I hate being a nurse…

mm8e · May 30, 2022

I know nothing, as I’m still a student, but I will say that it’s nice that you are so self-aware. Maybe you should talk to someone, like a therapist to help you manage it. If you suffer from anxiety maybe medication would help you as well. It sounds like you are a quality nurse, but the anxiety is chipping away at you.
Definitely, take care of yourself. How you are living is completely unsustainable. I bet time will also help you feel more settled in to your career. It’s definitely a hard profession.
Wishing you the best of luck.

No Stars In My Eyes · May 30, 2022

Not trying to be obnoxious here, but am really wondering what made you choose nursing in the first place? I know how awful it is to have a job one hates; fortunately there were only a few of them during my nursing career, and working through an agency that allowed me to switch an assignment after I completed what I'd agreed to do.

Wishing you the best, and that you land in a tolerable job to stop your 'free-falling' in this dilemma!

K. Everly, BSN, RN · May 30, 2022

1 hour ago, No Stars In My Eyes said:

Not trying to be obnoxious here, but am really wondering what made you choose nursing in the first place?

I think it’s a good question to help OP clarify values and get back in touch with what her hopes and dreams were for the profession as a reminder. Because I think she probably had strong reasons for pursuing nursing, AEB the seriousness with which she approaches her career and pts.

Coming from personal experience as a new nurse, I feel in some ways like the OP in that I ask a ton of questions and second guess myself almost every moment of the shift. I think we who care the most struggle the most with this. We’re so fresh, so our skills are still being honed, but we also are not as jaded and we see these pts truly as people, not numbers or bodies in beds. It takes time to get used to the gravity of the responsibility that is stewardship over lives and people’s health. I really don’t know if a postpartum unit is extremely stressful as a specialty, but if it is you may find that moving out of it is helpful if it’s known to be a high stress speciality. Personally I am in acute inpatient rehab because I couldn’t hang in med-surg, people were too sick for the awful ratios new nurses were facing so it wasn’t safe and I have a license and lives to protect.

Sav789 · May 30, 2022

5 hours ago, No Stars In My Eyes said:

Not trying to be obnoxious here, but am really wondering what made you choose nursing in the first place? I know how awful it is to have a job one hates; fortunately there were only a few of them during my nursing career, and working through an agency that allowed me to switch an assignment after I completed what I'd agreed to do.

Wishing you the best, and that you land in a tolerable job to stop your 'free-falling' in this dilemma!

Honestly always wanted to be in the medical field, it interest me and I love to help people.

Sav789 · May 30, 2022

3 hours ago, K. Everly said:

I think it’s a good question to help OP clarify values and get back in touch with what her hopes and dreams were for the profession as a reminder. Because I think she probably had strong reasons for pursuing nursing, AEB the seriousness with which she approaches her career and pts.

Coming from personal experience as a new nurse, I feel in some ways like the OP in that I ask a ton of questions and second guess myself almost every moment of the shift. I think we who care the most struggle the most with this. We’re so fresh, so our skills are still being honed, but we also are not as jaded and we see these pts truly as people, not numbers or bodies in beds. It takes time to get used to the gravity of the responsibility that is stewardship over lives and people’s health. I really don’t know if a postpartum unit is extremely stressful as a specialty, but if it is you may find that moving out of it is helpful if it’s known to be a high stress speciality. Personally I am in acute inpatient rehab because I couldn’t hang in med-surg, people were too sick for the awful ratios new nurses were facing so it wasn’t safe and I have a license and lives to protect.

It isn’t as stressful as other units and if I really love my unit but it’s just the stress and anxiety that’s getting to me. To know that things can go south any minute scares the crap out of me. I just want to work somewhere that doesn’t involve patient care LOL

Drive · Jun 1, 2022

Thanks so much for being honest about what it feels like for you to be a nurse. Believe me there are countless numbers standing right with you.

I've been a working nurse for decades. I'm very good at it, but job-wise it hasn't been easy for all the reasons you've posted.

Options include working in an Allergy office, a very busy job but paced, and a more predictable day. School nursing can have it's emergencies certainly, but most of your day is again, busy but typically does not involve critically ill people, and if someone does become so ill as that, obviously an ambulance is called. You could also check if any agencies around you offer corporate nursing positions. The options includes changing to a completely different line of work, which is fine! Just hard money wise, education, etc. after all your hard work in becoming a nurse.

I wish you all the best and very much admire your expressing what you feel about this often very difficult job.

TAKOO01, BSN · Jun 2, 2022

Hi,

I'm not sure if you hate nursing as a whole, or just the nursing jobs you've had. The only way to know is to move on. I'm always a fan of moving on from a terrible job if it is economically feasible.

There are office jobs for nurses at insurance companies, hospitals, corporations, medical device companies, research centers and more.

Put out your resume. Happy job hunting....

**CommunityRNBSN, BSN, RN** · Jun 2, 2022

On 5/30/2022 at 2:12 AM, Sav789 said:

I’m constantly rechecking labels, redoing math over and over again. Doing vitals on babies probably more than needed just because I’m so nervous and anxious 24/7.

I I would rather just have some office job where there aren’t any lives on the line

This is the exact reason I work outpatient. I am an intelligent, careful, detail-oriented person; however, when I actually have to provide serious care, I have no confidence in my ability to do it correctly. I recently took as a job as a school nurse, and even administering insulin— I’ve done it a million times and I TEACH people to do it— absolutely freaked me out when I started. The child would skip off to recess and I’d be obsessing: “I gave her two units. Right? Yes I did. I know I did. And it was to cover 20 grams carbs. Was it 20? Yes. And that’s the right ratio, right?” Absurdity. I did get more comfortable with that particular thing, but my point is— some of us have such anxiety about making a serious error that it is overwhelming.

I’m sure I could overcome this with therapy. Or— get a different job. In an outpatient clinic I use my assessment skills (especially on phone triage which I love) and I care for a lot of psychiatric patients, who are so grateful for my empathy and compassion.

If you decide that it’s too stressful for you to have babies’ lives in your hands, move on. Find a different nursing job in which lives don’t directly depend on you. (And for the record, some nurses have way too much confidence in themselves, and never second-guess themselves. I wouldn’t want them taking care of me!)

Edited to add: Consider working in psychiatric nursing! My standard line is, “In psych, a client may try to kill ME. But I am unlikely to accidentally kill THEM.”

toomuchbaloney · Jun 2, 2022

On 5/30/2022 at 12:12 AM, Sav789 said:

I’ve been a nurse for a little over a year. I first did home health for 7 months, which was not for me. I left to work on a postpartum unit which I love compared to other units there are but I still just so badly hate being a nurse.

I’m constantly in a state of anxiety, asking myself “did I miss something”, “should I have called the doctor for that”, “what If I missed something on a baby that’s now at home and something bad happens to them”. I’m constantly asking questions to my coworkers who were really nice about it at first but now get annoyed.

I’m constantly rechecking labels, redoing math over and over again. Doing vitals on babies probably more than needed just because I’m so nervous and anxious 24/7.

On my way to work, I literally am secretly hoping I get in a car wreck so I don’t have to go in (I know terrible) or that I get so Ill I can’t work. I know this isn’t healthy.

I’m honestly so embarrassed that I already hate nursing and I just keep trying to tell myself that it’s only been a year and I need to just stick it out but I don’t want to. I would rather just have some office job where there aren’t any lives on the line.

Is this a normal feeling and does it go away, or should I try to pursue something else? Help.

You've invested quite a bit to get egg where you are. Talk to a mental health professional to better understand and cope with your anxiety.

Good luck.

MissPiggy8 · Jun 2, 2022

You are relatively new and just afraid of making a mistake - understandable. Try to learn to control your spiraling thought processes by making the decision that if you come to the same answer to your question a second time you will force yourself to stop and move on to something else; you are wasting your time and energy obsessing and ruminating - that just gives you ulcers and HTN.

It gets easier with practice. ;-)

**CommunityRNBSN, BSN, RN** · Jun 3, 2022

18 hours ago, MissPiggy8 said:

Try to learn to control your spiraling thought processes by making the decision that if you come to the same answer to your question a second time you will force yourself to stop and move on to something else

That’s a great suggestion!