weeks. At which time I was moved to a different floor with a preceptor who was great and I learned alot from. PRoblem was at this hospital IF

I wanted to stay I'd have to take a evening position. SO I left a found a hosptial closer to home on days. Well, once again I have the preceptor from hell not only that but the managers In my opinion are nitpickers. ON my first day on the floor they wrote up a nurse who was in charge of making sure all the phones were back at the end of the day, for not having a phone returned. (someone took one home accidentally).. I found this ridiculous, it's a busy med/surg floor with an 8:1 patient ratio and they are worried about PHONES???? I could go on and on about the other horrors but it would be to long.

Long story short I've decide to quit. Luckily I don't NEED the job to support myself or I wouldn't be able to leave. my hubby makes a decent salary. I do feel bad placing all the financial burden on him but I'm planning on just picking up a admin position somewhere. I don't care if I'm making half the money I jsut want to be happy. I'm so SICK of being stressed going into work, stressed coming home, worrying about this, being stressed on the floor. To me its just not worth it. My hubby is worried that I'll change my mind and want to come back to nursing but won't be able to after leaving 2 prior positions. bUt seriously I can't imagine feeling this way.

I also just found out I'm expecting my first child and I really can't imagine the stress level as well as not eating/drinking/peeing an entire shift is good. So I'm gone. I give up, I give in, I just feel like I can't do it. I'm thinking I'm just not meant to be in nursing, or i woudn't have just kept inheriting bad circumstances and preceptors from hell.

Well, I'd love to hear if anyone else has left nursing? come back and any other thoughts you all might have.

Hope this is a good new year for all.

[jh479352]

I too had a preceptor from Hell. She was burned out, wanted to go part time, and in charge and she did not need to be a preceptor. I would keep up your license and ceu in case you want to go back. Also you need to know that if you stay away from acute care and want to go back after 3 years, most state will require you to take an RN refresher course which cost me about $5,000, tag,tax and title(Gas, car etc)

[olderthandirt]

You might want to think about specializing in an area that interests you. I just got my MHA, online from the University of Phoenix whikch is rated with Columbia....it's a thought.

[Calgon-take.me.away]

Sooo many times I have come home, changed out of the scrubs that smelled of vomit cause I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I peel them off, and climb in the shower. My feet hurt, my brain hurts, and at times I swear that my ears are bleeding from the constant battering I get. I have got written up for having a small paper cup of gingerale on my cart cause I was sick and went in to work anyway. Have put up with family members fighting over who was gonna get get mom's wedding ring while mom is laying in the bed dying. Have had to endure doctors who think they are God, and CNA's who think they were the DON. I have been swore at, spit on, vomited on, coughed on, wrist broken by an Alzheimers patient, came down with scabies, the flu, c-diff.

But, I would not change one moment, I have held the hand and saidd a prayer with a 97 year old lady who was dying and had noone to be with her. I have had an Alzheimers patient, whose constant screaming was calmed by a Bobby Vinton song and knew every word to every song.

You have to feel nursing in your heart. You have to pray for strength and patience and ask that each day the Lord will give you these gifts. I pray you find you niche, your place where you can blossom as a nurse. Good luck

[cyclenurse]

Dear Healer27,

It's a shame that you have given up on nursing after such a short time. Just curious to see what your clinicals were like: was it a nurturing environment? Was your patient ratio not 1:8? Did you not see how the work environment was like? How did the staff treat the student nurses?

You seem to focus on the negative aspects of your experiences, was there not anything positive in the 5 months you worked?

Based on your story it seems you were transfered to another floor because of your experience of the first preceptor and you freely admit that the other preceptor was "great", but now you had to make a decision of taking an evening position which you rejected. It seems the hospital invested some time (precepting time) and money (orientation eats up FTE's from a units budget) on you which you fail to mention. You then leave the facility that invested this time and money on you and go to another hospital in which you repeat the same process.

By the way you mention: "ON my first day on the floor they wrote up a nurse who was in charge of making sure all the phones were back at the end of the day, for not having a phone returned. (someone took one home accidentally).. I found this ridiculous, it's a busy med/surg floor with an 8:1 patient ratio and they are worried about PHONES????" Playing Devil's advocate here, but how much do you think an intrahospital phone costs (in ours its over $500)? With the phone missing how would the nurse communicate with their patients? Doesn't having the phone make communication better? How do you make people accountable for hospital equipment (i.e. the phone)? What would happen if all the nurses on this "busy med/surg floor" take their hospital phones with them?

If you decide to go back into nursing, no matter what the experience, think of the organization's investment on you and stick it out! Of course think of your family first (is this shift convenient for me, the work load, the commute, the environment, etc...) but get this information upon interview and a walk through the unit (pull personal to the side and ask them how long they've worked there and pick their brains) not when the facility hires you. Remember not every day is sunny!

[LPNMOM1117]

Sorry to hear that things haven't worked out for you!!! But excited for you that you do not have to work with a little one on the way. But as so many others have said don't let your license expire, you worked too hard to get it and you never know when you may need it. I understand your frustration though!!! I have been a med/surg nurse now for 6 years now and just recently contemplated leaving the field of nursing and getting an education degree. But I weigthed my options and found nursing is the only job now where I can get great benefits, and still have time for my children. I can work around pretty much any schedule and it has been very convenient for me with 6 year old twins. Keep that in mind, as your new bundle of joy gets older you will want something that you can work around your children's schedule and even if it is just 1 or two days a week it is nice to have that adult time. I must say that after much comtemplation I just enrolled in college to go back for my RN after being an LPN for 6 years. The beginning is tough, every time we get a new grad on our floor I remind them that I too was in in their shoes at one point and to at least give it 6 months. I think it takes at least that long to get things down to a routine. When I started I was a float nurse and floated 11 different areas including step downs and had to precept in each area, talk about frustration, but I made it through. Don't give up on it too soon you could land a job that you love. For now take your time with your little one and love them (boy or girl) up as much as you possibly can!!!!! They grow up way too fast!!!

[brainynurse]

Hello, I am a nurse for 22 years. Like others I went to school after having our two children and suffering though all the childhood diseases while in peds rotation and at home. Like you, I became so burnt out it was affecting my physicial and mental health. The Lord blessed us with a premature grandson to an unmarried daughter, I took that opprotunity to get out of nursing and stay home with Dakota until he was old enough to go to school and then felt ready to return to nurisng. I currently work on a neuro uint at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, KY and have never been happier. I came back a different nurse and finally found my niche. So, take your time with this new miracle in your life, keep current and hopefully you will decied to return to one of the most rewarding professions I know. Good luch and God Bless you and your family.

[sayitgirl]

I worked in different facilities and types of nursing until I unexpectedly found one that was low in workplace violence (also known as bullying). Don't give up nursing just search until you find the place for you. You went through too much to get your license, please keep that in mind. I have been nursing for 13 years, I just recently found a place that is okay. Nurses harass each other particularly new nurses and employees,then they sit around and complain about not being able to get time off because of staff shortage after they have chased away their help.

It is not you, it is the culture. Presently there is legislature in several states pending passage for workplace violence. One day it will be against the law to harass another person on the job.

[rclink]

Well there you go! Another one shot down in flames! I would like to say this very attitude on the part of preceptors and administrators is the reason nursing is losing it's status and a Noble profession. For you that participate in this kind of behavior (and you know who you are) Shame on you, how dare you take all the years of caring for others and ruin someone's desire to care! Do you really think that you are special and you have a right to treat people like garbage...well you dont! There is a body of Nurses out there that will not give in to your petty power struggle and will put you in your place! So wise up and learn to share your knowledge, be kind and understanding, and most of all remember you were there once!:angryfire

I would like to apologize from the Nursing Profession, to those who have been treated so badly. There really are Nurses out there that care about their patients over there own desires for power. Please give nursing another chance, and maybe it will be you that stops this "eating our young":nono:

[Leilah75_RN]

there are areas of nursing that will not require you to do a lot and is less stressful like working in a small clinic or school, or an out patient (opthalmology is a good one)or in any area that is not busy but not boring at the same time.

whatever your decision is, i hope you will be happy. having a new baby is a very joyful event of ones life but it is very stressful. so to make life a lil bit easier or better, why add another stress? i think at the moment your choice is right. just make sure u dont let your license expire. there wil be a time that you wil miss being a nurse. atleast u can go back anytime.

goodluck;) ;)

[JJJJJJ6]

How Lucky U R. I Would Loe To Leave But Im Stuck. I Run A 4000.00/month House Hold. Single Parent,private Schools, Hummer,house Note,high Insurance,credit Cards, Designer Clothes For My Babay Of Course. I Couldnt Leave Now. But One Day Ill Get The Balls To Leave. Im Happy 4 U. Dont Let Your Lics Expire

[Warpster]

I left 3 years ago after 25 years in the trenches. I initially left to care for a dying parent, but found I just couldn't face going back to what the job had become when I returned home. I'm letting the license lapse this year. I've just simply had it. No more.

There is no nursing shortage. There is just a profession where 50% of its trained members do not practice because of brutal working conditions.

Being a preceptor is more work piled on top of overwork, so students out there need to realize their preceptors are stressed to the max and cut THEM some slack, too. In the meantime, if you're young and enthusiastic, hang onto that license. It will come in handy some day.

[DougD1]

Healer,-

Your post brings back somany of the memories I had when I entered nursing almost 20 years ago. I remember being so frustrated then, and so many things have just gotten worse since then. The corporate dung expands, profits HAVE become the main focus for many organizations. And yet, I find myself still in the field for so many of the same reasons I started out. My old illusions are gone, replaced by the realities of today.

The "System" as we know it is dying. More and more are without insurance and those who are keep finding the bar raising each year, forcing higher copays and deductibles. Our taxes are going to pay for more and more indigent care for those who can't pay, and there is no incentive for these folks to go to primary doctors, or clinics. They come to our ER and we see more and more of them. The need is great, and I believe we are headed towards some form of nationalized health care. So, what does this have to do with you?

1. Congrats on the baby- May God Bless you and your family in the years to come with good health and good fortunes. your lives will be changed in ways you can't imagine now.

2. Despite our best planning life happens- I have taken care of an ICU patient in his 30s who will likely never wake up, and he was the sole breadwinner for his wife and family. Sudden onset of a neural bleed. Heed the advice of peers- DO NOT LET YOUR LICENSE LAPSE. Either keep it current and maintain your continuiing ed as required by your state, or investigate moving your license to an inactive status with your state board.

3. Things change, no system stays the same forever. I hope things go well for you, and you never have to reenter nursing if you don't want to. But don't close the door forever. God Bless You