Having second thoughts..

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 22, 2016

It is not uncommon for new grad nurses to experience a bit of reality shock when they learn the differences between nursing school and real-world nursing. It could be you're in the wrong environment, it could be you need to work on time management, it could be any combination of things.

roser13, ASN, RN · Feb 22, 2016

You are a great example of some things that us old COB's try to tell new young nursing students who have stars in their eyes and !!A DREAM!! of being a nurse so that they can show compassion and dedication to the world. There's absolutely nothing wrong with compassion & dreams, but you need way more than that to be any type of nurse. And you need to have a realistic understanding of the real life of a nurse in order to avoid such a culture shock in an actual job. But the young 'uns usually don't listen - they say we're mean and we're eating our young.

My advice to you at the wonderful age of 22 is to try to keep on working as a nurse. You've worked hard for your license and I doubt that you could earn the same or better $$ at anything else. Keep looking for a new job. It's harder these days for LPN's because some facilities have phased them out. But I see LPN's all over this board finding good jobs. If after 2-3 years, you still dread going to work, well, then you've given it your best. Time to move on.

Good luck to you.

p.s. COB = Crusty Old Bat

amoLucia · Feb 23, 2016

Roser - Nice approach to an ' Elephant in the Room' topic.

pookyp, LPN · Feb 23, 2016

Try home health or hospice.

Hollybobs · Feb 23, 2016

I think it is good to start off as you are on the basis that if you are gonna get ground down, it's better not start cynical. (!)

I suppose it is about taking that desire and using all your skill and creativity into applying it practically. If you are unable to do that after trying in your current environment, learn as much as you can and then try to pick somewhere else where you think you might get more satisfaction.

i bet you have already made a difference though it doesn't feel it right now. In all likelihood there will be residents who though you have only seen them briefly, you will have...I am trying to put this in a non-saccharine way and failing..."touched" their lives and made a difference.

I was warned as a newbie that being too idealistic would quickly lead to burn-out. Please don't beat yourself up about your decision, you are just learning where you are best suited to working as a nurse and as long as you are learning you are going in the right direction. You've put a load of pressure on yourself, headed into a tough (and very real) situation and become seriously stressed.

I would take a mental time-out, forget about nursing completely in your spare time for a while, see all your friends, do all the things you find fun then do them again! Then jump back in (maybe somewhere else) and have another go :).

calivianya, BSN, RN · Feb 23, 2016

I don't understand why people who want to "make a difference" go into nursing... we can't force people to do what they don't want to do, and we're too busy drowning in paperwork and juggling all our responsibilities to really spend quality time with our patients/families anyway for the most part.

I believe, for the most part, I make absolutely no difference in my patients' lives. Most of them go home to live the exact lifestyle that brought them to me in the first place regardless of how much teaching myself or any other nurses do, and then, surprise of surprise, they end up in the hospital once more - if their noncompliance doesn't kill them first. Maybe nursing made a difference back in the day, but now we just sustain the patients' lives long enough for them to recover from their acute illnesses, go home, and go back to killing themselves with their unhealthy lifestyles again. People want a quick fix or a magic pill these days - they don't want to do what they need to do to stay healthy, and then they grip your arm and whisper "I don't want to die!" like somehow we can fix 50 years of them trashing their bodies.

Every now and then I feel what I do is important to the patients/family members, but those days are few and far between.

Libby1987 · Feb 23, 2016

Working in skilled nursing can't be easy, but when my dad had a stay in rehab before he died, and from the many home health patients I've had, I can tell you there is a difference between having a too busy nurse and a too busy kind nurse. It may not make a difference to all of them, but kindness even in the smallest gestures will make a difference. So will sharp assessment and intervention skills which also would have helped my dad but we're being kind of sentimental here so I thought I'd lead with kindness.

nutella, MSN, RN · Feb 23, 2016

I'm a fairly new nurse and am upset with current job.. first job I could get as a new nurse. I want to make a difference.. is that such a bad thing to want? I feel no progress with this current job
I achieved my LPN last February. I'll be 22 this year. I currently work at a rehab facility. For the past few months I've only been PRN because I can't handle the stress any more.. I now work every other weekend and even the days I have to go in I dread. I try every day to find a different job that I feel I may be happy in, I'm thinking a doctor's office or something like that.. but so far I've come up short..
Some days I just feel so upset thinking I made a wrong decision by going straight to nursing school. I love to help people and comfort, but where I'm at now it feels like I barely see any of my residents because I'm too busy doing too much work. I want to be able to connect with my patients, I want to feel like I'm making a difference. That's why I wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to be able to change a small piece of the world just by caring for someone.. I just don't feel like my current job is making that possible.
Maybe I'm naÃ¯ve for thinking I could actually make a difference.

Perhaps you want to look into home care - there are positions where you take care of just one person but the whole shift, but there are also the usual home care jobs where you make several visits a day. It is best for those positions to have some experience but as a LPN you would work under a RN anyways and home care could be an option.

The other options like office and clinics are also good for LPN who do not want to work in longterm care though it is getting harder to find jobs like that.

You could also look into acute long term care - stressful like most inpatient jobs but not like longterm nursing home.

I think nurses make a difference in people's life in any and every setting. The way you perceive your impact may not reflect the real impact. Also, job satisfaction is of course important. You are so early in your career that it would be better to find a position that is close to full time or full time and go from there...