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

Published

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! :)

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.

i am really surprised at this advice. zookeeper, have you had more than one job? ever? why did you move from your previous job? people move jobs for a variety of reasons, such as better pay, better advancement opportunities, and better working environments. respectfully, i think it is you that is naive in your thinking.

Specializes in MDS/Office.

Absolutely not.....Worst Mistake I ever made..... :down:

Specializes in ER, Cardiac.
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.

Absolutely! I have the same regret! I didn't go to nursing school until in my mid 30's and I so regret not doing it sooner! I love being a nurse! I love the adrenaline rush, the patients, the people I work with, and so many other things about the profession! When I get a little down about how work is going or I've had a few bad shifts when I felt like maybe I shouldn't be a nurse, I think about things like the child that hugged me or the elderly man that smiled and said thank you. Even the times that could break your heart make me glad I am a nurse.

May I suggest a change in departments or even another field of nursing? Might that help the burned out feeling? I wish you the very best in whatever you decide to do.

I am really surprised at this advice. Zookeeper, have you had more than one job? Ever? Why did you move from your previous job? People move jobs for a variety of reasons, such as better pay, better advancement opportunities, and better working environments. Respectfully, I think it is you that is naive in your thinking.

Caliviking,

Chances are, you will never ever gain Zookeeper's wealth of experience in nursing.

Specializes in Cath Lab/ ICU.
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.

I wish I could give you more than one 'kudo' for this post.

I'm 5 years in...and I wish I chose something else. Something less...um...bipolar. Emotions of the workplace ebb and flow. Sometimes you think you can survive in this environment, and then sometimes someone feels like stirring up drama and you are left wondering why you are killing yourself at work. We are grossly under appreciated, misunderstood, and disrespected.

And all that matters is the almighty bottom dollar, and survey results.

Specializes in pediatric and geriatric.

I would still become a nurse. I'm not gonna lie, somedays I wonder what I was thinking. You really do need a thick skin because somedays are just horrible, but most of my working days have been good. Knock on wood.

I'm sorry if some did not like my advice from the lack of experience in the field. She asked for thoughts, so I gave her mine. My mom was a nurse in a county hospital and when she had me, she decided it wasn't for her any more and switched to school nursing, and there is no talking her out of it; she loves it! Sometimes it is just finding your niche and what works for you. She is still young, and it is important that she finds something she likes, I just don't think leaving the nursing occupation is the answer until one trys a new area, facility or type of nursing. That is one of the many beauties of nursing!

I would do it again. I'm in year eight of RN and a total of 14 years of direct patient care. Have I thought about leaving? Absolutely, but what would I do? I have not a clue. Nursing is a career that I chose and feel that it is a good fit for me. I have changed scenery and yes you will encounter the same bull just packaged differently. Some advice I have for you is try to prevent burnout. 1. Take care of yourself first. Try to keep your caregiving skills at work and be wary of personal caregiving in your personal life. I made a downfall of trying to fix people outside of my job. 2. Go to work and leave work when you clock out. People handle stress differently. When I have a bad day I don't like to rehash it with a someone else. I vent at work prior to leaving with my fellow coworkers. I have an off switch, call it a mental detachment. The worse thing you can do is spend your off time thinking about work or having to go back to work. 3. Try to work the minimum amount of hours. I work three twelves. Fortunately that is enough to pay the bills and have a good lifestyle. Please don't work overtime unless it is absolutely necessary. I have five days off in a row and sometimes-that is a benefit of nursing so take up on it. 4. Bad days happen. Hopefully you will have fellow coworkers to share some sarcastic humor. I try to make jokes. Not that there is time for standup but laughter is better than anger and sometimes my anger takes over (this does ruin the day so try laughter first). Remember there are days you are set up for failure. Prioritize...and remind yourself you have two arms and two legs. What gets done with your four extremities is all that you are capable of. 5. Zookeeper is right the patient doesn't come first most of the time. Family can be a gift or a burden. The family as a gift is a remarkable tool of healing. The family that is a burden can really be a bad sideshow where they get the attention and not the patient. Someone posted you have to have thick skin. You absolutely have too. Try not to take things personal especially when no one can do right per the patient or family. Just remember at least you are not the one in the bed. You get to leave at the end of the day not them. 6. Lower your expectations of patient care. I will never meet my expectations. I can go home every shift feeling like a failure. I don't want you to think I am telling to provide poor care. I am simply saying you won't feel like you gave the best patient care. You will always feel like they deserve more care. Try to be satisfied that you are doing the best in the circumstances are provided.

Well I rambled on enough. You know if you have the heart of a nurse or not. I think life is a mix of balance and perspective!

Specializes in Critical care.

Yes and NO..

Yes because I love the reward of helping patients. I love to see my hard work shown. I love to see when a patient comes into the ICU with slim to no chance of surviving then makes a full recovery.

No because I hate the burn out feeling and lack of sleep. I hate that alot of the times I'm doing everyones job plus my own. I hate missing certain holidays with the family. Sometimes I feel like Im in HS at work because alot the co-workers are very childish. They smile in your face and talk bad about you to your back.

hey i'm a 22 year male recent BS grade with the option to go to PT school or accelerated nursing. I have a passion for medicine but I don't want to go to medical school so I thought I would enjoy being a NP or nurse anesthetist. I see the poster is only in their late 20's and I was wonder if the burn out is really that bad? Also I don't like the stigma guys get from women for being a nurse. I want to do it to become a medical missionary and there are so many women who believe nursing is only for females... that guys can't be compassionate which I truly don't believe. So what would you choose for my situation, Nursing and then going to NP, or PT school?

I would choose another profession if I could go back in time. I'm also in my 20's and am already burned out.

I feel sad saying that, but it's how I feel at this point in time. I hope that changes and I once again love what I do.

Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.

This thread made me think of "The Shawshank Redemption" and the little speach "Red" or Morgan Freeman gives the the parole officers. He talks about wishing he could go back, talk to himself when he was younger and "Explain to him how things are."

I guess if I could really "do it all over again" there'd be many changes, avoiding nursing only being one of them. I don't say that because I hate nursing, even though I often come off that way. I say that because, well, the list of things I would do differently is miles long and I can't see the steps that lead me into nursing repeating. I'd probably end up going into writting somehow or accounting. IDK.

:pI know this, I'd have been more careful about getting married.

+ Join the Discussion