I Need Another Job ASAP!!

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I have 9months experience in medsurg/tele and i need another job right away. This job is causing me too much stress and I don't think I can do it anymore. I honestly want to leave hospital nursing alltogether and need some advice on how to get out! Sometimes I go home crying and feeling like I truly suck as a nurse. Help! And please dont tell me to stick through it, its going to get better talk bcuz this is is my 2nd medsurg job and I know this isnt for me

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Specializes in PICU, Sedation/Radiology, PACU.

It's your second job in 9 months and you're ready to jump ship? That's a red flag to me, and it will be to other employers. You have roughly 4.5 months at each job. That is not enough time to properly adjust and settle in to a nursing position as a new graduate. You're not feeling competent because you haven't given yourself time to become compentant. Don't expect that you're going to be excellent right away. It takes time to adjust, to learn. I'd say it should take about a year at your first acute care job before you are truly comfortable.

Nothing in your post indicates you are failing- you didn't mention disciplinary action, major mistakes, patient safety issues, etc. Instead, you said the job was stressful. But you know what? Every job is stressful. Home health is stressful. Nursing homes are stressful. If you're looking for a stress free job, nursing isn't the place to be looking. (there's a great thread titled Easy Job??? about the stresses of home health, if you are interested.)

I know you said not to say it, but I'm going to. You need to stick it out for a few more months and actually give yourself a shot of succeeding.

I know hospital nursing isn't for everyone. But unless you want to walk away from it feeling as though you failed and can never return, you should not leave right now. Most non-hospital jobs will require a year of experience anyway, and you might find it difficult to get into a position with only 9 months and 2 jobs under your belt. You want to try to avoid being labeled as a job hopper, because it will come back to bite you.

After three more months in the hospital, you might be amazed at how much progress you have made and you'll realize that you really can handle it. Then if you still want to leave, you can do so knowing that you are are capable of acute care nursing and can return in the future, rather than feeling like you 'dropped out' of the hospital and curing yourself off from all of those future opportunities.

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Is there anything in particular that is stressing you out? Is it the time management, uncertainty about medication administration, rotating shifts, working so closely with patients? When I started, the rotating shifts really affected my sleep and I started getting more and more anxious from the sleep deprivation. I did end up switching to a clinic setting at the hospital and everything was okay. I think if you can start to pinpoint the specific problems for you, it will help you come up with a plan. If, like me, rotating shifts are the trouble, maybe you could talk to your manager about working straight nights or days. If it's time management, again talk with your manager for ideas. Maybe you need more orientation. If it's just a general sense of stress and anxiety and you can't quite pinpoint what is going on, talk with your doctor and/or a therapist.

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If you are truly stressed out, then take some time off, take a vacation, or see your doctor and take medical leave. Rest. Relax. Recuperate. And while you are off work, get with a professional, to work on your stress relief skills. You need to learn how to deal with stress on a day to day basis or you will suffer, no matter what you end up doing. You can start with a physical fitness program and instituting good health practices. You don't need an expert to tell you to exercise daily and develop good sleep hygiene or to eat balanced meals. These measures are within your control to start now and will help you in any life endeavor.

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hfeuo

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It's your second job in 9 months and you're ready to jump ship? That's a red flag to me, and it will be to other employers. You have roughly 4.5 months at each job. That is not enough time to properly adjust and settle in to a nursing position as a new graduate. You're not feeling competent because you haven't given yourself time to become compentant. Don't expect that you're going to be excellent right away. It takes time to adjust, to learn. I'd say it should take about a year at your first acute care job before you are truly comfortable.

Nothing in your post indicates you are failing- you didn't mention disciplinary action, major mistakes, patient safety issues, etc. Instead, you said the job was stressful. But you know what? Every job is stressful. Home health is stressful. Nursing homes are stressful. If you're looking for a stress free job, nursing isn't the place to be looking. (there's a great thread titled Easy Job??? about the stresses of home health, if you are interested.)

I know you said not to say it, but I'm going to. You need to stick it out for a few more months and actually give yourself a shot of succeeding.

I know hospital nursing isn't for everyone. But unless you want to walk away from it feeling as though you failed and can never return, you should not leave right now. Most non-hospital jobs will require a year of experience anyway, and you might find it difficult to get into a position with only 9 months and 2 jobs under your belt. You want to try to avoid being labeled as a job hopper, because it will come back to bite you.

After three more months in the hospital, you might be amazed at how much progress you have made and you'll realize that you really can handle it. Then if you still want to leave, you can do so knowing that you are are capable of acute care nursing and can return in the future, rather than feeling like you 'dropped out' of the hospital and curing yourself off from all of those future opportunities.

Oh no you misunderstood me, i've been working at my current job for 9months consecutively. My 1st job was over a year ago before I moved and started this one. As far as this job I have had a verbal warning bcuz I overlooked a medication. It's just so hard bcuz I've grown up always succeeding and being the smartest at whatever I do. Nursing is the first thing I've ever done that's made me feel like a failure and I don't want to tolerate it anymore. I want out.

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Specializes in ER/ICU/STICU.

If you know you don't like it, then get that resume out there and start applying. That is one of the nice things about nursing is that you are not confined to one area. It may take some trial and error to find out what interest's you and doesn't demoralize you everytime you go to work. There are many different areas of nursing outside of a hospital setting. Good luck.

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Specializes in Public Health.
It's just so hard bcuz I've grown up always succeeding and being the smartest at whatever I do. Nursing is the first thing I've ever done that's made me feel like a failure and I don't want to tolerate it anymore. I want out.

I'm just a pre-nursing student, but the bolded is one of my biggest fears once I enter the profession. I don't like to mess up on the job, and in nursing, messing up on the job can have HUGE consequences. I'm mentally preparing myself for that.

Can you clarify - do you want out of your current position, or do you want out of the field altogether?

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

If you are unhappy, then definitely start looking for other work.

However, if at all possible, do not leave your current job until you have an official job offer in hand. The current job market is not very kind and if you quit before finding a new job, you may be out of work for quite a while.

Good luck.

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Oh no you misunderstood me, i've been working at my current job for 9months consecutively. My 1st job was over a year ago before I moved and started this one. As far as this job I have had a verbal warning bcuz I overlooked a medication. It's just so hard bcuz I've grown up always succeeding and being the smartest at whatever I do. Nursing is the first thing I've ever done that's made me feel like a failure and I don't want to tolerate it anymore. I want out.

No matter what you do in life, at some point, something will come along that will challenge everything you know or think about yourself.

As a professional you need to come to terms with the fact that you are not always going to be the smartest, and you will not always succeed. At some point you are going to have to buckle down and fight harder than you ever imagined to get what you want.

In order to succeed in life, you have to first come to terms with failure.

If you are truly unhappy in this job then sure, go ahead and look for something else. But if you want to quit because you feel like a failure, then that is really just giving up.

Please come to terms with the fact that you are no longer going to be the smartest or most successful. You are out there competing with people who are every bit as ambitious as you are, and just as smart, if not more so, and who will do and endure anything to get what they want.

Now is the time to fight for yourself.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I am having a hard time reconciling "I have always been the most successful and the smartest" with "so now that I'm not, I want to quit". So you are going to go from being the top of your game to being a quitter? All this really says about your prior achievements then is that they must not have been too difficult to achieve, if you are the type who gives up when running up against true effort.

Time to pull up your big girl pants.

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Oh no you misunderstood me, i've been working at my current job for 9months consecutively. My 1st job was over a year ago before I moved and started this one. As far as this job I have had a verbal warning bcuz I overlooked a medication. It's just so hard bcuz I've grown up always succeeding and being the smartest at whatever I do. Nursing is the first thing I've ever done that's made me feel like a failure and I don't want to tolerate it anymore. I want out.

You cannot be considered a person who always succeeds if you have never faced adversary...that's like saying your a successfuly mountain climber and you've only climbed the hills in your backyard. So far all I have heard is that you have made one medication error, so that is what has you soooo stressed out? You make one mistake and you fall apart? Or is there more?

You must be young and sheltered...seeing that a lot in the younger generations, they seem to be so....ill equipped to handle any type of stress or altercations. I don't mean this to sound rude or to attack you...If you trully want to consider yourself as succussfull and don't want to feel like a failure, then don't be a QUITTER, suck it up, switch it up and get back in there and show them just who the heck you are.

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