How many of you had to make a change recently?

allnurses Guide · Sep 29, 2012

Just would like to welcome you to allnurses! Knowing yourself and following those inner promptings should never make you feel like a failure. There are lots of nurses who make changes because they just need one. Hopefully some of them will chime in!

westieluv · Sep 29, 2012

Absolutely! I recently accepted a full-time 7p-7a position on a Med/Surg floor that I thought would be a great, long term thing. I have several years of Med/Surg experience, so the problem wasn't that I was a new nurse and felt like I was drowning or anything, the problem was the entire culture of the unit. A manager who was so sweet and kind that the employees would have walked across broken glass for her but got very little respect, day shift nurses who had been on the unit long enough that, between feeling like they owned the unit and our sweet but pushover boss, would spend their shift sitting at the nurses' station laughing and joking, often loudly discussing off color topics for the patients and their families to hear and in between complaining that they didn't have enough staff, a poorly laid out floor plan where the kitchen, the med room, and the supply room were nowhere near any of the patient rooms, etc., etc., etc.

I think the final straw for me was the night that I came in to work and the day shift nurse, who was sitting on her rear end at the nurses' station joking loudly about the dirty parts of a movie she had seen recently, told me with a straight face that I had a new admission waiting for me that had arrived on the floor almost two hours earlier but she hadn't "had time" to get to her yet. I still had to get report, but I checked on the new admission anyway, and she was having difficulty breathing...alone, in a private room at the farthest point possible from the nurses' station, and didn't know how to use her call light. I...was...FURIOUS!!! Talk about patient neglect! The patient ended up being okay, but I still told the manager what had happened after I resigned from the position...after only four months. I felt guilty quitting so soon, but I knew that I could not work in that kind of environment. I have since been hired by the hospital system where I worked previously for a number of years and, not only am I loving it, but my job in the internal agency pays $11/hour more than I was making at that awful place.

Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith when your heart is telling you it's time. You are NOT a failure for leaving that position, you are doing what is right for you. Nursing seems to attract people who feel guilty acknowledging our own needs and too often bite the bullet, even when we know that we aren't happy or doing what we want to be doing. I used to subscribe to that philosophy, but not anymore. Life is short, and no matter where you work in nursing you are helping people, so you also need to help yourself by doing work that makes you feel happy and fulfilled.

Best wishes to you. :up:

itsmejuli · Sep 29, 2012

I was working on a medical rehab unit, loved the job but my co-workers and manager made my life miserable. I had to leave that job. I'd go back tomorrow if there was a big shake up of staff.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Sep 29, 2012

I made a change about 6 months ago for the sake of my mental health. I had what I would have considered my "dream job" as a new grad... the specialty I wanted, large/nationally known pediatric hospital. The more intimately involved I got with the institution (close to 5 years there) the more I began to see what an ugly place it really was for those who worked there. The environment was toxic and it was negatively impacting my life... I couldn't sleep due to anxiety when I knew I had to go there. So, I made the decision to leave and, as soon as I did, I realized that that place was the only thing making me unhappy. I love what I'm doing now, I'm making significantly more money AND I have a much better schedule.

whichone'spink, BSN, RN · Sep 29, 2012

I am. I'm moving nearly 1,000 miles away to start my first nursing job. There was nothing for me in my current city. It's scary, but it has to be done.

Five&Two Will Do · Sep 29, 2012

I am. I'm moving nearly 1000 miles away to start my first nursing job. There was nothing for me in my current city. It's scary, but it has to be done.[/quote']
My goodness that is wild!!! Where do you have to go? Good luck sometimes change is wonderful.

Nurse ABC · Sep 29, 2012

I have spent the last ten years of my nursing career in school nursing. I was getting burned out and bored feeling like I wasn't truly growing. I left that for a med-surg position. Everyone thinks I'm out of my mind to give up such a great job to return to the hospital esp in a tough area but now I really feel challenged again and am really excited at all the opportunities/areas that I'll be able to do and try! Even though those 12hr shifts are long, I'm really enjoying the extra days I have off. Plus I am making more working part-time than I did full-time doing that. Money isn't everything, of course, but I'm really enjoying working less for the same amount. I just wish I would've done this a long time ago!!

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2012

I have changed a few times over my career. I started at the hospital I was an extern at and hated it and worked there the first two years I was a nurse in the med surg neuro/neurosurgery floor. Then I left there and took a med surg position at another hospital and liked it but was burnt in med surg, worked 3 years there. I left there and went to one of their other system hospitals and did neuro ICU for 6 years. Just recently left there due to management and some other staff issues. Now went back to other system hospital and am doing rapid response and I really like it.

Changes have had to be made for my sanity. I really think I am going to like this new position.

ckh23, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2012

Went back to school

SE_BSN_RN, BSN · Sep 30, 2012

I made a change about 6 months ago for the sake of my mental health. I had what I would have considered my "dream job" as a new grad... the specialty I wanted, large/nationally known pediatric hospital. The more intimately involved I got with the institution (close to 5 years there) the more I began to see what an ugly place it really was for those who worked there. The environment was toxic and it was negatively impacting my life... I couldn't sleep due to anxiety when I knew I had to go there. So, I made the decision to leave and, as soon as I did, I realized that that place was the only thing making me unhappy. I love what I'm doing now, I'm making significantly more money AND I have a much better schedule.

What did you change to?

DutchRN09 · Sep 30, 2012

I worked 0.8 FTE and liked my job, then I transferred to another city for my husband's job, and I figured I would never get a job like the one I had. But now that I am 3 months in, my current place is better. I work less and make quite a lot more p/hr. And we are too busy on my unit for drama, so that was a huge step forward. So you never know how it might work out.