I quit

[ADN_Is_Complete]

Hey all,

I've been an RN for 18 months and I will be resigning from my floor in two weeks. I realize this isn't a wise idea. I'm just so burnt out and I know that's not the place for me. I have an offer for a nursing home, but I feel I may get overwhelmed by the number of pts. I'm really not sure what kind of nurse I want to be. I've considered the ICU. How did you guys find your niche? I love taking care of the pts but hate the unnecessary drama. Drowning in work constantly with no real help. We've been short a good bit and when this happens some of us have to take an extra pt. Our ratios are 4-6 pts. It's mostly 6 now without considering the acuity of the pts.

Also, I think nights are making me feel drained all the time. But I don't necessarily want to have a 9-5, no weekends or holidays. I don't like having to take call 1-2 times per month. I also don't like the scheduling at my job now. Ex. one work week. M, T, F, Sa, Sun. It feels like by the time I recover it's time to go back to work. Part of me feels like I need a 2-3 week break and the other part is worried I won't find a position I like. I'm just so confused.

[ADN_Is_Complete, ADN]

On 3/14/2020 at 9:26 PM, DFWPMHNP said:

Have you considered travel nursing or just working for an agency for your area?

I have but shouldn't I have more experience?

[ADN_Is_Complete, ADN]

On 3/14/2020 at 4:06 PM, LPN Retired said:

You may be stepping out of the frying pan into the fire.

Nursing homes are hard .,

Yeah, I'm kind of wary about this. But if push comes to shove and I can't find anything else, I'll have to take whatever is willing to hire me. I just don't know how to juggle 23-44 pts.

[ADN_Is_Complete, ADN]

On 3/15/2020 at 1:13 AM, Workitinurfava said:

If you don't work as a nurse what else would you like to do/can do? I ask because some people can handle the work (nothing wrong with you if you can't) and some can't. If you have another option, consider it. What can it hurt. All nursing jobs will carry a certain level of stress as you have people lives in your hands. With that can come all sorts of other things. If you aren't up to it, face it now and move on if you can. Will it get easy?, no (the work is not easy), but you may rise to a level of being able to handle it better. I work on a psych floor that seems to be changing into a medical floor. There is a pt with tubing in her room and all sorts of unsafe equipment to handle GI care that she needs. This person came to the unit due to an overdose and wanting to kill herself. She should be on a medical floor. Things are changing and not for the better. Less of everything, support from management, unsafe ratios, etc. I stay to do what I signed up to do and to make a living. I like caring for the patients. The other stuff, not so much. Not sure of where I will be in the future but this is where I am now. I know to make the most of it.

I'm not sure. Maybe I would become a vet tech or something. And I like being a nurse for the most part. I just don't like working in the area I'm in. I want to try out a few more areas before I give up. And you're right. Things are not changing for the better. I just have to find an area I can tolerate.

[DFWPMHNP]

There are agencies that will accept you with the amount of experience you have now. You have 18months correct? It would be the same as you are now starting over and acquiring a job elsewhere. The only difference is you will do this every 6 to 13 weeks depending on the contract and if you want to extend the contract at a certain facility.

[KalipsoRed21, BSN, RN]

So do you really want to try ICU or just pulling at ideas? To me it sounds like you are wondering aimlessly. Don’t feel bad about that. I hated working at the hospital....I tried for 8 years to make working at the hospital something I wanted. I wanted to be “super smart” and wanted to work where the “real stuff” was happening. I am grateful for my ER experience and my tele experience but home health is one of the best gigs I’ve had as a nurse. I get to do a lot of patient education and I love case managing. It’s a lot of organizing and assessment. Mostly day hours. The whole “I hate the...drowning in work constantly with no real help” thing is pretty much nursing everywhere. There is not a place in nursing where you won’t experience that. What will happen is that you should start to figure out what you can handle and how to tell your supervisor/charge nurse no. Learning to say no is really, really, really hard. Especially when you are new and those in management are saying “this is the best expectation of your job”. Realize this, the only thing expected of you is to take good care of your patients and document well enough to cover your ***, and to speak up for concerns you may have for your patient. That is what is expected to keep your license.
Your boss is going to tell you that the expectations are to do things like have 6 patients, fill out a bunch of stupid reports, speak up when you need help (but when you actually do this make you feel like 2 inches tall for asking and point out “all the ways they’ve helped you” and make you feel like you should be able to handle more than you are. ), go to a *** tone of time wasting meetings, and keep up with emails.
Now being a nurse for only 18 months it is not untrue that you probably should be able to handle more than you are, but that is an experience issue. Around the 2 year mark I got more confident and started learning to say no.
I say find something part time. If you can’t find something in your area, maybe you should move? I live in rural Illinois and really I could walk out of a job one day and have another the next they are so desperate for warm bodies here. You are only going to find your path by trying the next thing. For the first 8 years I was a nurse I changed jobs every 1.5-2 years. Don’t feel bad about that. Also take a good and honest look at how you feel. Have you had to be part of a code? Have you had a patient crash on you? Did you enjoy handling that experience? I put myself through that several times in the ER because I didn’t want to be the nurse who lacked the experience necessary to handle those high stress situations and frankly working on a dummy once every 2 years is nothing like the real deal. But really, once I was honest with myself, those high stress life/death situations are not my cup of tea. I’m super grateful to have been apart of them because I learned a TON I never would have had I not been in those situations, and I did enough of them that I feel confident to have a plan and be able to take action when the *** starts to hit the fan, but I don’t enjoy that adrenaline rush. So take stock so maybe you don’t have to suffer 8 years in environments that you think you want but actually don’t. Do you like the high risk super sick stuff? No? ICU and ER are probably not your cup of tea. Are you super anal about orders and really type A? Maybe surgery would be something worth looking into? In your floor experience was there ever a procedure you enjoyed like NG tubes or Foleys? Maybe look into a GI or urology speciality? Was discharge education and medication education the thing you liked? Wound care? Those are great for home health. Wound care is also good for a wound clinic position. Good luck to you!

[FlorentineRN]

After 18 months you have sufficient experience to do all sorts of things. Just for keeping an income with the COVID-19 thing going on, you may want to revoke the resignation and offer to be involved in your hospital's response to the public health emergency. That will look generous and you will see a new area in nursing. Just a thought.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

With the current strain on healthcare resources you are in a rather unique position. Everybody seems to be hiring for ED and ICU and having some experience should give you a bit of an advantage. So if you really thinking ICU might be a good fit now is the time to apply.

If you have not already finished your notice and left talk to your manager and HR, maybe with the special circumstances surrounding hospitals right now due to the massive healthcare response required for COVID-19 the option to transfer to another unit just might be a possibility.

[LauRN3367, MSN, NP]

Luckily I fell into my niche. Would you consider an Urgent Care? They are also busy right now and looking for help. And I believe the hours are flexible as a RN! I have never worked in one but some friends did. Good luck and keep us posted.

[ADN_Is_Complete, ADN]

Hey all, I did speak with my director and I went PRN. I'll do that until I figure what area I want to work in. I'll keep you all updated.

On 3/23/2020 at 7:34 PM, LauRN3367 said:

Luckily I fell into my niche. Would you consider an Urgent Care? They are also busy right now and looking for help. And I believe the hours are flexible as a RN! I have never worked in one but some friends did. Good luck and keep us posted.

I'll check around my area and apply.

On 3/23/2020 at 12:48 PM, kbrn2002 said:

With the current strain on healthcare resources you are in a rather unique position. Everybody seems to be hiring for ED and ICU and having some experience should give you a bit of an advantage. So if you really thinking ICU might be a good fit now is the time to apply.

If you have not already finished your notice and left talk to your manager and HR, maybe with the special circumstances surrounding hospitals right now due to the massive healthcare response required for COVID-19 the option to transfer to another unit just might be a possibility.

I hope so. I still haven't heard back from CCU, CVICU or trauma yet.

[ADN_Is_Complete, ADN]

On 3/19/2020 at 3:40 AM, KalipsoRed21 said:

So do you really want to try ICU or just pulling at ideas? To me it sounds like you are wondering aimlessly. Don’t feel bad about that. I hated working at the hospital....I tried for 8 years to make working at the hospital something I wanted. I wanted to be “super smart” and wanted to work where the “real stuff” was happening. I am grateful for my ER experience and my tele experience but home health is one of the best gigs I’ve had as a nurse. I get to do a lot of patient education and I love case managing. It’s a lot of organizing and assessment. Mostly day hours. The whole “I hate the...drowning in work constantly with no real help” thing is pretty much nursing everywhere. There is not a place in nursing where you won’t experience that. What will happen is that you should start to figure out what you can handle and how to tell your supervisor/charge nurse no. Learning to say no is really, really, really hard. Especially when you are new and those in management are saying “this is the best expectation of your job”. Realize this, the only thing expected of you is to take good care of your patients and document well enough to cover your ***, and to speak up for concerns you may have for your patient. That is what is expected to keep your license.
Your boss is going to tell you that the expectations are to do things like have 6 patients, fill out a bunch of stupid reports, speak up when you need help (but when you actually do this make you feel like 2 inches tall for asking and point out “all the ways they’ve helped you” and make you feel like you should be able to handle more than you are. ), go to a *** tone of time wasting meetings, and keep up with emails.
Now being a nurse for only 18 months it is not untrue that you probably should be able to handle more than you are, but that is an experience issue. Around the 2 year mark I got more confident and started learning to say no.
I say find something part time. If you can’t find something in your area, maybe you should move? I live in rural Illinois and really I could walk out of a job one day and have another the next they are so desperate for warm bodies here. You are only going to find your path by trying the next thing. For the first 8 years I was a nurse I changed jobs every 1.5-2 years. Don’t feel bad about that. Also take a good and honest look at how you feel. Have you had to be part of a code? Have you had a patient crash on you? Did you enjoy handling that experience? I put myself through that several times in the ER because I didn’t want to be the nurse who lacked the experience necessary to handle those high stress situations and frankly working on a dummy once every 2 years is nothing like the real deal. But really, once I was honest with myself, those high stress life/death situations are not my cup of tea. I’m super grateful to have been apart of them because I learned a TON I never would have had I not been in those situations, and I did enough of them that I feel confident to have a plan and be able to take action when the *** starts to hit the fan, but I don’t enjoy that adrenaline rush. So take stock so maybe you don’t have to suffer 8 years in environments that you think you want but actually don’t. Do you like the high risk super sick stuff? No? ICU and ER are probably not your cup of tea. Are you super anal about orders and really type A? Maybe surgery would be something worth looking into? In your floor experience was there ever a procedure you enjoyed like NG tubes or Foleys? Maybe look into a GI or urology speciality? Was discharge education and medication education the thing you liked? Wound care? Those are great for home health. Wound care is also good for a wound clinic position. Good luck to you!

For the most part, I feel I'm pulling at ideas too. And how much experience do they want with Home Health? And I do have to work on saying no, it's very hard. I've been a part of 1-2 codes on other Nurse's pts. I don't particularly enjoy the adrenaline rush plus I haven't had any of my own yet. Maybe I could look into surgery too.

[pinkdoves, BSN]

I know many camps are hiring right now for the Summer! of course it's temporary but it's a good, immediate option imo ?

[guest966516]

My 2 Cents...

I hated bedside...

No, let me rephrase that. I did ICU night shift for 6 years and was "READY" for a change.

Yeah, that's better.

I went into Outpatient Oncology. I have loved it ever since.

I work 4 x 10 hour shifts, NO NIGHTS, NO HOLIDAYS, NO WEEKENDS. EVER.

I love it. I work in an outpatient office, and we work directly with doctors and np's and see patients as they come in for their follow up visits and chemotherapy treatments.

I paid my dues, and as soon as I could get out, I was gone faster than the roadrunner.

Point is, you got options. MANY. Don't sell yourself short, and no one hospital is the be all, end all. MANY MANY MANY hospitals out there.

I am making a good salary, and I am happy. Dont be afraid to keep changing jobs every 6 months if you have to, until you find what you like. Heck, thats what I did.

Find your happiness, and stick with it.