Has anyone ever escaped?

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Have any of you ever successfully escaped the oppressed occupation of nursing and gone on to have a more satisfying and rewarding career? Please tell us your story and what you are doing now.

I've been in nursing for more than a few years and I hate it. It's like being a gazelle on the African Serengeti, only the fast survive; the rest get eaten. I have mild autism, ADD, and an IQ of 145; but I can't keep a job in nursing. I'm just too slow. In the ER, I could easily handle 3 patients, but 4 patients continuously made me feel overwhelmed. I tried MedSurg and ICU and the results were the same. Unfortunately, no one wants to hire a nurse that can't keep up when the herd is sprinting full speed. I've had enough and would like to get out, but nursing seems like such a dead end street. I don't want to go back and for yet another bachelor degree. How can I move forward from here without starting over from scratch? Other than retiring or starting over, has anyone ever escaped this dreadful occupation and moved on to a happy career?

I agree. I respect the heck out of your posts, GrnTea, but this is a little short sighted & oversimplified. Nurses are more powerless now than ever, with numbers and politics stacking the deck against us more every day. Those of us with the cheek or self esteem enough to "do" something, or even "say" anything are usually marginalized or silenced in some way. It's a common theme in the majority of threads here. I'm old school too, and believe in owning your choices and controlling your situation, but we're talking tiny cogs in a hugely nebulous machine that's got a financial and cultural chokehold on us. Get real.

Thank you.

In my many years of nursing, I have stood up, and spoken up about unethical practices regarding both nurses and pts, and have lived to regret it.

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Specializes in Inpatient Oncology/Public Health.
I have, and it's always like this: Home Health nurse wanted. Must have at least x number years experience in home health. Hospice, same game... I don't know what it is with companies and their demand for prior experience at everything. The entire concept is pandemic ignorance.

That surprises me. I was offered a home hospice position with no previous hospice experience. I had done a year on an Onc floor at that point and certainly had dealt with end of life, but not hospice per se.

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I've been feeling like I need/want to escape for awhile, but this weekend REALLY made the point very clear.

I was driving to work in whiteout conditions, on unplowed roads to get to work and sleep overnight in the facility so as to make my shift and not get penalized for calling out in inclement weather. I knew I was doing something dangerous and foolish, but i kept going because i was so afraid of getting punished at work. Of course I had an accident. the scariest thing was there were several people on the side of the road who had gotten out of their stranded cars, and my car stopped ~20 feet from them. I've been praying ever since, every time i think about it, thanking God that I did not hurt or kill anyone. I am still angry and disgusted with myself for putting myself and other people in danger because I was so insistent on making it to work.

All this time, my boyfriend and friends were curled up by the fire at one of our friends' houses, safe and warm and not getting into car accidents; some of them were working from home, and others had simply called out and/or were told to stay home and take the day off work.

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I've been feeling like I need/want to escape for awhile, but this weekend REALLY made the point very clear.

I was driving to work in whiteout conditions, on unplowed roads to get to work and sleep overnight in the facility so as to make my shift and not get penalized for calling out in inclement weather. I knew I was doing something dangerous and foolish, but i kept going because i was so afraid of getting punished at work. Of course I had an accident. the scariest thing was there were several people on the side of the road who had gotten out of their stranded cars, and my car stopped ~20 feet from them. I've been praying ever since, every time i think about it, thanking God that I did not hurt or kill anyone. I am still angry and disgusted with myself for putting myself and other people in danger because I was so insistent on making it to work.

All this time, my boyfriend and friends were curled up by the fire at one of our friends' houses, safe and warm and not getting into car accidents; some of them were working from home, and others had simply called out and/or were told to stay home and take the day off work.

Drop the boyfriend.

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Drop the boyfriend.

lol what? :p why? it's not like he could have safely come to get me or anything; he would have most likely ended up in an accident as well!

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Specializes in Emergency Dept, Pediatric Trauma.

my mom was an ARNP for years, decided to go for a change and became a legal nurse consultant, the law firm she works for represents/defends hospitals/doctors. Not for me but she said she likes it alot.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

By the way, you want to know if anyone successfully escaped nursing, but you posted to this board. You will need to find another forum because most outside of nursing no longer would be interested in reading a nursing forum. Good luck.

Hey, OP, I stand corrected!! There is an entire forum on this board that is filled with nurses that are doing what you are thinking to do. It is the Retired Nurses / Inactive Nurses forum:

https://allnurses.com/retired-nurses-inactive/

Also, there is a popular thread trending right now where nurses and former nurses and those who choose not to go into nursing are giving each other support and advice on career options, which started back in 2011 and is still active:

https://allnurses.com/retired-nurses-inactive/changing-to-a-613527.html

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I have, and it's always like this: Home Health nurse wanted. Must have at least x number years experience in home health. Hospice, same game... I don't know what it is with companies and their demand for prior experience at everything. The entire concept is pandemic ignorance.

No, it is not ignorance. The experience requirement is for the safety of the patient, and for the nurse. In my state, nurses are required by the state to have one years experience to work with many of the medically fragile, technology dependent patients who live at home. Some agencies even offer a 'nurse residency' type program for new grads so that they can meet this requirement. Requiring nurses to have experience before putting them in a home where they are alone much of the time, working with very fragile patients, is not ignorance.

Best of luck to you

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Specializes in Inpatient Oncology/Public Health.
No, it is not ignorance. The experience requirement is for the safety of the patient, and for the nurse. In my state, nurses are required by the state to have one years experience to work with many of the medically fragile, technology dependent patients who live at home. Some agencies even offer a 'nurse residency' type program for new grads so that they can meet this requirement. Requiring nurses to have experience before putting them in a home where they are alone much of the time, working with very fragile patients, is not ignorance.

Best of luck to you

Yes, but the irony is if they only want someone with home health experience. How would anyone break into home health if they only hired those who already have home health experience? Note she didn't say general or acute care experience.

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