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

[GeminiRN2007]

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! :)

[Barbara Hessinger]

Nursing might not be the dream job for many, but it sure is nice to have a license and of course the pesky experience in this current environment.

I have been in the real estate business for many years after a short stint being a CNA and regret that I didn't pursue the health care field at a younger age in addition to my enjoyable sales job.

You can never have too many degrees, licenses etc. especially in a tough job market. To diversify is the trick here.

[BA_anthropology]

Oh dear, maybe some of you need to take a break and continue your education? I hear that bedside nursing for years and years is a recipe for a burn out, and that higher education is a solution. Good luck.

:)

[serenity1]

Nope...I would be something else. I want so much to be a great nurse and take great care of my patients. Can barely do that under the constraints placed on us by upper management. Can't complain about the pay, most I've ever made. I do like the flexible schedule, and I have had more rewarding days as a nurse than anything else I've ever done. I've also had the most "unrewarding" days as a nurse than anything else I've done. I've been a nurse less than a year, so it isn't "years of bedside nursing" that gets to me. Several of my classmates feel exactly the same way...very grateful we have jobs, a love and desire to care for our patients, and sorry we became RN's.

[klone, MSN, RN]

If I could do it all over again, I would have gone into nursing 10 years earlier, and gone right into a BSN program, rather than doing it piecemeal.

Maybe I've just been lucky and have worked at only fabulous facilities, but I've never felt the level of burnout described here.

Yeah, I've been burned out and needing a break after a difficult shift, but after 4-5 days off, I've come back to work feeling rejuvenated.

[lunabean]

I would:) I love my job, I work in LTC and my coworkers are the best. They treat you with dignity and respect. I previously worked in a facility where there was a lot of micromanaging. This caused an immense amount of stress. Not only did they treat you like babies, but you were getting mandated twice a week to work doubles because they couldn't keep staff. I finally found a place where I will be for a very long time. I hope you do as well. Good luck with whatever you do.

[Jennerizer, ASN, RN]

The job security and financial freedom make me say yes, the direction healthcare is taking due to Medicare not reimbursing the hospital for it's services unless the majority of patients are delighted with their hospital visit...no.

I'm not burnt out though....I don't stress about it. Sure it's a career, but it's not my life. When I walk out of the hospital doors after a long shift, the problems/stress disappear. I feel it's a choice one makes & it's one of the things I love about hospital nursing. If I call in sick for a shift or even 3 in a row....someone else takes my place. There's no pile of work waiting for me when I return. I'm not only encouraged to take vacation time or paid days off...it's mandatory at my hospital to take 144 hrs off. That's 12 shifts or 4 weeks of time off....or more if that's what you want.

It is discouraging to see admin adding many ridiculous tasks to nursing that are clearly not part of nursing practice. It's insane that a hospital is compared to a hotel. Maye it will lead to nurses uniting and taking a stand.

[General E. Speaking, RN, RN]

I feel Zookeepers pain. The "Do more with less" and the "Customer is always right" aspect of the equation really does affect the NURSING part of the job.

I honestly don't know if I would do it all over again...

[INLPN93]

I would.

But, I don't hide the fact that I'm so tired of the limitations of a LPN in my area. If I'd known that 18 years later I'd still be a floor nurse in LTC I would have definitely went the 4 years for my BSN. I was 22 when I was in nursing school for my LPN, I had the time, the opportunity, the advantage of my youth.....

Now I'm 41, a parent responsible for 2 teens, a wife, a part time employee still in LTC. And to save my sanity, my marriage and my getting out of bed, I am now an 'adult learner' in an ASN program.

I know I don't hate nursing, I do however hate with a passion that I have advanced no where in my career because I lack certain letters behind my name.

It is impossible to get a decent paying job outside of LTC in Hicktown, IN as a LPN. That is IF you are even eligible to apply for that position as a LPN to begin with, one hospital here in town ONLY hires BSN nurses for its entire hospital.

So, if had a chance to go back I'd be a BSN nurse at the minimum.

I am proud to be a nurse, I am not proud of 18 years of zero advancement in nursing. Those are 2 different things.

[KSU-SN]

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.

zookeeper, i've seen a ton of people on here (yes, real nurses) suggest to other nurses that maybe they need to switch facilities if they are not happy. i am a "real nurse" and i believe that it is advice worth trying and i have seen it work for others. i do not believe that anyone should bounce around from facility to facility but trying a different place once or twice to find somewhere that better fits you....theres nothing wrong with that. ive known multiple people leave the hospital and work at a nursing home and are much more happy and vice versa. aggie was not telling anyone to change anything, she was kindly suggesting an alternative.....that maybe the original poster needs to try something new. not every facility is awful to work at....sure there are days at my hospital that we are short staffed but i love my coworkers and i like what i do. i've seen people come to our hospital from different hospitals or long term care facilities and remark how much better it is here, or people leave our hospital and work somewhere else and like it more. sometimes you just have to find a place that fits you.

[danh3190]

I would become a nurse again. In fact, I was offered a job in my former career a while back but chose to remain a nurse. I'd have probably just wasted all the extra salary anyhow.

However even though I'm quite a new nurse I've also noticed a lot of patients that fit into the categories mentioned in the previous posts and do find them hard to deal with at times. So I hope 5 years down the line I don't come to regret my choice of nursing.

[southern rn]

no. I would have definately chosen another path.

[OldNurseEducator]

I would probably have gone into nursing 38 years ago as I did. Nursing has been good to me. But nursing is changing...working very short-staffed, poor pay, poor hours, etc....I don't think I want that again. Look into some other type of nursing. It will make you feel better, anyway. And research other professions you might like to try. This is a bad time however to go job hopping...but a good time to go back to school if you can afford it. Just my .