I am considering obtaining a graduate degree in engineering which means I would leave the nursing profession entirely. I wish I could continue in the nursing career; however, the market is becoming to business oriented and less patient focused. The cattiness with the limited staff we may have is mentally exhausting, the management is terrible 90% of the time, the hours are rarely appropriate for a work-life balance. I don't get the logic behind newer nurses having to "do their time" on chaotic med-surg floors on night shifts before being able to apply for "normal" positions. I learned and was exposed to more working a specialized step down unit than I did working med-surg. The step down unit may have specialized but we received multiple disciplines of patients.
I've tried working inpatient doing the night shift 12's which was terrible. I worked inpatient doing 8h full-time medsurg which was worse because I felt I was there every day after the mandatory extra on-call shifts + holiday shifts. I've worked LTC part time nights which was simply a mental break on my part from the previous. Then I went to home health, which I actually enjoyed. Only reason I had to leave that is because of the pandemic and it forced me back to inpatient because bills have to be paid of course. I recently left inpatient due to that increase in burnout feeling approaching again and currently in an outpatient setting that I think is very simple. The issue with this particular employer lies solely with management and disorganization. There's plenty of toe-stepping and some subtle intimidation amongst the management/CEO team. With them doing that with each other, it causes the little guys, us, to have to manage ourselves with no full understanding on what certain processes should actually be. This employer is new for me and the staff attempting to train me are lost and confused on what to do and I feel for them because they are trying their best given the poor managing that we have to work under. I can't take this job seriously because of this and that makes me feel like I let myself down with nursing overall. Only thing I appreciate from this current position are no weekends or holidays. I would've LOVED to go back to home health but since I've relocated, home health would not be ideal in this new location.
With all of that being said, I have been strongly considering a new career path. I originally wanted a graduate degree in nursing admin, education, or policy to implement changes to some of the issues I've mentioned. I wanted to be an advocate for nurses/patients, but Im losing all faith in nursing.
Suggestions, comments??? Should I see it through with nursing or make my exit?
After working as a nurse for a couple years, I decided to leave nursing for good. I went back to school for a math related graduate degree. I finished my graduate program, and I now work in clinical research. Leaving nursing is one of the best decisions I have made in my life. Good luck.
Green Tea, RN
138 Posts
After working as a nurse for a couple years, I decided to leave nursing for good. I went back to school for a math related graduate degree. I finished my graduate program, and I now work in clinical research. Leaving nursing is one of the best decisions I have made in my life. Good luck.