I HATE nursing! (any suggestions)

TraumaRN11 · Apr 9, 2008

Get out of nursing and find a new career!

It's ok if nursing is not for you. At least you can say you tried it and it wasn't a good fit. Find out what you do like and do that. By staying in you will only become more miserable and make others around you unhappy. Trust me, everyone who works around you, including your patients, knows that you don't want to be there. Think about how your behavior is affecting them. Life is to short to be unhappy. Especially when your unhappines puts you at a higher risk of committing an error that could kill.

MIA-RN · Apr 9, 2008

Go back to school for something else! You are so young yet--you have lots of time to figure out if something else out there is interesting. Maybe if medicine is still an interest, you can look into veterinary studies. Or heck, something totally different....follow your bliss!

Lots of us come to nursing as a second career later on in life....nothing wrong with getting a second career...you just started with nursing and will go on somewhere else.

Go for it! :)

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Apr 9, 2008

What is your passion? What are you good at and love to do? I worked with a nurse who went to cooking school and moved to Vegas. One went into photograpy part-time and opened a studio in Fla. One works part-time and really loves her rescue efforts for animals. Good luck and do not be so hard on yourself, not everyone loves nursing. Blessings.

1BlessedRN · Apr 9, 2008

It's nice to find someone else out there that feels the same way. I've hated nursing since before I graduated college. I've been a nurse for 2 years and have hated every job I've had (5 different jobs including ER, MED/SURG,PREOP/PACU,OFFICE NURSING, AND ORTHO. Hated every single one of them. And I've come to the conclusion that it's not the job but the career. It's gotten to the point that I dread going to bed at night knowing I have to get up in the morning and go to work. I've quickly gone from being sympathetic and compassionate to finding it hard to muster up even a remote piece of compassion when doing anything. It's not to say that I don't do my job. I do my job to my full potential but it's terrible to have that kind of attitude while doing it. Perhaps it's different elsewhere, but where I've worked, a majority of the patients have been demanding and completely unreasonable. And in the long lasting reputation of doctors, they continue to be disrespectful and condescending. Not to mention I get paid peanuts for doing what most people wouldn't. I'm desperately looking for a way out but feel my bachelor's degree and schooling will have gone to waste. I've tossed around the idea of going to grad school for an MSN but I continually tell myself, "What's the point? If you hate nursing so much, why get a master's degree in it?" Not really sure what else to do though? This career has given me a bad outlook on people and society and has made me into a person that I don't even recognize or like. I've considered teaching, counseling and even pharmaceutical rep (to stay within healthcare) but I'm not sure about the last one as you'll still be dealing with doctors and their God-like attitudes.
When young people come to me and tell me their plans to become a nurse, I'm completely honest with them and tell them how it has been for me. And I don't want to be the reason they question whether or not to go into nursing. Chances are, they'll probably love it and be great at it and I'm contributing to them questioning whether or not they should do it in the first place.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm 24 years old and I feel like I'm letting myself and patients down by staying in this career that I despise so much? I'm almost to the point of being fed up with the entire healthcare industry.

sounds like you are suffering from MAJOR burnout...nursing is a stressful profession, in order to survive you really have the passion for it in the beginning...hopefully soon you will find something more therapeutic

that will give you a peace of mind....goodluck:wink2:

missi30 · Apr 9, 2008

Hi,

If you are thinking about going for your Master degree, maybe you could look into a degree in Library Science and maybe become a medical librarian, just a thought. That way you can combine your nursing backround with working in libraries, a low stress, however less money, working environment. Or maybe you can try looking into nursing informatics. You can PM me if you need more info on the Library Science degree.

Take care,

Missi30

jjjoy, LPN · Apr 9, 2008

I was in a similar dilemma. After trying several different nursing environments, I reached the conclusion that even in the most ideal environment, I wouldn't be happy and given less than ideal conditions of most work places, I just had to find something else completely.

I was tempted to go back to school... but the problem was I had no idea in what. I didn't want to end up with yet another degree for work that ultimately didn't suit me! So I resisted that urge and just applied for jobs that were of interest to me, that I was qualified for (more or less) and that looked do-able to me (unlike most clinical nursing job which left me wanting to pull my hair out!).

You might be surprised at how many health related jobs there are out that don't require specific degrees or training. Having a bachelor's degree does give one an edge for such positions. But the health care background that you get from nursing school is a valuable as well. You have a lot more familiarity with and understanding of various diseases, the health care system, patient needs, etc.

There are non-profit health promoting organizations, insurance companies, medical device manufacturers and suppliers, and more that might find your background, combined with your other strengths, valuable to them.

I had discovered along the way that I enjoyed working with health information and databases. So I started looking for anything that seemed related to that. I finally landed a job with a medical library. I was SOOOOO much happier with the day to day work than in clinical nursing.

I did accept lower pay than I'd have earned as a clinical nurse. I did face disbelief that I wasn't choosing the clinical route ("but you could make so much money!!"). It wasn't easy to find jobs (I couldn't just type in "nursing" and come up with a long list of available positions). But it was worth it to me because I saw no point in building up my clinical experience just to get out of clinical work in the end. So I bit the bullet and started in a new direction.

But the nursing degree wasn't wasted. I use the knowledge and experience to inform my current work even though it isn't nursing. And several years later, I've moved into a position as a clinical data manager and am VERY happy with my work and feel I have a real future in this.

Personally, though, I don't think I could've gotten to this point by sitting and thinking and researching and interviewing and deciding what kind of degree/training would lead to a career that would work for me. If I decide to take more coursework now, I have a frame of reference for how I would use it, as opposed to just a mental image of the possibilities.

Everyone's different, of course, so I'm not saying you need to do the same thing. Just sharing my experience.

**All Heart RN** · Apr 9, 2008

Hi Nursinghaze,

I feel as though you've already experienced the first difficult part of the road that you're headed on and that's realizing that bedside nursing or perhaps, nursing in general, is not for you. Now, the next step is to trully take the time that you need to figure out something that you wouldn't mind doing from 8-5 or even ,hopefully, something you would love doing.

I was in a similar situation. I graduated with a Bachelor's in Psychology and thought I would go on to get my Master's or Doctorate's but that didn't happen. I walked across the stage with my diploma in hand knowing that I did not want to become a Psychologist.

Luckily, during school I had the awesome opportunity to study abroad and visit the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and Doctors Without Borders. Studying international health got me thinking about how I could use my mental health education as a foundation to learning about physical health through Nursing.

I am now a 2nd Bachelor degree student in a BSN program. After I graduate, I plan on working as a bedside nurse for a few years and then obtaining a Master's in Nursing and Public Health.

So, I share all of this with you to tell you that your time has not been wasted. If you have any interest in health at all, maybe you can look into a Master's in Public Health program. With your degree now, you could probably work for an insurance company, look into Telenursing, work as a Nursing Liasion for Medicaid/Medicare. With your background the sky's the limit.

If your not interested in the health field at all than you have to take the time to search within yourself and figure out where your talents will fit best.

Good luck.

aeauooo · Apr 9, 2008

Why did you become a nurse?

What do you want to do?

I became a nurse to work in Africa. I'm finishing my MPH right now. If I knew I wanted to be a nurse at 24, I would have gone a lot further with my career than I'll be able to at 46.

Aimee03, BSN, RN · Apr 9, 2008

Finally someone who feels like me. I've been a nurse almost a year have had 2, fixing to quit it, so going on 3 jobs!

Sorry I have no advice but u are NOT alone!

oramar · Apr 9, 2008

You are only 24, there is plenty of time for you to redirect your career. If I were you I would do something with IT.

diveRN · Apr 9, 2008

Ever thought of being a PA or MD?

Still in the medical field and you have PLENTY of time for the schooling.