should i just quit?

RNGrad2006 · Aug 5, 2008

icu...

I think that is it in a nutshell. Some are successful but most are NOT!!! I personally think you need to gain confidence in a more stable area before entering a specialty like ICU. We have several nurses on our floor that were unsuccessful in ICU but doing great on our med/surg floor. I would seriously consider asking for a transfer.

MassED, BSN, RN · Aug 5, 2008

I think that is it in a nutshell. Some are successful but most are NOT!!! I personally think you need to gain confidence in a more stable area before entering a specialty like ICU. We have several nurses on our floor that were unsuccessful in ICU but doing great on our med/surg floor. I would seriously consider asking for a transfer.

I am sure I would hate ICU. I love working in the ER, since when you have a particularly bad patient, you know they will either be admitted soon (usually not too long for most) and you can erase it, or the patient is discharged along with all of their nutty family and friends.

Try the ER - it might be a perfect fit. Another thing about ICU... all of those lines... agh!!! That would drive me mad....

BinkieRN, BSN, RN · Aug 5, 2008

i'm a new nurse and dread going to work... everytime i'm walking from the parking lot to the unit feels like a death sentence. i don't know when this feeling is going to go away...

Perhaps you need to be in another area of nursing like Home Health or private duty. Not everyone is cut out for hospital work. Both are more the caregiver role yet the pay is of an RN. Best of luck.

My advice is to ask your MD to start you on Zoloft or other SSRI.

Hello!! She's not depressed.Why would she want to try to solve her problems with a pill?

jasmine4494 · Aug 5, 2008

Personally, I believe that most nurses enter as idealists. The truly successful ones are able to make the transition to pragmatism. The journey between can be a rocky one.

Take comfort in the knowledge that insight into your own limitations makes you a safer practitioner; it keeps you teachable and protects you, your patients and your colleagues. Few people are scarier than the novice who neither seeks nor listens to the advice of more experienced colleagues.

MsBruiser · Aug 5, 2008

i'm a new nurse and dread going to work... everytime i'm walking from the parking lot to the unit feels like a death sentence. i don't know when this feeling is going to go away... everyone in the unit seems nice, but everything just seems so unfamiliar and my BSN is completely worthless at this point. i've actually worked as a tech before in a different unit that was bearable and would like to beg for that job again in a heartbeat. i know i should give it time... just don't be so hard on myself...but i feel so incompetent. and the more i'm exposed to this profession... the more i hate it... charting, passing out drugs, carrying out orders, demanding families, being a maid... oh how i just hope that it will get better. but the aforementioned job description is not what i intend on being for most of my work life...i am so lost and i don't know what to do. i feel like i wasted a lot of time, money and effort just to do something that i don't think i want to do. i feel such a failure.

Try a different area...I'm moving from MSICU to PACU...that is the best thing about nursing. And I am a relatively new grad - 9+ months out of school...

grammyr · Aug 5, 2008

I am probably going to get in trouble for saying this, but you probably may want to try a less intense environment for a while. Try Med surg or step down until you get your skills and confidence up enough to tackle all those critical patients. As one poster said, in ER you know that you are going to have a disposition before the end of your shift (hopefully) and you can usually fight just about anyting for a few hours. I know me well enough to know that if I had tried ICU right out of school, I would have done one of two things: Either screwed up really bad and been reported to the board or curled up in a fetal position sucking my thumb. Don't give up yet, just try something else for 6 months to a year and I'll bet you will feel better.

RNperdiem, RN · Aug 5, 2008

I do remember my first year as a nurse. I do remember how low my morale went after the first excitement wore off. Nursing is humbling.

Hopefully your poor morale is temporary. Shore up your support system because you need it. The feeling of incompetence goes away with experience.

Rather than quit, take some time to look around at what else nursing can offer you.

Riseupandnurse · Aug 6, 2008

I am so sorry for you. Been there, felt that. Cried every evening my first year in nursing. My advice would be to get out of ICU and go somewhere you can have patients that don't need all that high tech all the time. You sound like you want to connect with your patients, which is more rehab or LTC. I know ICU is more "prestigious", but you deserve to be happier and not feel as though the walk into the building is a death march.

pp nurse · Aug 6, 2008

Ihear You Often Our Jobs Are Thankless. Try Cosmetic Derm Its Easier Or The Or.if You Hate It Get Out!!!! Life Is Too Short To Be Miserable.

inthesky · Aug 6, 2008

Sometimes I don't even know what to think of this job. Sometimes I leave work exhilarated, sometimes I leave ready to quit. Sometimes I feel so much dread that I'll feel I'll explode, sometimes I'm ok with going to work, sometimes I enjoy it. I was to the point of looking through classifieds and researching every grad program I could find. I do know that my job has improved immensely with experience and feeling like I have some semblance of knowing what I'm doing and confidence. I don't see myself retiring as a floor nurse either. I'm eventually going to go back to school to get a DNP. I think part of the art of nursing is to be able to give competent, compassionate care despite being overworked and stressed.

I hope things work out for you.

HappyPediRN · Aug 6, 2008

HEY , Sympathy to you. You're in a bad place now. How long have you been at that job? What type of unit? Do you have a support system at home? My advice is to ask your MD to start you on Zoloft or other SSRI. Give it at least a month. We have all felt that way about jobs, and luckily there are many different areas of nursing. Your BSN is not wasted. Get a little more experience and you can teach CNA or LPN classes. I did that for several years and got major job satisfaction! Hang in there, and let us know how you're doing.

I don't agree at all that taking an antidepressant should be the first step in overcoming your feelings toward this job. A certain level of anxiety is to be expected and is healthy. I think your first step should be to change your environment and find another job to see if you experience that same feeling of dread. Luckily a perk of nursing is flexibility. There are countless things you can do with a nursing degree and so many different fields to try. I would suggest finding a positive outlet to help you unwind, like yoga, exercising at the gym, a walk after work, a conversation with a good friend...something, anything to help you alleviate your stress. We all have it, we just have to find ways to manage it, and it CAN be done. I definitely think you should consider other nursing fields before you take any extreme measures though.

RNpandoraRN · Aug 6, 2008

My advice is to ask your MD to start you on Zoloft or other SSRI. Give it at least a month.

Ugh, this comment made me cringe. IMO, that's one of the major problems in our society today is that people are quick to rush to the doctor and demand a prescription everytime they feel the slightest hint of an emotion other than elation.

To the OP, hang in there! I'm a new nurse too and felt exactly the same as you in the beginning, and trust me, it gets better! I still have days where I dread going to work, but it's not because of the work, it's because I have realized that the unit I work is not for me, and as soon as I can, I hope to transfer to another area (one that I feel is more suited to me). So yes, try a different area!