I'm Done With Nursing.

[RegNurse1987]

I'm a 52 year old single male RN with 29 years nursing experience primarily in psychiatry and neurology. I currently work in an outpatient psychiatric clinic serving the indigent, uninsured, newly paroled, and homeless populations. I love my patients and feel privileged to work with "the least of these". I left a good neuroscience position of 15 years at a university affiliated Magnet certified teaching hospital with great benefits, and good working conditions because I was literally drowning in paperwork. Patient care was a top priority, but so was the "paperwork" that was endless, and relentless. New forms, after new forms were added almost monthly, and there were repercussions for imperfection as declared by " the chart audit police". I found myself depressed, unmotivated, and stressed out not only at work, but on my days off.

I took a sabbatical, taught English in a foreign country for 6 months, returned refreshed, took a summer off, and landed my current position approximately seven months ago. Now it's deja vu all over again. If I have to fill out another medicare/medicaid override, another PAP (patient assistance program) form, deal with another passive aggressive borderline personality disordered psychiatrists and LPN -who take great delight in watching you crumble under the weight of paperwork- I might well put in a months notice and never return to nursing again.

In my life I've been very financially savvy, and I'm frugal, so with the right connections, and planning I could possibly transition into something new and different. I dream of driving a bread truck.

Does anyone else feel like I do?

[chopwood carrywater]

My husband retired from Coca-Cola and has known many bread truck drivers over the years. They have an incredibly grueling schedule that involves getting up in the middle of the night and starting their routes at around 3 or 4 am. Their days off are usually Wednesday and Sunday and they work every Saturday, so they don't even get two days off in a row. When my husband retired from Coca-Cola but was still young enough to work, he said one job he would never seek out would be driving a bread truck, based on the reasons above.

I took a break from nursing about seven years ago and went to work at a major outdoor retailer for $8/hour, thinking that I would leave all of the stress of nursing behind. All I discovered was that low end retail jobs have their own kinds of stress and I was so spoiled by making RN wages that I ultimately could not cope with the idea that my time was only worth $8/hour, because I was still working hard and dealing with the public anyway.

Have you considered being a hospice case manager nurse? The paperwork is not nearly as bad, although you still have your documentation to do of course, and the patients and families are often times so appreciative that it is very emotionally fulfilling as well. I have never felt as appreciated as a nurse as I did when I worked in hospice.

Another field that you might consider is dialysis nursing. Chronic dialysis clinics offer stable hours, because they actually close at some point and everyone goes home, the paperwork is manageable, you get Sundays and holidays off, and dialysis is a skill that once you're trained in it, you will never have to worry about finding work, even if you are one of us "over 50 types", lol.

All the best to you, I definitely know where you are coming from. Whenever I begin to pine for a simpler job outside of nursing, I remind myself that it will probably be just as stressful, just in other ways, and that I will be making a fraction of what I make as a nurse. Money isn't everything, but why not get paid what your education and experience are worth? It makes life a whole lot easier.

I also think you should consider hospice. But it also depends on the team you would be working with. I love the group of people I work with- warts and all.

[Sleepyhollogirl]

I may be repeating someone elses comments as I did not read them all, I would suggest seeking out a different area of nursing that is less hectic, possibly less paperwork and something you may see with a fresh perspective. But if that still seems to depress you, consider teaching at a university or community college to prepare new nurses with all of your years of hands on experience and education, granted you will still see paperwork in your job but not the stressful type that has to be audited by the chart police and nitpicked apart. Also, Health Insurance Companies hire Nurses for their Medical Review units to review medical claims that need to be determined medically necessary or not, this could be something more corporate and less political for you to consider!! I have a few nurse friends working in this area and they get paid handsomely to dress in fine clothing and read charts/medical histories/claims all day and determine the need or denial of medical coverage. Something to consider! I wish you the best in all that you pursue!!

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

I may be repeating someone elses comments as I did not read them all, I would suggest seeking out a different area of nursing that is less hectic, possibly less paperwork and something you may see with a fresh perspective. But if that still seems to depress you, consider teaching at a university or community college to prepare new nurses with all of your years of hands on experience and education, granted you will still see paperwork in your job but not the stressful type that has to be audited by the chart police and nitpicked apart. Also, Health Insurance Companies hire Nurses for their Medical Review units to review medical claims that need to be determined medically necessary or not, this could be something more corporate and less political for you to consider!! I have a few nurse friends working in this area and they get paid handsomely to dress in fine clothing and read charts/medical histories/claims all day and determine the need or denial of medical coverage. Something to consider! I wish you the best in all that you pursue!!

Excellent advice. OP should also seek out those positions where we do NOT dress in fine clothing. OP should seek out the positions where we dress in our jammies from home

[nutella, MSN, RN]

My husband retired from Coca-Cola and has known many bread truck drivers over the years. They have an incredibly grueling schedule that involves getting up in the middle of the night and starting their routes at around 3 or 4 am. Their days off are usually Wednesday and Sunday and they work every Saturday, so they don't even get two days off in a row. When my husband retired from Coca-Cola but was still young enough to work, he said one job he would never seek out would be driving a bread truck, based on the reasons above.

I took a break from nursing about seven years ago and went to work at a major outdoor retailer for $8/hour, thinking that I would leave all of the stress of nursing behind. All I discovered was that low end retail jobs have their own kinds of stress and I was so spoiled by making RN wages that I ultimately could not cope with the idea that my time was only worth $8/hour, because I was still working hard and dealing with the public anyway.

Have you considered being a hospice case manager nurse? The paperwork is not nearly as bad, although you still have your documentation to do of course, and the patients and families are often times so appreciative that it is very emotionally fulfilling as well. I have never felt as appreciated as a nurse as I did when I worked in hospice.

Another field that you might consider is dialysis nursing. Chronic dialysis clinics offer stable hours, because they actually close at some point and everyone goes home, the paperwork is manageable, you get Sundays and holidays off, and dialysis is a skill that once you're trained in it, you will never have to worry about finding work, even if you are one of us "over 50 types", lol.

All the best to you, I definitely know where you are coming from. Whenever I begin to pine for a simpler job outside of nursing, I remind myself that it will probably be just as stressful, just in other ways, and that I will be making a fraction of what I make as a nurse. Money isn't everything, but why not get paid what your education and experience are worth? It makes life a whole lot easier.

I wonder if you have worked in hospice or dialysis lately...

I have and the paperwork in hospice CM is BAD.

Dialysis chronic unit: high stress, long shifts...

[westieluv]

I wonder if you have worked in hospice or dialysis lately...

I have and the paperwork in hospice CM is BAD.

Dialysis chronic unit: high stress, long shifts...

I've actually worked in both areas in the past few years and not found it to be as you describe. I am in the process of returning to a chronic dialysis unit from working telephone triage from home and couldn't be happier about it. I worked in a very busy, 20 chair unit for one of the Big Two and the paperwork was not nearly as bad as in other areas of nursing that I have done. The shifts were not always long, sometimes six hours, and I found it nowhere near as stressful as acute inpatient nursing.

My hospice experience was that the paperwork involved documenting specific visits and doing admissions, but none of the tedious government forms on a daily basis that the OP is struggling with.

I would not have commented had I not had recent experience in these areas.

[Sleepyhollogirl]

This is true!!!

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

NVM

OP good luck, I hope you beat the odds and get something better.

[StudentAxel]

Good Luck!

[RegNurse1987]

The reference to driving a bread truck is exactly that. I'd like to drive a truck that delivers bread to the grocery. No hidden meaning.