Hate being a floor nurse- happier as NP?

gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP · Dec 4, 2010

I don't know about slowing down as an NP! I run just as hard during a days work these days, and faster, but without all the manual lifting and labor intensive tasks. More decision making while on that run for sure. Some days are busy and easy, others are busy and difficult, but I can definately say there is no slowing down.

We have to quit propagating this myth that NPs have more time to spend with patients. I don't get any more time to spend with a patient than my MD counterparts, but ALL of us take the time that is necessary when a patient needs it.

Long hours charting - yes - I do a lot of charting after hours and from home. Still worth it for the simple fact that although I may be working 12 hours a day most of the time, 3 of those 12 are from home. I am closer to self employed in that I pay my own overhead and keep whats left so it makes me definitely more willing to work more as well as more efficiently. I know what it takes to break even, I wonder how I earned my salary at my first employer!

HumptyDumpty · Dec 5, 2010

I hated floor nursing with a passion... All I felt like was a middleman with to much responsibility and not enough time. Doing wound care one minute and the next getting some obese slob a coke, couldn't stand it. Floor nursing was totally not worth it. I am only a few semesters into NP school and am absolutely loving the change. No more dumb, unrealistic nursing interventions to learn is a total PLUS.

DiverseWoman · Dec 23, 2010

I agree that many RN's love what they do. But loving what you do and hating your job can be two totally different things. I love my job as a RN, been doing it for 5 yrs now. I was once bubbly, excited, and content. Now I am burned out and stressed. Like I said I love my job. I just hate the politics involved and what nursing has become. We have more responsibility now with less help. High patient acuity, high patient ratio, no nurse aide, no secretary, and no support from managers or managerial staff on a daily basis can take its toll on any nurse. Often the patients and family members can be demanding and disrespectful. Hospitals are closing down or can't afford to hire more nurses or even aides. It is so bad where I work that our Nurse Manager takes a full load of patients on a daily basis. I am counting down the days until I finish my NP and CNM cert. I always wanted to do advanced practice from when I was in nursing school so this has always been a goal of mines. But now that I have been a floor nurse for 5 yrs I know that I can't do this for the rest of my life. I don't encourage any of my friends or co workers to become a nurse because of what it has politically become. I always tell them go for Physicians Assistant. Same amount of school, more pay, and more respect. This is just my honest opinion. I love being a nurse but I cannot say that I am happy with my job as a nurse right now. I am sure being an advanced practice nurse has its negatives and downs as well. But at least I don't have to clean ppls behinds from diarrhea breaking my back every day to be under appreciated.

peaceful · Dec 25, 2010

i also do not recommend becoming an rn to any friend or family. in fact, will quite strongly try to steer them away from this career choice (thankless job somewhat like a maid, along with managing out of control, angry families and no respect from hospital management, co-workers and physicians). the np role is a step up the ladder with the allowance of independent thinking. becoming an np is not for the faint hearted. extremely tough to get through school and pass the national exam. graduate school is nothing like getting your bsn.

pedicurn, LPN, RN · Dec 25, 2010

Oh my Gosh! I seriously could have written this response! It sounds just like what I am saying all the time. I also feel I'm missing so much of what is going on when I go to work as an RN, because we are just so busy taking care of multiple patients at the same time, running here and then there and back again, that we don't always have the time to sit down and think about the whole picture. That is one of the reasons I'm happy I'm in NP school. I also love hearing about signs and symptoms, and looking at labs, etc..and trying to figure out what is going on. I enjoy making a differential list, and then trying to narrow it down...but I also love spending time with my patients, talking with them, and taking the time to teach them, and answer their questions until they really understand what it going on. Plus, I want to have a lot more say in how clinical decisions are made that will affect my patients. These are my reasons for going to NP school.

Just wish to say .....

Many RN's used to have the luxury of time to think about their p'ts. I can remember pondering and discussing signs and symptoms and differential diagnoses as a staff nurse in the 1980's

It's different now though ... I run all shift, performing tasks.

Perhaps our role has been downshifted a little .... the staff nurse is more of a highly-skilled worker rather than a professional.

Many of us are able to function in more of a professional role but we are no longer able to

linearthinker, DNP, RN · Dec 27, 2010

I was a m/s RN for 2+ years before going to the units, and I've been in the ED, critical care or life flight ever since. I didn't hate any of it until the end. The last 6 months I was working in a CCU and just going crazy. I came to despise my unit manager and literally counted the number of shifts until I would quit. I was very impatient with routine snafus that I would have taken in stride before. I just think I needed a change, but with only 6 months left it didn't make sense to look for a new PT job that I didn't intend to keep, so I stuck it out, but I was miserable. If I hadn't been finishing a NP program, I'd have just looked for a new postition to get a fresh perspective.

I have never hated being a nurse. Honestly, the things that are sometimes frustrating about nursing are the same things I still saw/experienced in clinic rotations. If I found them to be unbearable as a RN, I think they would still be unbearable as a NP. Bottom line, both involve working intensely with all kinds of people, and people universally have most of the same foibles. If you don't like dealing with these things, "people jobs," no matter what the title, are probably not for you.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Dec 28, 2010

hey everyone,
i have thought a lot about being a nurse and either working in l&d or maybe picu or nicu...but with the eventual goal of becoming an np. many people on this forum seem to hate their jobs as nurses. oneo f my friends from high school is a adn grad who has been a med/surg nurse for a year and she hates her job, hates her patients, and hates everyone she works with. i've seen someone who was once a happy young lady become very negative, stressed, and sad. i don't want to end up trapped in that fate. have any of you found better success/enjoyment in being an np than they did as an rn?

as near as i can tell from your post, you're not even a nurse yet. why don't you approach it with an open mind? you may find that you love being a bedside nurse.

LoveANurse09 · Jan 3, 2011

Sadly, I discourged friends,family from Nursing too. It's just not what it used to be. Like the others said we are less of a professional and more of a task-orientated laborer.I'm scared for the future of floor nursing and want to get out!