I Quit Bedside Nursing

[Little_Mouse]

I hate my job. Working on a gero-psych unit for a little over a year. i hate my coworkers. many of them don't give a hoot about anyone but themselves. they are only watching their own back and willing to throw anyone else under the bus. management is no different. i have a charge nurse that lacks basic knowledge (that a CHARGE RN should know...don't know how to hang an IV bag? Don't know how to even start an IV? You actually need help to get meds from the pyxis since you never used it before? omg.) and leadership skills on top of that. the DON even knows it but there's nothing she can do, according to her. there is little to no morale on our unit. each shift is ready to cut the throat of another shift. the noc charge nurse is so disrespectful to other nurses, if she thinks you're an idiot, she will let you know by her looking out the window during report, accusing the evening staff nurse(s) of neglecting the patients (or neglecting to clean up a patient's wheelchair, table, etc.). Almost every RN and/or Charge RN like to chastise you for not doing something or doing something incorrectly in front of all the staff during group report. They love wagging their little finger at you and stroking their own egos because they know better than you. i wish i could tell management all this anger and frustration i have for the staff and the unit. i'm also tired of patient's family members that are nearly as crazy as the patient. i'm tired that management focuses so much on cutting down on spending, they cut down on staff--and then blame the staff if there's a fall, a code, or whatever issue that goes down. working here has shot my ego...even in nursing school i got the impression from instructors that i wouldn't make it far as a nurse. working here just enforces it. sorry i'm not miss "super nurse" that is supposed to know everything after a year, let alone everything after i got out of nursing school. sorry i'm not as quick or intelligent as someone else and not good enough to deserve even the slightest respect or acknowledgment as a human being from you. I figure that even if I did go to another unit, things probably won't be any different. i'm done. now, i need to get ready to go back to work.

p.s. i'm sorry for lack of grammar and punctuation. it's just a jumble of a rambling vent. i'm sad that what i've worked for, to become an RN, has been a pretty bad experience since i got this license 2 years ago. i'm looking for another job...applied to several places but no go so far....pardon if i offended anyone in my statements, too emotional...

[FancypantsRN]

Are you sure you want to throw in the towel so soon? I'm sorry you are having such a bad experience - not all floors are like this! I have had bad experiences as well - so I know how it feels... if you love nursing itself but are unhappy with your work environment, perhaps try a new work environment. It can be very frustrating (especially when you are new at something) to not have support - and a floor does not change overnight. Just know that there are some floors where the teamwork and support are amazing... and it's never too late to try somewhere else.

[cubbieblue]

Sorry to hear about the very bad work environment you are in. As a new nurse just starting out ,this is the worst type of place to begin your career in. No wonder your confidence is shot. I hope you don't give up nursing alltogether ,unless you are really sure it is not for you. I am also a new nurse and even in a good environment it can be very stressful and cause you to doubt yourself, but everyone says it will get easier. I wish you the best of luck in finding a different facility to work in. Keep your chin up and keep plugging along and doing your best. Try not to let others intimidate you and look confident even if you aren't. Bullies like to prey on the weak.

[Simba&NalasMom, LPN]

You mean to say you have held this same awful position for over a year?!? You have much to be proud of. I can't handle that kind of baloney for longer than a month. There are better positions out there for you, just start looking. At least you can say you stuck to this job for over a year which looks good to any prospective employer!

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

You are simply overwhelmed. I don't blame you for feeling like you do. It seems as if you were thrown to the wolves and you are not getting the guidance you need from your NM, who should have been giving you feedback every step of the way in your first year. How can we be successful in any endeavor if we are operating in a vacuum?

Keep applying to other places. There are some good ones out there.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

don't think that all nursing units are the same. People who are truly frustrated with the work environment tend to act the way you discussed and that makes it worse for everyone. Hope you take a sabbatical and try elsewhere.

[RNperdiem, RN]

Sometimes having a really bad job once in your career is a good thing.

It gives you something to compare other jobs with and make you realize how good you have it in your new job.

[Biffbradford]

Don't quit your current job until you secure a new one. I spent 4+ months applying for jobs of all kinds outside of nursing. Bupkis. So, I put my tail between my legs and came back. It's tough out there.

[KalipsoRed]

I worked on a decent floor when I started, but didn't really realize it as a new nurse. I experienced much of what you have written during my first year. I felt that managment was awful, there is no way in the world I could get all this done in a shift, I made mistakes, I got ******* at, so on and so forth. I promise it gets better after a couple of years.

I've changed jobs and still feel like I'm incompetent because I can't get everything done for all my patients. I don't care what any nurse on this message board says, nurses in this country have to high of a patient load with the amount of responsibility that we are suppose to have for each of our patients. I've been at some top 10 hospitals in the US who boast about the nursing magnet status, and while they are much better than other hospitals I've worked at, it still occurs to often that a nurse has an unsafe patient load. I have not met a nurse that is relativly relaxed and content at work.

As nurses we allow others to tell us (mostly other older nurses in the field) that it is basically our job to martyr ourselves to the Florence Nightengale image where we work ourselves raw for others for very little compensation or gratituted and then we should be GREATFUL to call ourselves nurses. Well that idea is ********.

So let me tell you this now. As a nurse if you make sure that your patients get most of their medications and are alive when you leave, then that's a good job. You are only one person and you can only do what you can do. Do your best and when someone else wants you to stay 3 hours after your shift to 'finish' things they feel you should have to do, tell them to shove it.

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

op: you just described my experience in my current er and a former med surg floor during these past 2 years!! do not give up! you know what hell is like because you work there now. find a better place to work! with your experience, the interview process can be a way to filter out bad enviroments by focusing questions on places you will not tolerate.

for example, ask questions regarding turn over rate, moral, teamwork, cliques, etc. when you walk the floor notice how the nurses act toward patients and each other. i did this recently and found a better work environment. two years of work experience in poor environments has heightened my senses. in fact, i was so bold with my questions during my interview that i did not think i would get the job. however, my new employers think like me. the nurses in management and on the floor have been to hell and back too and do not want to return.

btw, as the others have mentioned, do not quit until you have a job lined up. it is easier said then done, i know! i hate my current job and my co-workers. however, i continued to work here over a year to gain work experience while i saw others leave in droves! plus, i spent the past two months of applying to jobs until i landed my new positon because that is how tight the job market is right now. nurses have a hard time getting a new job when he/she is unemployed to include jobs away from the bedside. once you land your new job, put in your two week notice and go on cruise-control. again, easier said then done because you have been beaten up as badly as you have described, but it can be done... i'm doing it right now! gl!

-counting down the weeks when i do not have to return to this er or see my co-workers ever again!

[NaKcl, BSN, RN]

YOu sound very frustrated. I can related to your feelings because I have been there.

You stayed in that job for 2 years, do not let it go wasted. If you have some ppl, take it and get some rest first.

then look for a job at other places.

I know the job market is tight, but you have advantages over new graduates in getting hired. Transfering within the system is not that easy as they(employeers) advertise, at least with my experience.

so, looking outside of the system might be the answer for you.

like everyone said,,

you worked hard for it. Do not give up.

ps. my grammar is bad too, but everyone here seems to understand each other, so don't worry. :nurse:

[Little_Mouse]

Thank you all for the feedback. I've been told by a couple of my coworkers that our unit is not a reflection of other units. I understand, but it is difficult to comprehend that idea, I must say.

Things don't look up for me right now at work. Everyone is afraid of involving the Union in any matter that's brought up, but FINALLY, I did get the courage to get the union involved, had a union rep, but now I'm thinking that I could just well be a "target" by management in the near future...and that every little detail of my work will be scrutinized. I've been told by a fellow co-worker that some time ago a nurse did bring up an issue that involved the union and afterward, she was closely watched by management that she eventually got fired, and another nurse quit soon after. I don't know the whole details, but this was coming from a nurse that's worked there for about 5 years (the most any staff RN has worked on our shift). So everyone likes to keep their mouths shut and not get the union involved, no matter how short staffed or ridiculous a formal counseling may be.

You don't know how many times I've been told by other nurses (even my union rep!) to get the heck out of the unit ASAP. Many of them (like one of you) wonder how I managed to stay here a year. I've stuck here a year because of just that--to get that magical 1 year acute hospital experience. It's only gotten me 2 interview since I've been applying last month to a number of hospitals....but it's still difficult having started in such a specialized unit. I don't know how much longer I can stay here--whether it's management that might hang me out to dry or my own emotional bitterness that might get the best of me. I know of one coworker that will be giving in their 2 weeks notice soon--then we'll be short staffed again and "encouraged" to take extra days/weekends.