How many new nurses are seriously thinking about quiting?

marilynmom, LPN, NP · Sep 13, 2008

Im a new nurse, graduated in May. I have no plans at all to quit my job. I work in a PICU at a large teaching hospital and though I have had days where I left crying, I just take it day by day and I know it will get better and easier for me. Most of the time I love where I work.

All the nurses I worked with before I graduated told me that there would be days that I would feel like quitting, hated it, days that I would feel very overwhelmed, etc but I just had to stick it out and at the year mark I would feel differently. Now I am 4 months out and starting to feel better about going to work and even enjoying it. Every day it gets easier.

I have to say the unit I work on is VERY supportive of new grads and the nurses and soooooo awesome! I have a great support system with my unit and can have a shoulder to cry on if I need to (which I did the other day!).

WingsEarned21, LPN, RN · Sep 13, 2008

I thought about quitting seriously in the last 7 years many times.I have been an LPN for 23 years and all of that has been floor nursing in one aspect or another.I love the hospital and the long term care.The hospital because it used more of my Quick thinking and assessment skills,the long term because of my residents and the staff that actuall cared about them.I think the nursing schools these days glorify the profession and do not give you a true picture of what it is about.I had been told that a good majority of new grads quit within the first 5 years also because of deception.They thought they were going to make exuberant amounts of money for sitting on their butts and when they finally found out they had to actually do something and more because of shortage and short staff they get burnt out real quick.I have found that it really does make a difference in my job if my co workers are awesome.I have now been given an opportunity to make a difference off teh floor which is what I wanted for a while and I am loving it.I still at this moment have a couple days on the floor and have found I get frustrated very quickly on these days .I am trying my best to adjust but I think it will take some time.Sorry for so long but I felt I needed to address this issue.

Terpole · Sep 14, 2008

Well I for one do not like my job, and I'm not sure if I really want to do nursing at all. I just do not feel safe on the floor with so many demands on me. I hate working mandatory weekends and holidays, and I don't like the type of environment I'm in. I had second thoughts about nursing in school and my feelings checked out right. If I could do it over again I definately would've done things differently.

Kiringat · Sep 14, 2008

It comes and goes. Last week was horrible. I had to call the Emergency Response team on a patient- it was the worst experience of my life. I left the hospital absolutly sure I wasn't coming back.

But I did, and tonight has gone pretty well, (I have time to post, so it must be...) and I'm fairly sure I still want to be a nurse at this point. Last week, not so much.

There's so much I don't know, and the difference between school and reality is so freaking vast. I feel like a complete idiot 90% of the time.

But I know I'll more than likely feel that way for the next 6 months to a year. I've wanted to be a nurse most of my life (even being aware of the horribleness) so I'm willing to stick it out until then.

shannon_LPN · Sep 15, 2008

I have to say my first few months as a new nurse almost made me quit......short-staffing, on-call days, pressure, pressure, pressure......

Even though most days I often wonder "why did I pick this field?".......I do still feel like this is where I was meant to be. Once you get in a groove with paperwork, orders, what you are responsible for, etc., it gets better. To me the administration side of nursing is the hardest to acclimate to. But when you get close to a resident and their family, and the family sincerely thanks you for all you do (even the things you dont expect to get thanks for) or when a resident dies and the family is so grateful that you were there to take care of them and handle all of even the families' needs, you walk away with a sense of pride that you made a difference to another person. That's what keeps me going when I want to say 'to hell with this job!'

momathomeRN · Sep 16, 2008

Ahh! I actually googled, "I hate nursing" and came across all of these posts somehow, then decided to join all nurses.com. Anyway, I've been an RN for a year now and plan on putting in my 4 weeks notice within the next 3 months. I know now that I want to be free on the weekends. I also want to be with my family for holidays, and I do not want to bounce back and forth between nights and days. I chose to become an entrepreneur...and can breathe deeply now knowing that my freedom is paving its way for me! Whoo hoo! Just ask yourself what it is you want? And go from there... Look for what makes you feel good...may be nursing, may not be. Take care of yourself ladies and gentlemen. :tbsk:

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Sep 16, 2008

Ahh! I actually googled, "I hate nursing" and came across all of these posts somehow, then decided to join all nurses.com. Anyway, I've been an RN for a year now and plan on putting in my 4 weeks notice within the next 3 months. I know now that I want to be free on the weekends. I also want to be with my family for holidays, and I do not want to bounce back and forth between nights and days.

It continues to amaze me that there are so many new nurses who didn't realize that nights, weekends, holidays and rotating shifts went with the territory. Who did they think provided care during those times, in this field that has no downtime? Then there are the ones who didn't realize they would be cleaning up the products of metabolism. Or dealing with people whose emotional or psychological grip is a little tenuous. The waste of time, effort, money and opportunity is such a shame.

jjjoy, LPN · Sep 16, 2008

It continues to amaze me that there are so many new nurses who didn't realize that nights, weekends, holidays and rotating shifts went with the territory.

I'd imagine that many people don't think they will mind it that much. Until you've done it full-time for awhile, it's hard to really know how you will adapt (or not adapt) to something like rotating shifts in the long term. When looking at the job security and starting income for nursing, it's pretty easy to convince oneself that night shift won't be that bad. And after hearing so much about "the nursing shortage" and how nursing is "so much more than just bedside care" I'd imagine other people think that shiftwork is a choice, not a requirement. Finally, if you really enjoy a job, the drawbacks of shiftwork likely won't feel as miserable.

imanedrn · Sep 16, 2008

is there really a nursing shortage? or are most floors in hospitals unwilling to pay for increased staff, therefore making nurses 'work short' because of a 'shortage'....
that may begin to explain why there are still so many nursing jobs on paper, and so many new grads still being churned out of school.
being a 'newbie nurse' when i go to work i feel more like part of the problem than the solution. if we continue to show up and hurt ourselves physically and mentally at work, well hey at least the floors have somewhat of a staffing ratio.
sure i wanted to go into nursing for the people aspect of it, but what about when you work with people who sneak drugs and alcohol into the hospital? or verbally threaten you or actually physically threaten you?
believe me, i had my eyes opened to nursing long before i decided to take the plunge, but now that i have, i regret it. as long as i show up to work every shift b/c i do not want to let my coworkers down, i am in effect, saying it is OK to have us work so short and w/o help! now what?

I believe there is a true nursing shortage, but it's NOT that there are a lack of nurses, period, point blank. It IS that there are a lack of nurses who are willing to work on the floor (mostly med/surg) because they know how brutal it is.

Also, the hospital you work at and its management can make a HUGE difference. If your nurse to patient ratio is ADEQUATE, then there's less chance for a "shortage" in that area (i.e., 6:1 at my hospital compared to 8-12:1 at others!).

Also, having support staff makes a huge difference when you need them. On my unit, about half of our population are nursing home patients with possible or known infections. (I work on THE infectious disease unit.) Needless to say, I am working in a hospital but working in a make-shift nursing home at the same time! Without our CNAs, I'd be busting my butt dealing with incontinence, feeding, turning, etc. -- things I do NOT have the time for with everything else I have to do. The other med/surg units in our hospital are completely different! When nurses from those units float to our unit, they always comment on how lucky THEY are and how the feel for us because our work load is SO much more strenuous simply because of the patient population. The take home message there is that a 6:1 ratio is NOT the same everywhere you go!

But don't give up on nursing just yet! After passing my 6 month mark, I became more comfortable with myself, and I now have a love-hate relationship with nursing -- sort of like all things in life. Some people just need to find their niche. Unfortunately, there are TONS of med/surg jobs available, while other areas are harder to find jobs in because those nurses are happy and don't want to leave. But don't give up until you've truly searched for your niche and can't find one.

This country needs good nurses! :nurse:

Hoosiernurse, ADN, RN · Sep 18, 2008

It continues to amaze me that there are so many new nurses who didn't realize that nights, weekends, holidays and rotating shifts went with the territory. Who did they think provided care during those times, in this field that has no downtime? Then there are the ones who didn't realize they would be cleaning up the products of metabolism. Or dealing with people whose emotional or psychological grip is a little tenuous. The waste of time, effort, money and opportunity is such a shame.

I absolutely agree with another poster that, when thinking of your future in nursing while you're in nursing school, it's easy to believe that it won't be too overwhelming until you get there. I, for one, was constantly told that, oh yeah, things will get tough at times, but the world will be beating a path to my door because of A)the nursing shortage and B) my GPA in school. HA! That once I got my license, I could do whatever I wanted in nursing. They talked of how people could go into specialties with no med/surg "paying your dues" at all, that day shifts were no longer just relegated to those who had been nurses for years, that you can practically self-schedule, and the inconveniences are so small compared to what you get out of the job and the money you receive. Uh huh...

When you have no experience in nursing or medical fields AT ALL, you simply cannot know what this is going to be like until you are already in it and stuck. I have three children, and it was all I could do to get through nursing school, and do my two hour round trip commute daily, so I had no time left to get a part time PCA job so I could know more about what was going to be "reality".

I don't think there is any way of getting around that the first few months in nursing are going to be hell for a lot of us. I knew that we would have to be flexible with holidays and weekends, so that was no surprise to me and hasn't bothered me. What DOES bother me is that I was told I would be doing a lot more cardiac focus on my floor, and there is NONE except making a progress note with a printed tele strip once in awhile. The people I'm dealing with are not having a "tenuous" grasp on reality, they are bonkers and consume huge amounts of time and energy while my other patients wait. If I wanted to deal with that constantly (and I mean sometimes 3 out of the 5 people I have are like that) I would have gone to a psych floor. Products of metabolism...eh, that doesn't bother me. I have three daughters, after all!

I don't feel it is fair to blame people for being disillusioned when we are misled right and left about nursing, either from our schools or our employers. My husband says that if they told us the truth, they'd never get anyone to do the work. Is that an excuse?

I plan to do the best I can and see how I feel in a few months. I don't think at this point, in spite of my earlier post, I can make a fair judgment about how long I will be at this job because I spend so much of my time feeling like a bumbling idiot at work. I'm only 2 months out, so I have to believe it will just get easier. When it's easier, I will decide where I really want to be, but I don't want to make decisions based on the frustrations of this stage of the game. Otherwise, everytime things get hard at any job I might be inclined to keep running away. That's never been me at anything else in my life, so I'm not letting nursing do it to me now. :yeah:

Cara

casperx875x · Sep 19, 2008

The short staffing is making me hate my job. It is making me hate being a nurse. I dread coming to work not knowing just how short-staffed we'll be. It's amazing how we're the only unit in the hospital who just doesn't seem to have a solid budget.

Tonight I lost it, cried at work and seriously thought about walking out. My coworkers helped calm me down so I could finish my night, but I don't know how much longer this will last.

I cannot take the short-staffing excuses much longer. A mass exit is in the near future, I feel.

JER07 · Sep 19, 2008

I'm Sure Every Career Has There Difficulties, But You Should Just Be Thrilled That You Are An Rn And The Job Itself Is Self-rewarding. I Am Having So Much Trouble Passing The Boards And Am Soooooo Looking Forward To Being An Actual rn!!!!!! Try To Be More Thankful!!!