I hate nursing

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I may get yelled at or get the usual "find another profession" comments. But I have to say it.. are there any LPN's who love their job? I have been a LPN for 12 yrs and i have hated every moment of it. I noticed that Im subjected to nursing homes, abuse clinics peds and home health. I moved from up north only to relocated to florida and get paid far less for a job that is worse. Never wanted to be a nurse it was a family trait. All the women in my family are nurses. I have no life no husband no kids and i spend almost every day at a place i hate. I have been working on my RN and at this point I dont feel like its worth it. I have tried hospitals and I have tried other avenues. I left the profession only to return and realize you can leave the job but you will NEVER stop being a nurse. So Im not sure what to do is my RN worth it or will I be just as miserable? I was never a smoker I find my self smoking and unable to sleep. I cry before work every day and get a upset stomach before my shift. and this is at every nursing job i held. Im sorry if this sounds negative or sad or just complaining. i know the senior nurses are gonna read me my rights. But I need to know if anyone feels the same way?

Additional info: I was recently attacked by a patients husband during a home healthcare assignment. I have anxiety PTSD and really just dont like or trust people any more nursing has been nothing but sad experiences for me. My friends and family im sure are tired of my complaints and most people say " just leave" they will never understand....you dont just leave nursing its in you.

I get it. I returned back to nursing work after a short hiatus. Just thinking of going for my RN (which is what everyone has expected of me since 1996) is not going to happen. I no longer hate nursing. But I don't love it either. Interesting hearing about how some nurses were attacked on here. I was just attacked this past Wed by a patient who came after me with a razor, and cannot see myself being here for long. I also don't see becoming an RN as a way to make things better for myself. It will just be going up the ladder in a career trajectory I never liked to begin with. So I will bide my time here at this facility until I get my masters in something completely off the nursing or even healthcare path. Neezy I feel your pain!

Neezy84,

I know how you feel.. some of these places have horrific working conditions that suck the life out of you. And then when you work with toxic co-workers it is literally hell on earth. What helped me is finding a specialty I could bare and I found that I actually enjoy it. I love my patients, and in 6 years I have only had 1 patient who treated me terribly and it wasn't even her, it was her mother. The specialty may be kinda boring and repetitive at times, but I don't feel doomed at the beginning of my shift anymore. I know your options are limited as an LVN, because some places just wont hire you. I would comb the sub-specialty forums to see what may appeal to you..I considered correctional nursing at one point because the nurses seemed to love it. Hugs to you, I hope you find something better :)

Specializes in Med Surg/ Pedi, OR.

Talk to a Professional about your thoughts. Burnt OUT is real !

Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.

No one is making you go to a job you hate or stay in a career that makes you miserable. Although I would do anything to be able to have my license back & go back to school.

Thank you! I'm looking for a life coach !

Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.

A life coach can be helpful for some, and I do hope you find something like that, but with your recent traumas, something more clinically and evidence-based is warranted.

I'm saying that if an LC is helpful, it won't hurt, but your emotional and physical wounds require more than a person to guide you with motivational interviewing and support.

Don't get me wrong, I like motivational interviewing as part of a comprehensive and scientific-based plan of care. You likely require more than a personal cheerleader.

Specializes in Home Health, Mental/Behavioral Health.

If everyone is quite finished with being so hard on Sour Lemon, I'd like to chime in. Although the approach used is not the way I ... Or say you ... would have used, the point is this was a genuine effort to be helpful. Sometimes I think we need to accept that not everyone uses the same tactics in offering their help, but read between the lines to determine the intent. I understand Being in a vulnerable state of hurt and emotional distress, most of us are not looking for that sort of advice. The big "BUT" here is, though, that it did come from a good place and I hope that someone who once misunderstood the intent can now see it differently. Speaking of compassion, then persecuting in the same breath is a bit hippocritical (spelling?) .

As for addressing the OP's original concern... I am an LPN. And I am aware of the limitations we face in pay and work environments. But if nursing really is in your blood like you say, then becoming an RN is a great decision. If it were me, I'd stick it out because there are SO MANY more opportunities awaiting you that may be just what you're looking for.

And like others have said , please take care of yourself and perhaps take a mini vacation to re-evaluate what you really want out of your life. Career is a huge part considering we can't survive without income. But it's important to keep in mind that it's not the only thing that matters.

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

As always, I advocate for Private Duty Nursing. You get to be an old-fashioned-type nurse, the stress level is way down, and if it isn't, you have the option to ask to be assigned with a different case and patient. (within my agency, anyway.)

I hope you know the good you did here for some one today...I hope you know that the time you took to write.this reached out to someone who really needed to hear it I wish u so much love and success kooky korky

Thank you, Neezy84. I am glad I was able to be of some help. You made my day!

I don't see how it does any good to give someone just enough encouragement that they carry on in their miserable ways. If I ever managed to get myself stuck in a loop of despair for twelve years, I would thank the one who came along and smacked me around until I woke the heck up.

Some people need smacking and some need a hug, a hand up, encouragement, kindness.

Some people need to be acknowledged where they're at before they can see their way to a better future.

OP says she's been assaulted. She is likely depressed and angry and terrified, not to mention not liking her work but having to face it every day. Maybe she hasn't had time to grieve and deal with the emotions of being attacked.

I was once attacked by a patient and it was a seriously terrifying event. Nothing bad happened to me physically, but it could have and I was in a bad way for several months. For the next few years, near the anniversary of the attack, I relived it. And I relive it still, after more than 2 decades. So I can understand how OP feels. And if she's never really received counseling or involved Law Enforcement or the District Attorney, she is shortchanging herself.

Anyway, just my view.

Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.
Keep going! It doesn't matter that you cry every day before work, have hated every moment of your job for the past twelve years, have no life, and bore your friends and family with your constant complaining. None of us get to decide how to live and you were simply born to suffer.

I also keep myself wrapped in imaginary chains. It's just who I was meant to be.

Is that more what you were looking for?

Rough, harsh and cold as a witch's teat, but very accurate.

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

I haven't read the whole thread, so excuse me if this has already been mentioned, but I'm wondering if you mentioned constraints/restraints that might be keeping you stuck in place?

Once, years ago, I was feeling really down after working 7 terminal cases in a row, and the opportunity presented itself to work part-time with native wildlife, orphaned and injured, (they kept the ones who could not be released for one reason or another, and used them in educational shows) at a museum...and I took it. A short while later, the person who was managing the department just up and quit; suddenly I had a new job. It was caring for animals instead of people, improving their living conditions and diet, getting to know their personality quirks. I worked that job for about 2-3 years and it was a very restorative experience.

It was one of the best things that ever happened for me. People said, oh, that was so brave, making such a big change, and oh, they would never dare!

The thing is, it was so very NECESSARY for me to take a break, there wasn't any 'bravery' involved. I had a lot of experience with 'misery'

in my early years and I just. could. not. do. it. again. anymore!

It built my self-confidence and my feeling of self worth because I had acted on the idea of working part-time in the museum. One-by-one the cables holding me down began to snap and release. I can not tell you, I can not stress strongly enough being the agent of your own change. If you can't make a huge leap. start taking tiny steps; no effort is wasted.

And as far as people "getting tired of hearing the complaints", well, I have to tell you that one of my older relatives has the same dis-Ease with repetitive bouts of anger, fears, sorrows, hurting and bitterness.

Yes, those complaints.

Well, it isn't even any point of whether or not these things are legitimate complaints or not. What I am saying is that the constant conversation that one can recite verbatim with the person complaining, with absolutely NOTHING ever being done by the complainer to actually address even the smallest thing, over which she does have power to resolve...well, it is exceptionally frustrating for the listeners. Twelve years is tough; my relative has been at it 25, yes, twenty-five years. THAT is why it "gets old." I'm sure suggestions have been made from those who wish to "help" and same suggestions dismissed for one reason or another.

Now, honest-to-gawd, what helped me, what propelled me, was a small article many years ago, in Cosmopolitan magazine, titled: "How To Get Unstuck." I followed the advice from that article more than SEVERAL times in my life and each time I DID...something...toward making changes .

It is so freeing, that later on you wonder at all the energy you expended surviving the all-consuming PROBLEM(S); you feel so much lighter mentally and emotionally. Slowly it dawns on you that you feel good, you don't hate your circumstances. It's a real revelation that I highly recommend.

I am living proof it CAN be done, but each person has to be good and ready, and absolutely open to synchronicity; be aware that the oddest, unlikeliest occurrences can quite possibly lead you to some of the very BEST places, people, etc. You will find that letting go, even if just for a while, instead of gritting you teeth and hanging on with a death grip, can become exhilarating. Imagine that!

If this addresses nothing for you, just take the spirit of my good intentions and forget the rest.

I have been in and out of nursing several times over the years, and it was never time wasted.

+ Add a Comment