I HATE nursing! (long)

caliotter3 · Nov 27, 2008

Hope InfoNurse is doing fine and her ears are not ringing from us doing a little talking about her!

Scrubby · Nov 27, 2008

thank you for telling me this and really opening my eyes...this is what i need! i need help and suggestions. so...tell me about this pre-operative clinic. what is that, and what is the job description? is it known by any other names?
what can i do dealing with papers with a bsn and only 6 months of experience? i'd like to wear normal, dressy clothes and work 8-5 three days a week. haha.. i type that with a smile on my face.

In the preoperative clinic the duties consist of:

providing pre operative teaching

Taking baseline vitals

Obtaining a nursing history and assessment

Liasoning with surgeons and anaesthetists, for them to come in and assess the patient, get consents done

Arranging transportation for patients to get to the hospital on their day of surgery

Valerie Salva, BSN, RN · Nov 27, 2008

We have a nursing shortage due to the numbers of qualified nurses that left the bedside. However, you could do
1. Nursing Instructor for LVN/LPN classes
2. Telemetry
3. Research
4. Dialysis Nurse (easy job)
5. Nurse Entrepreneur
6. Pharmaceuticals
7. School Nurse
8. Occupational Health Nurse
9. Work for an HMO/PPO
I know the feeling of doing something you don't like. It will improve once you find your niche. Good luck!! :)

Dialysis easy?

Have you ever done dialysis?

I've seen veteran ICU nurses who are new to dialysis leave the dialysis floor in tears.

As a former dialysis preceptor, I've given support to experienced ER and L&D nurses who've told me "this is so hard, I can't do it!"

I am leaving LTC to go back to dialysis, because I find I am not intellectually challenged, like I was in dialysis.

I enjoy your posts Commuter, but this is really offensive and disheartening.

CseMgr1, ASN, RN · Nov 27, 2008

I used to love nursing. Not anymore.

Back in the old days, we had time to care for our patients, and were left alone.

Not anymore.

Now its all about money, documentation, reports, meeting unrealistic deadlines and kissing the rear ends of dictatorial employers as well as an entitled society who wants everything handed to them on a silver platter.

Case in point: I get an irate phone call yesterday from the family member of a Client who has more money than Midas, *demanding* that we approve her for Medicaid...because she is *NOT* paying $20 an hour for an Aide to come in and bathe her??

"We do not make the decision as to whether or not someone qualifies for Medicaid", I responded calmly, "And you are going to have to take that up with DFACS". I gave her their number and hung up.

I am tired of this nonsense....and am living for the day when I don't have to put up with it anymore.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Nov 27, 2008

Dialysis easy?
Have you ever done dialysis?
I've seen veteran ICU nurses who are new to dialysis leave the dialysis floor in tears.
As a former dialysis preceptor, I've given support to experienced ER and L&D nurses who've told me "this is so hard, I can't do it!"
I am leaving LTC to go back to dialysis, because I find I am not intellectually challenged, like I was in dialysis.
I enjoy your posts commuter, but this is really offensive and disheartening.

Please look at the date of that particular post, Valerie. I wrote it in March 2005, back when I was a student, and was basically relaying what had been told to me by one of my nursing instructors (a long-time dialysis nurse). The post in question is over 3 years old, and I've learned plenty since then. If you're offended, I genuinely apologize.

In addition, the OP is seemingly doing well in her career. We can fast-forward to 2008 and tell everyone she's no longer at the bedside and is working as a clinical analyst.

S1XGUNS · Nov 27, 2008

Try a different area, Med-Surg irritated me, I moved to the ER and love it. Try something like OB, it was the only semester that did not rack my nerves while in school. The patient's were generally well and easy to care for.

nursemike, ASN, RN · Nov 27, 2008

I am a 24 year old male in my 2nd year of nursing school and I HATE NURSING!! First year was a complete waste and full of ********! I swear they just had to make up some random classes to take up time. I almost quit after the first year but I keep trying to stay positive and think that next year is going to be better!?? Now I am in that next year and it still blows!! All I can say is that I can change those diapers with my eyes closed!! I hate every second of Nursing school that I had to go through!! I want to stay positive but I cant. Every time I go to class and sit there for hours I think to myself why am I here? All the teachers do in the class is just read notes and post them on the website. I took the Drug Calculation exam....everybody was flippin out about that exam and made a big deal about it.. everybody was goin nuts... we had labs to prepare for that exam for like 3 weeks....of course I didnt actually study till the day before the exam and still got 91%. I dont actually think that nursing school is hard... I dont do any homework at all and still manage to pass classes, learning is the easy part....but what we actually have to learn is retarded and boring... all this garbage about feelings and self disclosure, immediacy, and all that ******** just makes me sick. I want to bang my head against the wall every time i go to class. I feel like I am being brainwashed and they are trying to change the way students think. I do not enjoy class nor do I enjoy Clinical....all we do is clean ass and change diapers...I do not want to be a Nurse if I have to do this my entire career. I want to like Nursing but it wont let me. Is this all that nursing is about? changing god damned Depends and giving out a few pills? I feel like I am wasting my life..... dont know what to do. and everybody here hates it too for many different reasons.....
Does Nursing get better with time and experience? or if I hate it already does that mean i'll hate it even more later on?? I like making money not wasting my time on ********. What should I do?

Some people aren't meant to be nurses. Or, if we aren't supposed to say that, how about, nursing isn't for everybody. There is, in fact, a great deal more to nursing than wiping butts and passing pills, but at least in bedside nursing, those are very definitely part of the job. And while nothing is written in stone, most jobs away from the bedside require, or at least prefer, some bedside experience.

Working as a bedside nurse is more interesting than nursing school, but also harder. Time and experience help immensely when you have the desire but not the skills. I have to admit, I scoffed a bit at the time we spent in school on therapeutic communication and the like. But in the real world of nursing, it turns out to be quite a big part of the job. Some time ago, I had a patient who was getting all the pain medicine that was ordered: morphine, dilaudid, percocet, and valium for muscle spasms, in doses that made me fear for her life. In spite of it, she wasn't getting adequate relief, and multiple pages to her doctor on call were no help. What finally did make her feel a little better, at least for a time, was me pulling up a chair and listening to her complain. Nothing I could tell her was going to do any good. What she needed was for me to listen and show that I really did care. Well, that and a pain consult, once the day shift came in.

My first week of on-the-floor orientation, I got to do several things I didn't get to do in school. Trach suction, ng placement, tube feedings and straight caths. It was really cool to do more than just read about them.

Since then, I've got to do a lot of other interesting things. Titrating morphine on a patient in their last hours is not boring. Heartbreaking and terrifying, yes, but not boring. Watching a middle-aged man weep as you explain why his mother is dying, when she seemed so good a couple of days ago, or a mother as you explain why her son is taking so long to pass, isn't dull. Holding a patient steady while a doctor drills a hole in their head is downright fascinating. For me, and for many others, there are many great things about being a nurse, and they more than make up for the parts that aren't so great. But if you really hate nursing school as much as you say, I can't imagine how you'll ever like working as a nurse. Which is okay. You're young, you have all sorts of options. Run, don't walk, away from a field you already despise. Figuring out what will bring you joy is a challenge, but it's well worth it.

MelodyRNurse · Nov 27, 2008

I am a 24 year old male in my 2nd year of nursing school and I HATE NURSING!! First year was a complete waste and full of ********! I swear they just had to make up some random classes to take up time. I almost quit after the first year but I keep trying to stay positive and think that next year is going to be better!?? Now I am in that next year and it still blows!! All I can say is that I can change those diapers with my eyes closed!! I hate every second of Nursing school that I had to go through!! I want to stay positive but I cant. Every time I go to class and sit there for hours I think to myself why am I here? All the teachers do in the class is just read notes and post them on the website. I took the Drug Calculation exam....everybody was flippin out about that exam and made a big deal about it.. everybody was goin nuts... we had labs to prepare for that exam for like 3 weeks....of course I didnt actually study till the day before the exam and still got 91%. I dont actually think that nursing school is hard... I dont do any homework at all and still manage to pass classes, learning is the easy part....but what we actually have to learn is retarded and boring... all this garbage about feelings and self disclosure, immediacy, and all that ******** just makes me sick. I want to bang my head against the wall every time i go to class. I feel like I am being brainwashed and they are trying to change the way students think. I do not enjoy class nor do I enjoy Clinical....all we do is clean ass and change diapers...I do not want to be a Nurse if I have to do this my entire career. I want to like Nursing but it wont let me. Is this all that nursing is about? changing god damned Depends and giving out a few pills? I feel like I am wasting my life..... dont know what to do. and everybody here hates it too for many different reasons.....
Does Nursing get better with time and experience? or if I hate it already does that mean i'll hate it even more later on?? I like making money not wasting my time on ********. What should I do?

Do you have any idea what area you are interested in? If you do then maybe you should contact a facility with a related area and ask if you could spend time there observing the unit or practice or whatever it may be. That way you could get some kind of idea of whether or not you see yourself there in the long run. Try to find something that is more intellectually challenging, because it kindof sounds like you need that.

Oh and In the real world you will not be changing that many "depends". You may need to help out occasionally, but you will have support staff to help do those things.

Also, if you change your mind about your career it will not be the end of the world either. Life is to short to be that unhappy.

Good luck and please let us know how things work our for you.

allibear · Dec 1, 2008

thanks for the replies about the pre-op clinic. i may look into it...i've gotta get out of where i am. i just need to find something i can "put up with" for 2.5 more years.

well said, nursemike. i'm all for nurses who really want to be nurses...we need them, but i know that i'm not one of those, and i shouldn't have the position i have because of the way i feel.

let me tell you about my night (just another reason to place on the stack i already have of why i want out). so, we have 4 vent patients and two nurses. as soon as i came in, one of my vent patients dropped his sats into the 40s. he's now fine, but i could tell how my night was going to be. one hour later, i was yelled for into the room of my other vent patient who eventually dropped his sats to 1 (yep...one) with a heart rate of 40-ish. we extubated then reintubated. during this madness, the other nurse was in the room helping to save his life, and her vent patient decided to drop her sats into the 40s. had it not been for the nicu orientee outside the room noticing the monitor, this one would've been dead. we had no pcp/secretary (to help page docs, answer calls, put orders in the computer), and myself and the other nurse are new nurses with less than one year of experience. ugh. we push "patient-centered care," but all i see from this place is budget-centered care. we work with a skeleton crew and bust our butts just to get by...forget doing anything extra for our patients and their families. everyone in my unit wants to leave. i knew i hated nursing, but there is a lot outside of nursing that goes on in the hospital that makes me hate everything about health care. i'm drained in every sense of the word. i want out.

if anyone has other options i could look into (nursing wise...or bsn wise) to get through this next 2.5 years, please let me know. i get physically sick to my stomach when i know i have to work.

beachbum3 · Dec 1, 2008

I frequently fantasize about going back to my nice quiet office job in the city, and I'll tell you what, if I was as miserable as you sound I wouldn't waste a minute feeling bad about going back to it, 4 year degree down the toilet or not.

While I really like being a nurse, at the end of the day, its a job, not my life. Yes, its my career, but still.. just a job. No harm/shame in changing jobs/careers if its not for you. I already know I won't be a bedside nurse forever. I like it now, but I can totally see getting worn out and really being tired of it after awhile. So I'll take this time while I still like it and further my education so that when the time comes that I just don't want to do it anymore I will have some other options. And if I hated it right now, I sure as heck wouldn't be doing it.

Find another job... any job, even non-nursing/healthcare related. You have to take care of you first....and that means doing what makes you happy.

nursemike, ASN, RN · Dec 1, 2008

thanks for the replies about the pre-op clinic. i may look into it...i've gotta get out of where i am. i just need to find something i can "put up with" for 2.5 more years.
well said, nursemike. i'm all for nurses who really want to be nurses...we need them, but i know that i'm not one of those, and i shouldn't have the position i have because of the way i feel.
let me tell you about my night (just another reason to place on the stack i already have of why i want out). so, we have 4 vent patients and two nurses. as soon as i came in, one of my vent patients dropped his sats into the 40s. he's now fine, but i could tell how my night was going to be. one hour later, i was yelled for into the room of my other vent patient who eventually dropped his sats to 1 (yep...one) with a heart rate of 40-ish. we extubated then reintubated. during this madness, the other nurse was in the room helping to save his life, and her vent patient decided to drop her sats into the 40s. had it not been for the nicu orientee outside the room noticing the monitor, this one would've been dead. we had no pcp/secretary (to help page docs, answer calls, put orders in the computer), and myself and the other nurse are new nurses with less than one year of experience. ugh. we push "patient-centered care," but all i see from this place is budget-centered care. we work with a skeleton crew and bust our butts just to get by...forget doing anything extra for our patients and their families. everyone in my unit wants to leave. i knew i hated nursing, but there is a lot outside of nursing that goes on in the hospital that makes me hate everything about health care. i'm drained in every sense of the word. i want out.
if anyone has other options i could look into (nursing wise...or bsn wise) to get through this next 2.5 years, please let me know. i get physically sick to my stomach when i know i have to work.

Years ago, I had a problem with the IRS, and an agent came to see me. I had filed some forms incorrectly and was looking at a stiff penalty, but the agent went through it all with me, and found that I had filed the right info, just on the wrong form. In short, she helped me. Makes me think there isn't any profession where you can't do good for people. And I think it would be a lot easier to help people doing something you liked to do.

About this contract...it would be worth consulting an attorney to find out just where you stand. If you received a sign-on bonus or tuition assistance in return for agreeing to work there three years, you may be somewhat stuck. But there is more to a binding contract than just signing your name, and it shouldn't cost a ton to have a lawyer look at your contract and determine whether it's valid.

lovingtheunloved, ASN, RN · Dec 1, 2008

I don't have any advice, just well wishes. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to be trapped in a job you hate.