I started an ADN nursing program over a year ago and graduate in May. I have the highest average in class, and I really seem to be doing well. However; I hate everything nursing, I really only started the program because I was bored, and now I feel to far invested to quite. I have to keep telling myself that this is a great job, but in reallity this job holds a lot of responsibility, "crappy responsibility." In addition I feel tremendous pressure from my family, my husband, and my husbands family to finish and work. It's not like I don't already have a BSN from another university, and my husband makes an excellent salary, I don't have to work. I keep hoping that all the pretentious people in class with their over enthusiastic "I love nursing" attitude will be non-existent in the workplace. This is me just venting, but if you have any productive advice or have felt this way I would love a response. However; if you are just wanting to tell me how terrible I am, please keep it to yourself.
After a bit more thought, I don't think it is the nursing I hate but what I am tied to. I have 3 possibly 4 more years tied to the NYS retirement system(which will probably be a bust after patterson gets through with it). So presently my choices for work are limited. I can go to a psych center, A big Medical center an hour away or stay at a small community hosptial where the majority of your patients are over 75 and the MD does every test and procedure known to man to keep the hospital afloat which in some cases means keeping the patient as long as 2 weeks. Since I am new to the RN field and gas prices are out of sight I chose to leave the medical ctr. and go to the community hospital. I am not happy there. The staff have poor communication skills, they backbite incessantly,day shift is pitted agianst night shift, the aides and LPNs run the hospital. THe unit manager cannot manage or I suspect worse, does not want to....
All I want to do is work and get along. I'm not winning any awards as I am vocal about the back biting and degradation of other nurses....I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!!!!! Don't tell me that the nurse that is precepting me has nearly killed at least 4 people, yes, I was actually told that as a new hire by another RN on the floor.
THey put me in charge at night at least twice a week. I don't feel comfortable and to get a break I have to call an RN from maternity to "cover" but all she does is sit and gossip while I am gone. I asked her to put 6 tele strips in the chart while I was gone and was told "I don't do strips".....didn't ask her to read them...just put them in the chart. She is an RN 3 the highest you can go there. I did make a rude comment to her, to the effect of not understanding how you can be paid the big bucks and not do anything....understand that she will staff a maternity floor for nights on end waiting for an admission and have NO patients. They read, watch tv, sleep and take numerous smoke breaks with the building charge. It is a little social club. Meanwhile, I am supervising 3 LPNs with 8 patients apiece and admissions still coming and alarms going off all over with the demented admits trying to crawl out of bed or ripping thier IVs out at an unprecedented rate.
I wanted to get at least a year of med surg experience under my belt...but boy am I turned off by this place.
Unfortunately, you are going to find that anywhere you go. Every hospital has units and/or people like that. If I didn't know better I would swear you worked with me. good luck in your decision.
That sounds like the first job I had in nursing. I stuck it out for a little over a year, but I hated it! I became depressed because I felt like I was constantly set up to fail. There was no way I could possibly give good, safe care. The CNAs basically ran the floor, and the RNs got in trouble for the mistakes the CNAs made, even though they refused to listen to us and went the managers over everything they didn't like. It was horrible! Management would prefer to pull us out of report to give a pain med rather than actually get the med out of the Pyxis and give it themselves during report time. They NEVER did patient care.
I was afraid to change to another unit or hospital because I didn't want to end up someplace even worse. I finally changed to a different hospital and went into Peds, where I feel I get much better support. We still have the stupid politics and cliques and management favorites, we still have nurses who love to gossip about everyone else and drag down nurses they deem as "weak" or "bad" nurses. But the ratios are so much better, it's pretty much an all RN unit, and I can just do my job and strive to make a difference for a child or family and stay out of the pettiness.
I don't know what your options are, but I found that when I took the risk of changing, it worked out. And I know I can always go to a different area of practice and be okay. It sounds like your choices are pretty limited. Do you have any options such as same day surgery or an outpatient clinic that might offer a better environment? Just someplace where at least you know you can give safe care and ignore the stupid BS that inevitabally occurs in the workplace?
I'm just like the OP - except one thing, I'm already an RN. I started nursing school because I was bored, too, and needed something to do. Now that I'm working full time as a nurse, I absolutely hate it. Nursing school is in no way an accurate depiction of what a "real nurse" does. Probably the hardest part has been adjusting to the 13-14 hour shifts, which leave you physically and emotionally depleted. The casual nursing school days of ONLY showing up for clinicals for several hours and then going home are over. I miss the hour long lunches, too. It's funny, because looking back, I laugh about all the b*tching and moaning I did as a nursing student. I was at lunch with a few friends I made from nursing school, and we would all kill to go back! Enjoy your schooling life while you can. In talking with several nurses where I work, a lot of them don't like being nurses either. Most of them have bills to pay and nursing is pretty much the only place where you can make decent money with a 2 year degree. I agree with what someone said earlier, I wouldn't depend on your husband for money. While that's nice, it's not guaranteed. I don't work in a toxic work environment. We show up, we do our jobs, we laugh a bit, and then we go home. I disagree that you'll be toxic to the work environment. You just need to show up and do your job. I forgot where I was going with my post. Oh yeah, I would finish nursing school and pass the NCLEX and keep your nursing license active. At least this way you'll have a security blanket if, for some reason, you need to bring your own income in.
i am i the only one who is a little shocked here? i would not want someone who hated nursing to care for me, as they would likely do a poor job overall.
i love nursing. i am getting my rn now, but i worked as a cna for almost 8 years, and my mom is an rn. i know what nursing entails, the long shifts,the hectic hours, the nutty patients, you are lucky if you have time to use the bathroom during some shifts..
you can become a paralegal with a 2 year degree and make great money..
if you hate nursing you should not be a nurse, imo.
People do jobs they don't love all the time, and they don't do badly at them. In my family, I am the first generation to actually go after something I *loved* and my parents thought I was nuts for it (until I chose to go into nursing which they see as a financially stable field, not a "dream job"). Does that make my parents BAD at what they did because it was not the job they most wanted? Of course not. My mother gets awards constantly for her performance in the military and is brought all over the place to show other shops how she does things at hers, because its just that exceptional. She knows how to be nice and friendly and get the job done and she does it because its her JOB. My father used to own an automotive business. He would freeze in the winter and sweat to death in the summer. He hurt himself badly numerous times. His hands were filthy for nearly a MONTH after he stopped working each time, because the grease and grime was just that ground into his skin. He worked 12 hour days his entire life, sometimes much more. He had a lot of heavy lifting, had to be friendly and nice to customers, most of whom were ****** off because their car was not working correctly and many of whom felt they were owed something for nothing. He met them all with a smile and courtesy. He would come home and gripe and moan and say how horrible some of them were, and what he'd really like to tell them, and the next morning, he'd walk back in with a smile on his face and ask the next angry person "how can I help you this morning?".
Don't assume that because someone is not the ideal, they cannot do the job. And don't give in to the assumption that you have to love your job to be good at it. Do what you are paid to do and do it with a smile. Leave your issues at home. Its doable. My parents generation did it all the time, and their parents before them, and theirs before them.
Specializes in psychiatric, UR analyst, fraud, DME,MedB.
Your unhappy? Quit. But if your also unhappy with your husband - find a well to do Dr. and marry him. Thats my poor advice.
But be sure to find a doctor that is really making money , and not an addict or a scrooge.....??? I can not help but admire your sense of humor ;0) . Unfortunately it is not that simple........I think we must make an effort to be happy inside ourselves ...so that we do not need props such as people and material things? How?? Start getting into meditation !! ( I said meditation , not medication , okay?) This way you do not need other people to make you happy. People are humans and they will have their share of ups and downs...so work on yourself so you can depend on yourself when the world is going crazy. this is just my opinion, for whatever it is worth to you.
Drop out then, quit wasting your money and the teachers time to learn if you dont want to be a RN. No shame in that. If its not your thing, then its not your thing, life is too short to be bitter, find something else you like to do.
Just because other students are excited about the profession does not make them pretensious.
Whoa!! I can't believe some of the posts I'm reading. Who exactly gets to decide who should get into NS?? The OP DESERVES her spot in the program because she EARNED it. She didn't "take someone else's spot"...she got her own. Also, if you happen to think nursing is some calling all fine and dandy..just remember that others may not share your opinion and belief. People can get into the nursing profession because it offers job security, room for advancement, etc. That does not make them somehow less of a nurse anymore than the person that has always "dreamed" of being a nurse being a somehow better nurse because of their dream....somewhere along the line you'd better have the knowledge and aptitude to back up those dreams.
OP, you may find that it's actually nursing SCHOOL that you don't like. Give yourself the opportunity to at least experience nursing as a real nurse (oops...shouldn't step on toes, I guess) before you decide. You've made it this far with lots of hard work...I'd hate to see you give that all up without really knowing what's out there for you.
It's funny, because looking back, I laugh about all the b*tching and moaning I did as a nursing student. I was at lunch with a few friends I made from nursing school, and we would all kill to go back! Enjoy your schooling life while you can. In talking with several nurses where I work, a lot of them don't like being nurses either. Most of them have bills to pay and nursing is pretty much the only place where you can make decent money with a 2 year degree. I agree with what someone said earlier, I wouldn't depend on your husband for money. While that's nice, it's not guaranteed. I don't work in a toxic work environment. We show up, we do our jobs, we laugh a bit, and then we go home. I disagree that you'll be toxic to the work environment. You just need to show up and do your job. I forgot where I was going with my post. Oh yeah, I would finish nursing school and pass the NCLEX and keep your nursing license active. At least this way you'll have a security blanket if, for some reason, you need to bring your own income in.
niceperson5201
4 Posts
Your unhappy? Quit. But if your also unhappy with your husband - find a well to do Dr. and marry him. Thats my poor advice.