I graduated from nursing school a year ago but have only been a practicing nurse for a little over 6 months. My first job on a surgical unit was way too far from where I live and extremely high stress so I ended up leaving after 3 months. My current job is close to home but is also very stressful. It's on a hospitalist unit, which is med-surg. I get extreme anxiety the night before I have to go to work and morning of. I have a history of depression but have never been this anxious before. In nursing school I would get a little anxious but not like this. So far, I don't enjoy being a nurse at all. I dread going to work. My stress level gets so high that some days my HR is in the 120s at rest. I've started getting these migraines. I had one so bad for 3 days straight that I had to call out. I'm in my early 20s and this doesn't seem to be beneficial to my health. I'm not sure if I just have an awful job that I hate or if I actually hate being a nurse. I don't do well under pressure and if I had known nursing was nothing like nursing school, I wouldn't have chosen this career path. Has anyone ever experienced anything similar?
I'm thinking that I will need to go on medication just to be able to continue working so that I can handle my anxiety and stress.
Give it some time since you are a new nurse. If you still get anxiety heading into work in 6 months then acute care is not for you and you should head to something low stress like being a clinic nurse.
I appreciate reading this. I am struggling as a new nurse in a hospital setting even on an acute inpatient rehab unit. I did med-surg float for a very brief time and could honestly see why some of the younger nurses joked about being suicidal, which is anything but funny.
I am not entirely sure what my future holds but I don’t know that in the long term it is this (hospital nursing, or even bedside). It’s hard on the body, have to take on-call, very busy/rushed, the pay isn’t enough, and it’s hard to get vacation time approved. Nursing so far hasn’t turned out to be the “great work life balance” career that I hoped it would be.
Med/surg in acute care is high stress and anxiety provoking for any new nurse! There is a reason why new nurses cry so much the first year. Some decide it is worth the trouble and they really actually love acute care etc and some love to be nurses but not in that environment. There is also a difference between academic centers and community hospitals - go figure. Apparently , there is a nursing shortage all around so perhaps check out some other options / jobfairs etc..
bossman
34 Posts
Give it some time since you are a new nurse. If you still get anxiety heading into work in 6 months then acute care is not for you and you should head to something low stress like being a clinic nurse.