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.
Maluangel..do you work with babies? If not, that could be part of the problem!
I agree with most of what you said, but unfortunately documentation is a huge part of it that we can't get away from. Otherwise info would get lost (more often than it already does) and well...lawsuits. When your work is dealing with things that could affect the rest of someone's life...that's part of it.
But yeah, hospitals are very concerned with customer service these days and patients think we are hotels. I was reading the comments on our ...what was that poll? Not Gallop but the other one.. anyway, the comments were mostly about cafeteria food being gross, not being able to order salty things (of course not if you're on a low sodium diet!), not having enough sports channels (?!?!?!?!?), and other stuff like that. Oh, one was about the curtains being ugly. This kind of stuff is ridiculous. But, in the end, hospitals are there to make money and have to in order for us to get paid...and have supplies..and all that jazz.
Your reasons for not liking nursing hit close to home for us all...and it's also the reason why someday, after I get a good bit of experience, I want to go into research and/or education.
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 actually make more money :) But even if I didn't, yes I would take lower pay for lower stress any day. I have been working here since January so about 3 months now.
There are certainly psych nursing jobs that would be just as stressful as a med/surg floor but I picked my job carefully. We have 25 patients approx and it's a residential treatment center, all teens, and they are not violent or anything like that (if they become violent they are kicked out). Most are moderately mentally ill (bipolar, schizoaffective, etc), we have a lot of low functioning kids, and all have impulse control problems. Another psych area that most of the nurses I know really like is the detox unit.
The mental health techs do most of the day to day work (I couldn't do their job!), the nurses do the meds and assess patients, manage the techs. If any problems come up we deal with that; we don't have any LPN's (have no idea why). It's an easy job since I work nights and the patients sleep! I see them about an hour in the morning and then I'm gone. I LOVE my job!!! Even the day shift though the kids are in school half the day and in therapy, OT, arts, etc for most of the day. We have a very very low turnover in nurses (most have been there for years which was a selling point to me and something I asked about in my interview). They go on outings on the weekends (zoo, movies, etc) so that is usually pretty fun (nothing like getting paid to go see a movie...lol).
I feel VERY blessed to have this job. If I wouldn't have found this I would be out of nursing altogether.
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.
Good luck :) I am very happy where I am, have no plans to change. What kind of unit is it? Do they have a lot of "holds"?
What gets to me is having to be responsible for the diet orders, the food on their trays, seeing that they get their lunch -- the RIGHT order, the tuna sandwich instead of the roast beef. I mean, FOR GOD'S SAKE, doesn't the hospital's dietary department handle anything except for tray delivery??? I will spend half my day calling them to make sure they bring the right meal -- patients get REALLY irritated about food issues -- but it always seems to fall on ME to make sure we get it right.
I'm a NURSE, dammit -- not a dietary aide. I wish even this area could be handled more efficiently. It would make an enormous difference in my day.
I think it's normal to hate nursing because so much of it wasn't explained in nursing school. And of course they didn't explain or warn you, because it would have scared off 90% of the class!
The charting was explained -- but as someone said here -- if there's a problem with care of the floor, managers just dream up another checklist or form, and there you go. So, they load nurses with unbelievable charting, add all the other little non-nursing tasks, low staffing, and you have an impossible job.
I don't know what it's going to take to change it. I guess a total and very REAL nursing shortage where every nurse in the country just walks off the job -- but that will never happen. There are too many nurses who just nod their heads and do what they're told because they are in constant fear of losing their jobs now. It's not good.
I won't do it forever. I can't. I'm also starting to hurt physically and really starting to dislike the general public. I just can't be pushed from every end. I am human and I have limits. Too bad administrators don't want to see this. It's about pleasing EVERYBODY else, except the nurse.
This is scary to read. I realize that people come here to vent, and that's a good thing, but as someone about to start NS it's terribly worrying to read so much negativity. Doesn't anybody enjoy the field of nursing any more? I'm not a wide-eyed, bushy tailed kid, and I don't expect it to be all sweetness and light, but it's disheartening to read about so many nurses being truly unhappy. Please don't think I'm putting you guys down. I can totally see why you are all unhappy, and this is a great place to let your feelings out and be understood by your peers. I hope you all find your niche soon, but I also hope that there are as many nurses who love what they do as hate it.
Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.
I can honestly say I love my patients most of the time. I can't honestly say I love my job. After 16 years I am so burnt out and need to get away from bedside nursing. I am sick to death of giving meds and charting. I hate giving meds so much, I don't ever want to see another med again for the rest of my life. If I didn't have to take 5/8 hours every shift giving stupid meds and waste valuable time tracking them down instead of doing good thorough assessements and wound care, I might not hate my job so much. Oh, I also hate charting because it is all so much legal and financial bs involved. I chart pps, 3 notes, assessments that I may or may not actually have time to do, education, verify med orders, and update care plans for each of my 6-8 pts. This takes more time than actual pt care. . I hate that I feel under the gun the whole time I am at work, I hate that I never get a break or go to the br. So I guess what I am saying is, it is the work environment that I hate, not the actual pt care/interaction
Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.
This is scary to read. I realize that people come here to vent, and that's a good thing, but as someone about to start NS it's terribly worrying to read so much negativity. Doesn't anybody enjoy the field of nursing any more? I'm not a wide-eyed, bushy tailed kid, and I don't expect it to be all sweetness and light, but it's disheartening to read about so many nurses being truly unhappy. Please don't think I'm putting you guys down. I can totally see why you are all unhappy, and this is a great place to let your feelings out and be understood by your peers. I hope you all find your niche soon, but I also hope that there are as many nurses who love what they do as hate it.
Hugs to all. :icon_hug:
Turn back...Turn back.. before its too late! :angryfire
What gets to me is having to be responsible for the diet orders, the food on their trays, seeing that they get their lunch -- the RIGHT order, the tuna sandwich instead of the roast beef. I mean, FOR GOD'S SAKE, doesn't the hospital's dietary department handle anything except for tray delivery??? I will spend half my day calling them to make sure they bring the right meal -- patients get REALLY irritated about food issues -- but it always seems to fall on ME to make sure we get it right.
I'm a NURSE, dammit -- not a dietary aide. I wish even this area could be handled more efficiently. It would make an enormous difference in my day.
I can honestly say I love my patients most of the time. I can't honestly say I love my job. After 16 years I am so burnt out and need to get away from bedside nursing. I am sick to death of giving meds and charting. I hate giving meds so much, I don't ever want to see another med again for the rest of my life. If I didn't have to take 5/8 hours every shift giving stupid meds and waste valuable time tracking them down instead of doing good thorough assessements and wound care, I might not hate my job so much. Oh, I also hate charting because it is all so much legal and financial bs involved. I chart pps, 3 notes, assessments that I may or may not actually have time to do, education, verify med orders, and update care plans for each of my 6-8 pts. This takes more time than actual pt care. . I hate that I feel under the gun the whole time I am at work, I hate that I never get a break or go to the br. So I guess what I am saying is, it is the work environment that I hate, not the actual pt care/interaction
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.
I can tell you that some days are really hard and I find myself hating nurseing... But I always comeback and feel really good aboutmy job. I havebeen there almost ten years. You should try something else with the nursesing if bedside isn;t for you. Don't feel bad we are not all cut out for bedside care.
really, it seems to be the poor working conditions (that are very pervasive in hospital nursing) that make many of us not like our jobs, rather than nursing itself.
Please don't think I'm putting you guys down. I can totally see why you are all unhappy, and this is a great place to let your feelings out and be understood by your peers. I hope you all find your niche soon, but I also hope that there are as many nurses who love what they do as hate it.
NeoNurseTX, RN
1,803 Posts
Maluangel..do you work with babies? If not, that could be part of the problem!
I agree with most of what you said, but unfortunately documentation is a huge part of it that we can't get away from. Otherwise info would get lost (more often than it already does) and well...lawsuits. When your work is dealing with things that could affect the rest of someone's life...that's part of it.
But yeah, hospitals are very concerned with customer service these days and patients think we are hotels. I was reading the comments on our ...what was that poll? Not Gallop but the other one.. anyway, the comments were mostly about cafeteria food being gross, not being able to order salty things (of course not if you're on a low sodium diet!), not having enough sports channels (?!?!?!?!?), and other stuff like that. Oh, one was about the curtains being ugly. This kind of stuff is ridiculous. But, in the end, hospitals are there to make money and have to in order for us to get paid...and have supplies..and all that jazz.
Your reasons for not liking nursing hit close to home for us all...and it's also the reason why someday, after I get a good bit of experience, I want to go into research and/or education.