I hate being a nurse

Nurses Career Support

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I've been a nurse for a few years now

Specializes in LTC, Pediatrics, Renal Med/Surg.
. So, I feel a kind of despair when I tell my friends and family Med-surg is not for me. It's like I'm not living up to the expectation..you know what I mean?QUOTE]

i feel like this sometimes!! isn't it just the worst feeling...I look at what my nurse friends do and feel like a failure and feel like I shoule be working fully as a nurse because I am a nurse but honestly, I have no carreer drive. I like to go to work, do my job and dont want to be in meetings, on commitees ect ect..I want to leave work in the driveway when i drive off! I dont want to spend days off doing reports and stuff and have no inclination to do further long term study. I am happy to do day or week courses but nothing more than that.

Some of my friends really get into their job and are doing so much and I compare myself to them and come away feeling like you do.

I read alot of posts on here that say "i hate being a nurse, nursing isn't for me" but I think alot of them really mean "i hate my current area"

Thats just it bulletproof. There is nothing wrong with that. Some nurses eat, live, breathe nursing and thats great for them. I'm glad of that. It doesn't make you a bad nurse though that you don't. I have an overwhelming feeling that you do a good job at work. I do a good job at work but I feel the exact same way that you do. What does help "bring me alive to nursing" sortof speak is that I found an area that I like alot. But I'm still not over the moon and through the woods singing the "nursing anthem" all day long every day. I'm just that kind of person. I like to like going to work, do a good job, enjoy it, help someone along the way, and clock out. Plain and simple. I guess I'm way more invested in my family, friends, church, etc...this goes back to the argument of is nursing a job or a career, a calling or a means to make money, a profession or a high paid waitressing gig.....

Whatever it is, please do no harm and be happy doing what you're doing.

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Specializes in Psychiatric Nursing.

Nursing is a job and like any other job, I do the best I can. I give it 100% when I'm at work. When I leave, I don't think about it. It's almost like I have 2 personalities. When I'm off, I am totally off. I am not a nurse outside of hospital.

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Specializes in CVSICU, case mgmt., Psych, education.

I'm going to keep this simple. All I can say is that this is unfortunate. I understand that nursing isn't for everyone, and professionals do leave the field. Heck, various professionals in other fields leave their area of training and expertise to pursue other options.

I want to give you a little insight in that I wasn't always a nurse, so I might have a different frame of reference based on my previous experience. As a nurse however, I worked in the CSICU at Johns Hopkins and was proud to do so, but I know that I couldn't sustain that lifestyle and keep my health intact.

I'm now an independent consultant and run my own company. It's not easy, but I'll tell you that I've never been more satisfied with my career than this. I won't go into the nuts and bolts here (as I'm trying to keep this short), but feel free to look at my other posts in the entrepreneur forum, or feel free to reach out directly. I'm here to help. I mean this is a community right? Everyone reading this thread right now could do what I do and there are plenty of opportunities. I can't make it happen for you, but I'll do what I can to motivate you and help point you in the right direction.

Good luck to you.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/DOU/Ortho/Onc/Rehab/ER/.

Specialty change before you quit. That's what I would do!

Good luck

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Specializes in LTC, Med-Surge, Ortho.

I know what you mean. I truly thank God for having a job and a career but I get so depressed sometimes because I feel like I am stuck in long term care. I work 4 nights straight, off one night, then work three nights, off every other weekend and work holidays. I am sleeping during the day and I feel like I am so out of touch with day time. I recently started walking after work to get in shape and lose some weight because that is part of my issue as well. I want to go back to school for BSN, but it is so expensive and I don't work in a hospital that can pay for it. I would love to do some type of pubilc health nursing so that I can assist the underpriviledged community and find resources to help them. I would love to work 32 hrs a week with weekends and holidays off, but those jobs are few and far between. I do love being a nurse but I hate the back stabbing between co-workers, disrespect from physicians and feeling under appreciated by managers or DONs. This is why I concentrate on why I chose nursing in the first place which is to treat patients with my professional ability the best I can and to show compassion along with a smile which can make the sickest patient feel better.;)

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Specializes in LTC, Med-Surge, Ortho.
Reasons I love clinic work and how I'm so mentally, physically, and emotionally relieved to be going back to it in a few weeks:

1.I can pee when I need to and not worry about being fussed out by a patient b/c I was in the bathroom for 21/2 minutes instead of taking that time to get their prn q hour morphine or their ginger ale.

2. I can take a FULL HOUR for a lunch break. We have no patients scheduled during lunch. This means I can eat my lunch at a decent pace or go run an errand if I need to, take a minute to call a friend or family member, or meet someone for lunch, etc. etc. etc. Basically be treated like a human being instead of a pack mule.

3. The pace is exactly like I like it. Its a steady/fast pace but in a controlled setting/enviroment. I can basically expect what my day will be like with the occasional surprise or patient going sour. (And I did not realize how important this would be for my sanity.)

4. My work is autonomous but we also do team nursing. I love being able to share the workload, and it builds great teamwork. Its not MY patient or YOUR patient. We help each other out. I LOVE IT!!

5. I love babies and kids. I love seeing them grow as they come back for their future check ups and that something I told or/taught the parent made a big difference.

6. I don't have to supervise CNA/PCT's. I do my own vitals and don't have to figure out if something got done or not.

7. I still practice alot of my skills. I do venipunctures, I&O caths, etc. I do alot of patient teaching, which I love, newborn care, asthma teaching, etc...

8. No excessive charting. Never stay late to chart. Ever. No hourly rounding, no administration breathing down my neck.

9. Get to leave on TIME 95% of the time and I get off at 5. I'm part time so it doesn't mean I have to work 8-5 M-F either. No weekends :) And I can pick up extra time if I want.

10. I don't think about work when I'm not there, unless its a good thought about a funny kid or something. I don't dream about work or not sleep the night before going to work because I'm anxious about what my day is going to be like.

11. When students come I actually have time to show them things.

12. I feel like I have a LIFE with this job and it doesn't consume me, mind, body, and soul like hospital nursing has done to me.

Wow!! where do you work? it sounds like an outpatient clinic. I am so happy for you.:yeah:

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Specializes in Family Planning, STD, OB/Gyn.
Reasons I love clinic work and how I'm so mentally, physically, and emotionally relieved to be going back to it in a few weeks:

1.I can pee when I need to and not worry about being fussed out by a patient b/c I was in the bathroom for 21/2 minutes instead of taking that time to get their prn q hour morphine or their ginger ale.

2. I can take a FULL HOUR for a lunch break. We have no patients scheduled during lunch. This means I can eat my lunch at a decent pace or go run an errand if I need to, take a minute to call a friend or family member, or meet someone for lunch, etc. etc. etc. Basically be treated like a human being instead of a pack mule.

3. The pace is exactly like I like it. Its a steady/fast pace but in a controlled setting/enviroment. I can basically expect what my day will be like with the occasional surprise or patient going sour. (And I did not realize how important this would be for my sanity.)

4. My work is autonomous but we also do team nursing. I love being able to share the workload, and it builds great teamwork. Its not MY patient or YOUR patient. We help each other out. I LOVE IT!!

5. I love babies and kids. I love seeing them grow as they come back for their future check ups and that something I told or/taught the parent made a big difference.

6. I don't have to supervise CNA/PCT's. I do my own vitals and don't have to figure out if something got done or not.

7. I still practice alot of my skills. I do venipunctures, I&O caths, etc. I do alot of patient teaching, which I love, newborn care, asthma teaching, etc...

8. No excessive charting. Never stay late to chart. Ever. No hourly rounding, no administration breathing down my neck.

9. Get to leave on TIME 95% of the time and I get off at 5. I'm part time so it doesn't mean I have to work 8-5 M-F either. No weekends :) And I can pick up extra time if I want.

10. I don't think about work when I'm not there, unless its a good thought about a funny kid or something. I don't dream about work or not sleep the night before going to work because I'm anxious about what my day is going to be like.

11. When students come I actually have time to show them things.

12. I feel like I have a LIFE with this job and it doesn't consume me, mind, body, and soul like hospital nursing has done to me.

I TOTALLY agree!! ALL your reasons definitely sound like my new job minus CNAs, I work with MAs and LPNs and different areas of nursing like psych, peds, adult health, urgent care, and ob/gyn. But it took me 6 months to find a job though.

I hate bedside nursing though, not worth for me to go into work and have 7-9 pts by myself with one cna. I don't want to risk my license and the lives I am responsible for. Also, I am very thankful to work in a setting where it will not kill my back or feet.

But if I do ever get tired of this job, I may go into Medical Reserve Corp where I will be one of those emergency medical team that responds to the community affected by natural disasters. =)

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Specializes in LTC, Pediatrics, Renal Med/Surg.
I TOTALLY agree!! ALL your reasons definitely sound like my new job minus CNAs, I work with MAs and LPNs and different areas of nursing like psych, peds, adult health, urgent care, and ob/gyn. But it took me 6 months to find a job though.

I hate bedside nursing though, not worth for me to go into work and have 7-9 pts by myself with one cna. I don't want to risk my license and the lives I am responsible for. Also, I am very thankful to work in a setting where it will not kill my back or feet.

But if I do ever get tired of this job, I may go into Medical Reserve Corp where I will be one of those emergency medical team that responds to the community affected by natural disasters. =)

It sounds like fun to cover that many areas!!!!

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Specializes in Family Planning, STD, OB/Gyn.
It sounds like fun to cover that many areas!!!!

It's hectic, but really enjoyable because of the close-knit teamwork in the company. Each and everyone there is so supportive for a new person and each other and they respect and help each other out so that we can all leave at the same time everyday. =)

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I am finding that lately after 25+years I am also hating the bedside. Mainly because of the backstabbers I work with, a nurse manager that plays favorites and interprets the "rules" based on the person in front of her. Mostly because of a day like yesterday. I busted my a@@ from 7am to 3pm getting a critically ill patient tubed, lined, ct'd, a-lined, med titrations, no bathroom, no lunch and today one of the docs questioned today why an abx went up later than he expected. Do doctors really get "it" ? After all these years I still see some write an order and forget the process/s it takes to carry out the order.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
. So, I feel a kind of despair when I tell my friends and family Med-surg is not for me. It's like I'm not living up to the expectation..you know what I mean?QUOTE]

i feel like this sometimes!! isn't it just the worst feeling...I look at what my nurse friends do and feel like a failure and feel like I shoule be working fully as a nurse because I am a nurse but honestly, I have no carreer drive. I like to go to work, do my job and dont want to be in meetings, on commitees ect ect..I want to leave work in the driveway when i drive off! I dont want to spend days off doing reports and stuff and have no inclination to do further long term study. I am happy to do day or week courses but nothing more than that.

Some of my friends really get into their job and are doing so much and I compare myself to them and come away feeling like you do.

I read alot of posts on here that say "i hate being a nurse, nursing isn't for me" but I think alot of them really mean "i hate my current area"

I know what you mean about family, friends outside of healthcare not getting it! They don't understand the difficult working conditions I deal with in the hospital and make comments I should work more overtime and how lucky I am to have a secure, high paying job or they want to know why I'm not a supervisor, mgr or DON after all these years!

I could probably work every day of the week if I wanted and money was my only motivation, but I'm just trying to make it thru the day and pay my bills. So many people make comments about how "rich" I am as a nurse and I'm definitely not rich. I say it makes a living wage that's all I don't know where they think I'm rich. LOL

I'm not the least bit interested in magnet status and climbing the ladder for a one time miserly raise that is held over your head and threaten to take it away ever after. Give me a break! They've changed the ladder so if you stay Level II you just work and go home and I'm very happy with that. Don't want to be on committees, do research etc. but I don't care what other people think about that. They have these employee surveys and that they want engaged workers. Well nursing has made me a very disengaged worker. I put my hours in and go home, that's all I want to do. Hospital nursing sucks the life out of a person especially because the hospitals and nursing homes are all trying to squeeze profit at our expense! I heard magnet status hospitals don't mandate, the nurses just work short! Sounds great, have twice as many patients and the hospitals profit all the more by paying less staff and you wonder why your always short-staffed!

Thanks to the person who mentioned clinic nursing as being an oasis in the desert. It is definitely something to consider for a better job and working conditions! Glad there's hope out there for some of us!

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I've been a nurse for a few years now

Where do you work by any chance? I just got hired today for a supervisory position in which I do not have experience for but they will train me. It is in the ltc. I am nervous as heck although I have not even started the orientation yet.

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