Ive been out of nursing school 2 years now and I have bounced between countless jobs. ICU, NICU, med/surg, home health, and different hospitals. Sometimes I feel so strongly that I REALLY dont like nursing, but its so hard to look past the flexible hours, pay, and benefits. Im depressed, anxious, a nervous wreck, now Im having physical pain from the tensions.
My question: Do most nurses REALLY love their job and their patients? Or at least most of the time?
Because I cant honestly say I do.
PS. I have an associates degree, so I feel limited to the bedside.
Specializes in Wellness Coach, ICU, PACU, OR, Mgmt.
There's some old wisdom that says: Each adult has 3 distinct careers in their lifetime.
I've found that nursing has provided me with WAY MORE than 3 distinct careers!
Some I've loved, others - not so much.
The beauty of nursing is that you can totally change your career with minimal effort. Just decide you're a ____________ nurse & make a case for yourself to the powers that be & presto! You're a ___________nurse!
Having said all that, it can be a tough job with days that are thankless. Oh, but when the rewards come...WOW!
A gentle kiss on the hand from a lonely patient
A hug from the wife of a dying man
Tears of joy when you tell someone their loved one is going to live
Really connecting while holding a dying person's hand
Saving a life despite all the obstacles (& no one knows but you!)
That simple question from a patient, "Are you going to be my nurse tomorrow?"
These are the reasons I continue - despite the craziness of furniture moving, secretary work, housekeeping, etc.
I hope you find your joy, whether it is in nursing or another field.
I really encourage you to seek out that which makes your heart sing - and follow that passion relentlessly!
I initially went into nursing to "make a difference". But nowadays, seems like more emphasis have been placed on paperwork and charting. If there's a problem on the unit, "more paperwork or documentation will fix it attitude" seems to be route.
I now know why there's such a huge shortage in nursing. Big to those who done it for 10.. 20....30 yrs. Yes they are the grumpiest of them all but, Hey, 6 months in and I was grumpy too.
It's hard to be compassionate when you have to say, "hold on, I very busy at the moment, I'll be back".
I'm glad someone else out there feels like me. I just really don't feel like going in alot sometimes. I'd rather take a pay cut than to deal with the stresses of work. sometimes i just hate my job and sometimes i dont mind. all in all it depends on wha kind of day i'm having. sometimes i think i'd be better off if i do this part time. I'm a BSN nurse but i still feel limited. i dont feel like there are much positions out there for me...i dont want supervisory roles because I really think you have to have alot of experience for those...
I have to say that I love patient care but not the politics of the floor. There are so many things that I didn't learn in school - the realities of nursing - and if I'd been taught about what to expect, I think I could have handled my first six months much better than I have.
I'm about 1.5 years out of school. The first 6 months were total h-e-you get the picture. I disagree though, I don't think anything could have prepared me for the difference between school/being off orientation and on YOUR OWN. Talk about terrifying. Things got better, but I'm having a rough time now. I enjoy the patient care, but more and more it seems like that's such a small part of my job.
I can relate to enjoying patient care and interaction but not being happy with the majority of clinical nursing jobs readily available out there. So many places use bare bones staffing that it's always a strain to get the bare minimum done. There are very few inpatient nursing jobs out there where the nurses aren't overloaded one way or another.
And the nature of inpatient nursing care is rather chaotic, so if a person likes patient care but doesn't like being pulled in 10 different directions at once, they will have a hard time finding anything tolerable in an inpatient setting (acute care or LTC).
Both in and outside the hospital, nurses often end up responsible for "everything else" - not just providing direct patient care. Nurses end up coordinating, facilitating, and double checking many other aspects of patient care... checking MD orders, requesting meds from pharmacy, ordering pt meals, scheduling off-floor tests, requesting social work consult, updating MD of pt status.
That part of nursing often isn't emphasized in school or in nursing recruitment pitches. Direct patient care is emphasized in inpatient training and yet that's probably less than 50% of what most nurses all day!
Anyway, just thoughts there....
Back to the OP's original issue....
I personally decided to leave clinical nursing and look for more administrative work. I chose administrative because I'd enjoyed the office jobs that I'd had in the past - whereas I'd been rather uncomfortable in many clinical settings. I imagine there may be some perfect nursing niche out there somewhere, but I decided that, for me, I had a better chance of finding a good niche outside of nursing. And a few years later, I have a job in data management that I enjoy.
I do miss that I don't have the kind of patient interaction that I enjoy - teaching, reassuring - but most clinical nursing jobs have more hustle and bustle than quality patient interaction time anyway... so I think I made the right choice for me.
Everyone's different. Keep exploring your feelings and experiences and hopefully you will find some insight about what you want to do.
I can relate to enjoying patient care and interaction but not being happy with the majority of clinical nursing jobs readily available out there. So many places use bare bones staffing that it's always a strain to get the bare minimum done. There are very few inpatient nursing jobs out there where the nurses aren't overloaded one way or another.
And the nature of inpatient nursing care is rather chaotic, so if a person likes patient care but doesn't like being pulled in 10 different directions at once, they will have a hard time finding anything tolerable in an inpatient setting (acute care or LTC).
Both in and outside the hospital, nurses often end up responsible for "everything else" - not just providing direct patient care. Nurses end up coordinating, facilitating, and double checking many other aspects of patient care... checking MD orders, requesting meds from pharmacy, ordering pt meals, scheduling off-floor tests, requesting social work consult, updating MD of pt status.
That part of nursing often isn't emphasized in school or in nursing recruitment pitches. Direct patient care is emphasized in inpatient training and yet that's probably less than 50% of what most nurses all day!
Anyway, just thoughts there....
Back to the OP's original issue....
I personally decided to leave clinical nursing and look for more administrative work. I chose administrative because I'd enjoyed the office jobs that I'd had in the past - whereas I'd been rather uncomfortable in many clinical settings. I imagine there may be some perfect nursing niche out there somewhere, but I decided that, for me, I had a better chance of finding a good niche outside of nursing. And a few years later, I have a job in data management that I enjoy.
I do miss that I don't have the kind of patient interaction that I enjoy - teaching, reassuring - but most clinical nursing jobs have more hustle and bustle than quality patient interaction time anyway... so I think I made the right choice for me.
Everyone's different. Keep exploring your feelings and experiences and hopefully you will find some insight about what you want to do.
Reading your post, I've finally realized what I don't like about nursing. Like you said it's not the direct patient care, but being pulled left and right....THAT'S WHAT STRESSES ME OUT!!!! Sometime I go home with migraine headaches and not feeling like coming in the next day. I'm glad you found something you finally liked. I for one is still trying to figure what I need to do, although I'm new to this business I don't know how much longer I'll survive it. Thanks
I have to say that I love patient care but not the politics of the floor. There are so many things that I didn't learn in school - the realities of nursing - and if I'd been taught about what to expect, I think I could have handled my first six months much better than I have.
At this point, I am at nine months - feeling good some days, other days, I just don't get it - epecially when trying to decipher charts (I wish there had been a "charting 101" course in nsg school!!!).
Hang in there,
Shawna
Heck, the charting 101 wouldn't have really helped too much... we were with paper charting when I started and now we are completely on the computer..it's a whole other monster!
Reading your post, I've finally realized what I don't like about nursing. Like you said it's not the direct patient care, but being pulled left and right....THAT'S WHAT STRESSES ME OUT!!!! Sometime I go home with migraine headaches and not feeling like coming in the next day. I'm glad you found something you finally liked. I for one is still trying to figure what I need to do, although I'm new to this business I don't know how much longer I'll survive it. Thanks
I graduated in May '08. I worked as a tech in the same unit I started as an RN on. I thought I would love it (I did as a tech, but we all know a tech or extern is nothing like being THE RN). Anyways, I left my position in January and found a really low stress, great job in the psych setting. I work with juvenile sexual offenders, I work nights, and I am completely happy and content and more important NOT stressed out!
I have no plans to ever work in the hospital again. It sucks, you don't get paid nearly enough to put up with what we as nurses put up with and the stress is not worth the toll it takes on my mental and physical health.
If your miserable, look for something else. You don't need to stick it out, it doesn't really get better, there are better jobs out there.....you just have to find them. I was at the point, if I hadn't have found the job I do now, I would have quit nursing altogether and done something totally different even if I had to go back to school for it.
I graduated in May '08. I worked as a tech in the same unit I started as an RN on. I thought I would love it (I did as a tech, but we all know a tech or extern is nothing like being THE RN). Anyways, I left my position in January and found a really low stress, great job in the psych setting. I work with juvenile sexual offenders, I work nights, and I am completely happy and content and more important NOT stressed out!
I have no plans to ever work in the hospital again. It sucks, you don't get paid nearly enough to put up with what we as nurses put up with and the stress is not worth the toll it takes on my mental and physical health.
If your miserable, look for something else. You don't need to stick it out, it doesn't really get better, there are better jobs out there.....you just have to find them. I was at the point, if I hadn't have found the job I do now, I would have quit nursing altogether and done something totally different even if I had to go back to school for it.
Good luck :)
wow, so how is psych nursing. What do you do as an RN. And what does the lpn do. I know it's lower pay than hospital but I bet your satisfied with it along with the lower stress.
I've been reading the posts that have been put up since the last time I posted. It's been 4 years now, and I'm still unhappy with nursing. Now it's even more about the direction that nursing is going. Hospitals are emphasizing family-centered care and focusing on customer satisfaction. They no longer care to support nursing staff because we are replaceable. The focus is on business and making money. It's frustrating to have to kiss ass on a daily basis. It's making me lose the caring attitude I had that brought me to nursing in the first place. And as someone said earlier, the increasing emphasis on documentation and "covering your ass" is a sad reality. There's not a day that goes by when some new rule is initiated or some new requirement of double checking something or some new method of documenting something is initiated. It's becoming ridiculous. And jjjoy you said it best. Nurses are becoming responsible for "everything else," not just providing direct patient care. If we could cut the documentation in half or designate someone else to take care of certain jobs automatically defaulted to the bedside nurse, nursing wouldn't be so stressful! They say hospitals can't run without doctors. Well there is no way a hospital could run without nurses. Doctors would never have the patience to do everything that nurses do. They would start whining and complaining and change the way things are done so that they wouldn't be responsible for doing them. So why can't nurses do the same? Why do we put up with it? It's sad to me that nurses are treated this way.
I've been reading about how some of you guys have decided to get away from the bedside as the solution. One person is doing data management, another went to psych nursing, another is thinking of doing the CRNA track. I think about what I should do constantly. I'm single, in my 20's, and have no kids. Everyone tells me I should go back to school. I thought maybe I should give psych nursing a try, but I came into nursing wanting to work with babies. I don't think I would be happy with it. I don't want to go back to school for nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist because I really feel nurse practitioners forget about bedside nursing and act just as badly as doctors at times with how they treat nurses and in how they react and make decisions. It's amazing to me how easily they forget about nursing. I don't want to give anesthesia to patients for a living. That seems boring to me. Then there's the thought of trying to go into management or administration. But then I think that I would be forced to think like "the people at the top" about customer satisfaction and how to increase business rather than helping to improve nursing and patient care. I would be creating more rules and more documentation for bedside nurses. I wouldn't be liked by my fellow nurses and I probably wouldn't like myself for succumbing to the people at the top. It's all politics. I feel like no one would see it my way and just try to shut me up or threaten to fire me.
So because I don't see things improving in nursing and feel helpless to even make positive changes to nursing practice, I am seriously thinking about going back to school for something completely different...making a complete career change. I'm thinking about going to school for an MBA or Accounting. Anyway, good luck to all of you and those of you who put up with everything. You guys are amazing people. No matter what anyone says, I feel like we have one of the hardest jobs in the world, and we deserve far more than we get. I came into nursing wanting to genuinely make a difference and help people, but if I'm not happy, I can't really help someone else. That's the bottom line.
Hey Marilyn Mom .I graduated in 08 was very stressed by medsurg.went to postpartum better but not my place interviewed for psy position think this might be my place.I have alwaws been interested in psy.will also be working nights.
I've been reading the posts that have been put up since the last time I posted. It's been 4 years now, and I'm still unhappy with nursing. Now it's even more about the direction that nursing is going. Hospitals are emphasizing family-centered care and focusing on customer satisfaction. They no longer care to support nursing staff because we are replaceable. The focus is on business and making money. It's frustrating to have to kiss ass on a daily basis. It's making me lose the caring attitude I had that brought me to nursing in the first place. And as someone said earlier, the increasing emphasis on documentation and "covering your ass" is a sad reality. There's not a day that goes by when some new rule is initiated or some new requirement of double checking something or some new method of documenting something is initiated. It's becoming ridiculous. And jjjoy you said it best. Nurses are becoming responsible for "everything else," not just providing direct patient care. If we could cut the documentation in half or designate someone else to take care of certain jobs automatically defaulted to the bedside nurse, nursing wouldn't be so stressful! They say hospitals can't run without doctors. Well there is no way a hospital could run without nurses. Doctors would never have the patience to do everything that nurses do. They would start whining and complaining and change the way things are done so that they wouldn't be responsible for doing them. So why can't nurses do the same? Why do we put up with it? It's sad to me that nurses are treated this way.
I've been reading about how some of you guys have decided to get away from the bedside as the solution. One person is doing data management, another went to psych nursing, another is thinking of doing the CRNA track. I think about what I should do constantly. I'm single, in my 20's, and have no kids. Everyone tells me I should go back to school. I thought maybe I should give psych nursing a try, but I came into nursing wanting to work with babies. I don't think I would be happy with it. I don't want to go back to school for nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist because I really feel nurse practitioners forget about bedside nursing and act just as badly as doctors at times with how they treat nurses and in how they react and make decisions. It's amazing to me how easily they forget about nursing. I don't want to give anesthesia to patients for a living. That seems boring to me. Then there's the thought of trying to go into management or administration. But then I think that I would be forced to think like "the people at the top" about customer satisfaction and how to increase business rather than helping to improve nursing and patient care. I would be creating more rules and more documentation for bedside nurses. I wouldn't be liked by my fellow nurses and I probably wouldn't like myself for succumbing to the people at the top. It's all politics. I feel like no one would see it my way and just try to shut me up or threaten to fire me.
So because I don't see things improving in nursing and feel helpless to even make positive changes to nursing practice, I am seriously thinking about going back to school for something completely different...making a complete career change. I'm thinking about going to school for an MBA or Accounting. Anyway, good luck to all of you and those of you who put up with everything. You guys are amazing people. No matter what anyone says, I feel like we have one of the hardest jobs in the world, and we deserve far more than we get. I came into nursing wanting to genuinely make a difference and help people, but if I'm not happy, I can't really help someone else. That's the bottom line.
I totally understand where your coming from. I mean you still young. If you need a career change, it's better to do it now than later when your married with family. I'm in the same boat as you so don't feel bad. Thanks for the post. It's good to know I'm not alone.
to those who done it for 10.. 20....30 yrs. 
Yes they are the grumpiest of them all but, Hey, 6 months in and I was grumpy too. 
greenergrass, BSN, RN
68 Posts
There's some old wisdom that says: Each adult has 3 distinct careers in their lifetime.
I've found that nursing has provided me with WAY MORE than 3 distinct careers!
Some I've loved, others - not so much.
The beauty of nursing is that you can totally change your career with minimal effort. Just decide you're a ____________ nurse & make a case for yourself to the powers that be & presto! You're a ___________nurse!
Having said all that, it can be a tough job with days that are thankless. Oh, but when the rewards come...WOW!
These are the reasons I continue - despite the craziness of furniture moving, secretary work, housekeeping, etc.
I hope you find your joy, whether it is in nursing or another field.
I really encourage you to seek out that which makes your heart sing - and follow that passion relentlessly!