If you could do it all over.....

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If you could do it all over again...would you still have went into nursing???

I'm in my late 20's, only been nursing for a few years and I'm totally burnt out!! I dont know if it's the patient's, the workload and stress of the job, my insane co-workers, or all of the above!!! More often than not, I feel overworked, underpaid, overstressed, and at times treated unfairly as their is a lot of favoritism on my work unit and if your not in the clique of the "can never do anything wrong, holier than thou nurses" they treat you like sh*t (excuse my language). I work 12hr shifts, and usually end up getting off of work about an hour or at least 45 min late, as we have to wait for the last nurse to finish report before we can leave....thats because we're a relatively small unit and there has to be RN's on the floor at all time, which makes sense, but taking 30min to give an end of shift report is ridiculous....with that being said I often get off of work late, and by the time I get home, shower and eat, my alarm is going off the next morning and I'm up doing it all over again! I AM SO TIRED! mentally and physically tired! I often ask myself why I went into nursing, and I answer myself, "because I love nursing and helping others", but not enough to lose my sanity or have a nervous breakdown over. Nursing school prepared me for everything except the "real world of nursing." I've tried applying for other jobs within and outside the hospital, but I never get so much as a call back and I think I may be getting black balled from leaving my current job! Sometimes I wish I would have went into physical or occupational therapy or even respiratory therapy...come in see your patient's and move on to the next one! I know your going to encounter difficulties in any job and that's just life, but I often questions myself...If I could do it all over again, would I honestly have chose nursing knowing what I know now??? All responses welcomed! :)

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No, I would choose another profession. I am still likely to do so, as I am only 47 (that is what I keep telling myself) and once my "baby" graduates from high school in 2 years, I am hoping to have a plan in place for a new career.

Good luck. No advice other than find something you enjoy and try to make a living doing it.

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Yes. My only regrets are that I did not do it sooner (finished another, useless degree prior to starting nursing school), and I would have gone straight for the BSN instead of doing the seemingly unending LPN-ASN-BSN route.

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Specializes in medical surgical.

I predict many will get out of this mess of a career. Too many patients. The patients are getting heavier. Many of mine are morbidly obese, diabetic, noncompliant and alcholics. We tell this patients (customers) that they are on a restricted diet and they complain all the way to the top. They end up getting a second dinner. I guess this is to keep our press gainey scores high. Really it is all too much!

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It has definitely become a mess! Alot of our patients are obese as well and my back is currently paying for it.

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Specializes in OR Hearts 10.

Yes....

When I worked on on othro/medical floor I really liked it, but that was nearly 6 years ago and I hear the conditions are not as good as they were then.

I love working in the OR, now don't get me wrong there are plenty of days when I would love to tell them to take their job and shove it. But, I came into nuring @ 40 and have had lots of jobs that made me feel the same, most of them paid less then a third of what I make now....so I will keep what I have......

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I am not a nurse yet, but I know the job can be better...I grew up around nurses. I think it's not the job you dislike, it's the workplace! Maybe it's time for you to look for a new place to call home. You seem to be complaining about the work environment more than the job of being a nurse! You should look into finding a new place to work rather than finding a new career. Blessings in whatever you do!

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Nope. As I've gotten older I have found greater passions than nursing. Yes, I chose nursing because I like to help people and I always heard it was an outstanding, rewarding, high paying career. Bogus! Althought the hospital pay is good, I'd gladly trade that for peace of mind and sanity. Some days I feel like this career has changed my personality for the worse. As a result of stress I have found other things I love so much more, and I wish I would have done those. Maybe once I get these pesky student loans payed down I will ;)

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

What I never imagined or was prepared for 16 years ago, is that pleasing the family would come before my patients needs and nursing priorities of care.

It suddenly blindsided me one day... working in the ICU... it's not the quality of care, how knowing and skilled I am... but providing pillows, blankets and drinks for a worthless "score" all done with a Mc Donalds smile, is deemed more worthy than saving a patient.

My fresh head injury, that needs no stimulation on the vent... family irritating them so I have to hang a blood pressure drip and sedate them... the patient can't complain... but the family does to management... so they are allowed to camp out all night... and now my patient is seizing. I hold the line and tell them to back off, sit in the chair and not touch or speak... they complain to management... and yep, I'm in the office and the family is overstimulating the fresh brain injury with management blessing... all at my patient demise. ICP is high and management is too busy giving out free dinner cards to ruby tuesdays to care about my compromised patient. Then I'm written up for poor performance with family interactions... "just smile more".

So yes, I'd never have gotten into nursing if I knew what it would become... press gainey... patient satisfaction scores, don't measure patient outcomes, but the outcomes they measure will lead to the demise of patient care, and it is already.

I'm already planning to leave a profession that I used to love... I can't love what I do anymore because my PATIENT is no longer the focus of care or the priority....

I'm archaic, a dinosaur... and I'm terribly afraid that no one will remember our patients needs have to come first, and I'm terrified of what our health care has become... so yes I'm leaving, I have to live with myself.. and it's almost impossible to do today. Where I go doesn't matter, the factors that pushed me to this are the defining factors that must be changed. Worse yet... this is just the beginning.

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Yes, I probably would still choose nursing. Right now I'm stuck in LTC. Don't get me wrong, I like what I do, but I don't LOVE it. I'm only stuck because of my family situation..working PT/PRN I don't have the time to devote to a new job with the orientation etc that would be required. LTC is what I know and thankfully, I'm darned good at what I do and I do still feel like I make a difference.

As far as being stuck...if you still want to give nursing a try, there are sooooo many different types of nursing. Keep trying and think outside of the box. Can you take a bit of a pay cut just to get out of the place you are in? Are you willing to give 8 hr shifts a try?

Not everyone is a Med surg nurse or LTC nurse or psych nurse or ........

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.
i am not a nurse yet, but i know the job can be better...i grew up around nurses. i think it's not the job you dislike, it's the workplace! maybe it's time for you to look for a new place to call home. you seem to be complaining about the work environment more than the job of being a nurse! you should look into finding a new place to work rather than finding a new career. blessings in whatever you do!

caring for people is our job, we can do that where-ever and when ever. you unfortunately will find that the facility you work for is the very cause of what disables you to provide basic quality care, as does every single one out there. i'm sorry to say that you are very naive in your thoughts, moving from facility to facility does not fix any issue and it's not a "job". when you become one of us, and work as a nurse with all the restraints preventing us from nursing is when you can give advice. i politely caution you to understand your lack of understanding and not give advice to us who live, work and actually do this.you don't have the appropriate frame of reference to advise "us" or me here. i don't need to move or change anything,the issues are more than you can fathom at this point.

respectfully from a nurse that really does this each day.

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Thanks for your reply and I must say that I agree. Sometimes I feel like my personality has also changed and I'm not the person I use to be. Even on my few days off I'm still tired and ill, and often dont really feel like being bothered or doing the fun things that I use to do, not to mention my back hurts half of the time...and yes those student loans dont make things any better!

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