I'm taking a 3-month medical leave of absence due to stress from nursing. Anyone who is currently working with me will recognize who I am.
Basically, covid has killed nursing for me. It has made it into a macabre profession. I am now a full-blown claustrophobic thanks to the masking mandate, and all the other regulatory BS that has taking over everything. I hate what nursing has become.
I hope to continue to lead a healthy life, and then die before the medical industrial complex gets its hands on me. I've told my children that I want to die a natural death and I want only a graveside Christian burial when my time comes.
I walked away about 4 months ago from an incredibly easy job (compared to most of you here) after 40 years of nursing in various areas. I'm now dirt poor, living on a meager "retirement" income but I've never been happier and more content. At peace, as they say. I plan on taking a little part time job at Costco giving out samples for extra money. That's all I need or want. My very best to you. Enjoy your life!
Good for you!! ? I would do the same, my sanity is priceless!
It is hard.
when I worked LTC and had no PPE, a staff not properly educated or trained, no supplies, it was lonely. Everyone was in their rooms, fear was everywhere.
stretchers of dead in the hallway, wondering what would happen next. Making hard phone calls. Wondering when it would end.
I don’t hate nursing, I hate Illness. I hate that people get sick with covid, or cancer, or heart failure. I hate how some treatments work on some people and yet others don’t. I hate all the rules but I know why they are there. After that experience I think myself lucky to be able to suit up in gown, gloves, booties, face shield, and N95.
when it’s my time to pass I want to look back at my legacy and my life’s work. I want to know that when times were hard I chose to stay and stick it out and fight for others.
It is hard.
when I worked LTC and had no PPE, a staff not properly educated or trained, no supplies, it was lonely. Everyone was in their rooms, fear was everywhere.
stretchers of dead in the hallway, wondering what would happen next. Making hard phone calls. Wondering when it would end.
I don’t hate nursing, I hate Illness. I hate that people get sick with covid, or cancer, or heart failure. I hate how some treatments work on some people and yet others don’t. I hate all the rules but I know why they are there. After that experience I think myself lucky to be able to suit up in gown, gloves, booties, face shield, and N95.
when it’s my time to pass I want to look back at my legacy and my life’s work. I want to know that when times were hard I chose to stay and stick it out and fight for others.
There's a not so subtle judgment in your post. "I want to know that when times were hard I chose to stay and stick it out and fight for others". This implies that those nurses who chose to quit, for whatever reason(s), are somehow deficient in character or compassion. When many nurses weren't even provided basic (and essential) PPES can you really impugn them for quitting? I personally applaud anyone for making the very difficult decision of leaving this very toxic profession
Thank you for your service during the first two waves of the pandemic. I wish our country would conscript our young population to provide inpatient, non-clinical support. Now we are into round three and are unprepared yet again. Covid is the enemy, not each other.
There's a not so subtle judgment in your post. "I want to know that when times were hard I chose to stay and stick it out and fight for others". This implies that those nurses who chose to quit, for whatever reason(s), are somehow deficient in character or compassion. When many nurses weren't even provided basic (and essential) PPES can you really impugn them for quitting? I personally applaud anyone for making the very difficult decision of leaving this very toxic profession
Then why are you still on blogs talking about the profession if you “applaud” people leaving? Wouldn’t you get to pruning your roses already and leave the “toxic” profession to the “judgmental” nurses who just want to help others?
Thank you for your service during the first two waves of the pandemic. I wish our country would conscript our young population to provide inpatient, non-clinical support. Now we are into round three and are unprepared yet again. Covid is the enemy, not each other.
They don't even conscript people to the military, it certainly wouldn't happen for hospitals. The problem is many hospitals administrators had cut staffing before the pandemic, disrespecting and demoralizing the nurses who remained that they are starting quitting in droves rather than work for a toxic company. The answer is for the hospitals to treat their staff with respect, retain the nurses they have, hire more support staff and have adequate supplies to do the job safely. But it is their own fault that so many nurses quit and it remains on them to fix the glaring problems causing the mass exodus in the first place. One place to start would be for management to be more hands on!
It is not nurses job to be martyrs and put our lives at risk due to the poor decisions that management has made re staffing, supplies and PPE. There have been numerous news articles about nurses and doctors not being given adequate PPE and even refusing to be allowed to wear their own masks and some have even been fired for daring to speak out at the start of the pandemic. Should we continue to work in unsafe conditions? Is that the solution? Don't speak up, just be martyrs for the cause? How is that going to improve things?
The only sane thing to do is vote with your feet and leave the toxic hospitals and hopefully find good ones if they exist. Then the toxic hospitals will have to pay for travelers at crisis pay and one would hope they would see the light and fix the staffing issues, but I doubt it. They will simply look for new grads to conscript with a one sided contract like HCA does where you have to repay the "training" costs if you leave before the contract ends, but at least it is pro-rated whereas my "Christian" hospital that has the same logo as Charmed will require them to pay back the full amount plus interest if they dare to leave before the end of the contract.
I applaud you and vintagegal for your dedication to the cause, but there is nothing wrong with us speaking out about unsafe conditions. If no one speaks out it will never get better.
Then why are you still on blogs talking about the profession if you “applaud” people leaving? Wouldn’t you get to pruning your roses already and leave the “toxic” profession to the “judgmental” nurses who just want to help others?
Sad that you want to attack those of us speaking up about the unsafe toxic conditions in some hospitals. And for the record morelostthanfound is still a working nurse. I however retired early rather than work in unsafe conditions so I guess you can spend your ire on me if you want. But I will still speak up for unsafe working conditions and to help our fellow nurses with my decades of experience and knowledge. I can do that and still tend to my roses. LOL
I applaud you for working thru the pandemic as I did the whole year of 2020 as morelostthanfound and millions continue to do. I hope you have decent working conditions. I pass the baton on to the younger ones and I wish you all the best. I truly do. I hope and pray we will finally get safe staffing ratios like only the state of CA has so far. It would make a world of difference and if we had that hospitals wouldn't be in dire straights now.
Many of us that walked away were essentially forced by the unsafe working conditions that took a toll on our bodies and minds. But honestly I don't feel guilty for retiring early. If management had not destroyed my hospital to the point where we didn't have transporters, HUCs, CNA's and even not enough tele monitors and oxygen flow meters, I would still be there. It was not covid, it was the management that lead me to walk away. We were forced to admit patients without tele monitors for them and then had to wait to see if a supervisor could find us one. If after an hour or two they couldn't we were then forced to call a Dr and get another patient off tele so the new one had it! Also half the rooms didn't have oxygen flow meters so you'd have an emergency look up and no flow meter to give oxygen. I'd literally have to run to another wing to find one to give my patient oxygen. And don't get me started on the times we held ICU patients on the floor, not for a lack of beds, but for a lack of ICU nurses as they were quitting due to triple assignments as the norm. One time a Dr had to threaten to transfer a patient to another hospital if they didn't transfer the patient to ICU that had been sitting waiting all day for a bed, but really for a nurse! Currently I hear if you come to their ER you may have to be transferred to another hospital if God forbid you need sugery or a cardiac cath because they lost most if not all of their staff and haven't replaced them in a timely fashion! So unsafe and I will not apologize for speaking out about it!
Then why are you still on blogs talking about the profession if you “applaud” people leaving? Wouldn’t you get to pruning your roses already and leave the “toxic” profession to the “judgmental” nurses who just want to help others?
I think that a lot of us are looking towards other options. It's nice if you are at the stage in life where you can still tolerate the medical field. Some of us have reached the point where we cannot. But, nursing has been a huge part of our life and as I was told by an administrator on this very thread, I might be quitting nursing but I should not quit this site.
As for me, I am enjoying my time off to reflect and recreate. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with anything in the medical field, I haven't come to a conclusion about that. Whenever I think of strapping a mask on for 12 hours I feel very stressed.
I'm working on some artistic endeavors, and I'm also considering seasonal work, and occasional unemployment. I was on unemployment for a couple months last year because the hospital I worked for closed suddenly. It's really not a bad gig.
Fortunately I have followed the Dave Ramsey plan to get out of debt, and I own a couple of rental properties that bring in a little income, and I don't have any mortgages on anything.
There is a possibility that I will be poised for a short-term, lucrative contract this Winter. I did a couple of short-term ones last year during the big lockdown. It was very highly remunerative in a short period of time. I am also still an employee at a hospital that I am familiar with where I make a very good hourly, wage.
The state just mandated the vaccine and that hospital is in an area where people are highly suspicious of governmental actions regarding this vaccine. They will definitely lose some staff and they are already highly dependent on travelers. Probably a number of people are going to get suddenly religious and claim the religious exemption though.
I did get the vaccine, but I fully support freedom of choice in medical decisions without the loss of livelihood as a threat. And, the vaccine is no protection from covid-19 since my daughter got it after receiving the vaccine and I've heard of plenty of others. Some are saying that the vaccinated are more likely to transmit because they don't know that they have the virus , because the symptoms are less after vaccination. There are still a lot of unknowns with this whole thing. But one thing I do know is that masks caused me a great deal of anxiety, and that any work I do in the future I would like to be mask free. Not everyone can tolerate having a face covering.
netteh1, BSN
15 Posts
I am with you Emergent. After 40 years of nursing I plan to retire.
I wish you the best of luck!