I HATE bedside nursing

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Ok maybe I just don't care for it too much, but I feel like Im suffocating. I have been in this position for about 10 months now and I cant wait to hit the year mark so I can get out! I feel I might not be cut out for it in the long term because there is just way too much dramatization on insignificant things that add stress to my life which is unnecessary. One nursing attendant reported me to the manager over a trivial issue which had already been solved. I have never been reported to any manager like that ever before in my career. Perhaps she hates me but having to sit in his office and go over matters that have been settled regarding cleaning a patient is beyond me. Especially when the patient was cleaned and the matter was settled. I did not make a med error, none of my patients died, and no one fell. Why I had to remain in his office for nearly 30 minutes after working 12hour night shift is just silly to me. I guess it's the protocol but Im sick of it. I hope I am not over exaggerating but I am feeling more and more like bedside is not for me but I dont want to quit before my year is up. I want to have a solid year so I can move on to do other things that require that much experience. I am so tired and frankly I'm getting bored and unmotivated. How do I rectify this?! Please help. Thanks

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

If you're feeling bored 10 months in, it's not the job. It's that you're not doing in right. There is so much to learn that you could not possibly have learned it all; therefore you're not thinking about your job. You're just doing tasks. Perhaps if you concentrate on all the things there are to learn, you'll be more motivated and enjoy your job more.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Night shift nursing is very task oriented and playing CNA as well as nurse. Maybe you would like working days better. It is faster paced, but you have more patient/family and staff interaction and do more teaching as well. Usually you do less CNA work on the day shift unless you are working in ICU.

Sometimes I feel like I'm an overpaid CNA working the night shift, but I'm not a morning person, nor do I want to deal with the stress, fast pace and constant interruptions of days, plus it would be a pay cut.

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical, Supervisory, HEDIS, IT.

I did not like bedside nursing either. I got out of it after 6 months in a hospital. I actually did a 1 month stint in home care and didn't like that. I worked contract IT and I helped implement the EMR Cerner in some hospitals. That was pretty fun, but it was a short-term contract. I currently work as a manager in a primary care office. That is pretty fun except the parent company STINKS and I am not one to be micromanaged. I always worked with little to no supervision and thrive on it. I have an interview next week to do HEDIS work. Work-from-home part of the time and the rest going to MD offices to do data extraction.

Who knows what you will like doing. Play the field a little... :)

Good luck in whatever you do!

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Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse, Case Management.

I, too, am not interested in bedside nursing. I've spent nearly 4 years in substance abuse and I'm moving on to psych in 2015. I love these areas.

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Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.

I worked my first 19 months in district nursing and absolutely loved it. The management on the other hand..... It involved things like medication admin, insulin, catheter care, wound care, both complex such as VAC dressings, compression bandaging, and alot of palliative care.

From what more experienced nurses tell me I lucked out, its not usual for a new grad to get straight into district nursing

Is is an option to transfer to days. I am currently working in a long term care facility doing three days and one night duty. I'm glad to not be doing all nights.

Also a good idea to start looking for something else. It helped me when I was going through the management insanity

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I absolutely detested bedside nursing. I'm about to begin my final year of a BSN to DNP program. Hoping that I enjoy being a provider more.

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I would start researching certifications in something that you may like more. Whether that be case management, informatics, that type of thing.

Bedside nursing is overwhelming at times. Don't know the specifics about the "cleaning the patient" situation, however, sometimes if one directs a CNA to "clean a patient" there's complaints that the "nurse doesn't help" or "the nurse can do that themselves". AND that is not always feasible with a large patient load.

I hope that you had a union rep (if you are union) with you when you went into your meeting. Management can tie it up in a bow, present it however they would like to, but the bottom line is that there's just not enough nurses to provide for the patient load. And seemingly your manager was reminding you to not rock the boat, or it is a poor refection on management as opposed to anything else.

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Specializes in ICU.

I don't know the whole story, of course, but cleaning a patient is not a "trivial" matter.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I did not like bedside nursing either. I got out of it after 6 months in a hospital. I actually did a 1 month stint in home care and didn't like that. I worked contract IT and I helped implement the EMR Cerner in some hospitals. That was pretty fun, but it was a short-term contract. I currently work as a manager in a primary care office. That is pretty fun except the parent company STINKS and I am not one to be micromanaged. I always worked with little to no supervision and thrive on it. I have an interview next week to do HEDIS work. Work-from-home part of the time and the rest going to MD offices to do data extraction.

Who knows what you will like doing. Play the field a little... :)

Good luck in whatever you do!

Six months isn't really enough to know if you actually hate bedside nursing or if you're just having the new grad blues. It's tough being a new grad, transitioning from student to nurse. That first time you find yourself in trouble, start looking for the nurse and then remember that you ARE the nurse . . . . It takes 1-2 years before you can be comfortable enough in bedside nursing to know whether or not you actually like it. After a mere six months in hospital nursing, you went into home care and again didn't stay long enough to know how to do the job, much less whether you liked it. I'm glad you found something that you DO like, but you really haven't put in the time at the bedside to know anything about it.

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A CNA can be a hostile coworker just as well as a fellow nurse. Some of the games that are played in nursing are crazy... and its enough to push a person over the edge.

Nurses can do a lot more than work at the bedside.

I think OP was saying that she was in his office "over a trivial issue which had already been solved"- she goes on to explain "go over matters that have been settled regarding cleaning a patient is beyond me"Nowhere does the OP say that "cleaning a patient is a trivial matter"..

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Specializes in Psych.

I clean my house and I clean my car, but I do not clean my patients. I have been a nurse for a while and sometimes we need to know when it is time to move on...

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Specializes in Community Health/School Nursing.
Move on...I worked one shift on a hospital floor during my entire nursing career. I'd apply for a job on one of those crab fishing boats like "Deadliest Catch" if there was only bedside care in nursing.

Amen! I worked 10 months floor nursing. The rest of my career has been out of the hospitals and off the floors! I have always said I would retire my license if I ever had to go back to floor nursing. NOT for me.

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