Is Any Nurse Actually HAPPY?

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I'm a fairly new nurse in a hospital who is miserable. I often come home feeling chewed up and kicked around by the older nurses in my unit. When I look around, I don't see any truly happy nurses and wonder if I got in the wrong field. Very discouraged!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Dialysis.

The feeling of being chewed up and kicked around will get better when your confidence grows and you have some more experience. I think some nurses are happy but the hospital is a tough area to work in, you have shift work combined w/ working holidays and weekends. It's also a lot of responsibility which can be scary to nurses at times. Maybe the nurses you work w/ haven't found their niche. But I can tell you as a nurse I am not always super cheery but I do my best to appear happy and get thru my shift. Best of luck!

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Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

The first 6 months of working as a RN, I felt chewed up, spit out, unappreciated etc. You name it, I felt it. But it did get soo much better. The other nurses on my unit were great tho and took me right in.. They were the only good thing on that unit. After a little over a year I left, went to a new facility and my co-workers there were awful.. Took me a long time to break the ice with them. We are all really good friends now and my old crew still go out together, give it time.. There is still hope, just be yourself :)

I have found that units with a high turn over rate the staff is a little more guarded for many reasons.

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Specializes in orthopaedics.

I truly love my profession. Right now I am not loving the current situation I am in. I am also truly miserable.

You are not alone. This is hard sometimes. Harder than I ever thought. I know that nurses are miserable everywhere for different reasons. The turn over rate for nursing in general is high. Sadly oftentimes it is because of other co workers that are miserable themselves and end up driving nurses away.

All you can do is focus on you and your nursing practice. If you truly feel you can't tolerate where you are there are so many other places you can go.

Some people are not happy unless they are making those around them just as miserable as they are.

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Specializes in ICU, psych, corrections.

The good thing about nursing is the options available. I worked in a hospital from 2003 to 2005 as an apprentice nurse while attending nursing school, then transitioned into my role of RN in the ICU. While I liked my job, there were many things about it that stressed me the hell out. I left that unit to work in a smaller ICU closer to home and it was even worse. The nurses there were pretty awful and I added to it by going through some pretty horrific stuff myself. I was out of nursing for about a year and when I returned, I went back to work in a dialysis clinic. I liked the job and I loved the patients. I hated the hours and the nurse I worked alongside (she was entitled and lazy). The manager was brand new and had never run a facility before, the facility itself was new and going through growing pains.

My husband, who has worked for the state for the past 11 years, urged me to apply for some of the state nursing jobs. I did and ended up in an outpatient psychiatric medication clinic. I've been here since July 2009 and about 90% of the time, I LOVE my job. The other 10% is simply when I have grumpy days and really exhausting clients (ones with borderline personality disorder or substance abusers). I have an amazing supervisor, great coworkers, and get to spend 15-30 min with each of my patients on a one-on-one basis, which is great because I am able to actually do some patient education, which is my first love (I wanted to be a teacher when I was younger). I love my schedule, which is something I never thought I could work as an RN (7am to 4pm, no holidays, no weekends) and my pay is $30/hr, which isn't too shabby for the area I live. I'm a pretty happy camper and can't imagine ever working in a hospital setting again. So yes, I'm a happy nurse.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Yes!! There are some happy nurses out there. I am one. I love my job and my coworkers.I work in a small hospital.

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Specializes in Psychiatric Nursing.

I am very happy being a nurse. I have a masters, work outpatient,prescribe meds, do 30 minute med checks where I get to do counseling and education. good coworkers.

I have worked in many roles in nursing. Once you get experience, you have a lot of options.

The early years were the hardest, finding my niche (for me, psych), and I have had some stressful jobs. But once you get experience, you can move around, go back to school. It is a great profession!!

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It's normal to feel like that at first, but this feeling should not last! It may not be that you should question whether you went into the right field, but more of "did I chose employment in the right place." I've heard horror stories on how cruel seasoned nurses have been to the newer nurses. Maybe you should talk with the individuals who you feel are making you miserable. I'm happy to say that I LOVE BEING A NURSE!! It's so rewarding to help someone and I love how it makes me feel.

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Thank you everyone---that was truly encouraging to see and I'm grateful you took the time to respond. Maybe I need to change settings and work outside the hospital!

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