Kind of fed up with things...possibly nursing in general

Nurses General Nursing

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So I've been getting more and more frustrated and angry at work for various reasons. Anything from long hours to mean/ungrateful patients. I've worked ER since 2006 with a small stay in icu in there. I feel like it is time for a change, and I'm kind of thinking of getting out of nursing all together. I would like a more steady schedule. Something 7-3 or 8-4. Yeah I have 4 days off a week now but I'd rather work a couple days more during the week and be off in the afternoon to be able to come home, workout, and see my wife before having to go to bed to wake up at 5 and do it again tomorrow.

Has anyone ever felt this way before or almost gone through a complete career change to be happier?

Specializes in Ambulatory Surgery, PACU,SICU.

Try Ambulatory Surgery, no holidays and no weekends. Five 8 hr shifts, or work less than FT...

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Try Ambulatory Surgery, no holidays and no weekends. Five 8 hr shifts, or work less than FT...

Depends on where you work. In my hospital, nobody with less than five years service has wound up in daysurgery. It's seniority or a light duties certificate that gets you onto that unit.

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Specializes in Ambulatory Care, Case Manager.

I left the clinic position, because of the toxic environment and some patients were ungrateful. I realized that all I did was work, eat and go to sleep. I made excuses whenever my friends wanted to hang out. I wasn't taking care of myself mentally and physically. My manager was the one who brought to my attention that he noticed that I rarely smiled. I realized that it was time to leave, when I didn't care about my patients anymore. It wasn't fair to them.

When I left, I felt relieved and renewed. Now I'm ready for a new adventure by attempting other areas of nursing. I thought about leaving the nursing profession, but when I look at other careers I don't know if I can go back to working $10/hr. If I can find a job that I like, is unrelated to nursing and I can make at least $20/hr in order to make ends meet I will take it. Would I leave nursing completely? I don't think so as I find myself now working as a volunteer using my nursing skills. I enjoy helping without the stress of having to worry about doing something wrong or getting fired. So, in a sense, my nursing education wasn't really a waste of time.

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yes part of nursing. however, it doesnot seem so bad when your nursing licensed is about to expire and your employer says if it is not done by the end of the month , i will be let go. I am waiting for my licensed fingerprinting to go thru. I have been praying asking God to send angels to help me. I need my licensed so I can work. I hate myself.!!! Hang in there. see if you can transfer to another unit or look into something that requires nursing.

Pray for me. Thank you. I have until Tues. Monday all office OMG! what will I do.

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.

How about a stint in Case Management? Regular hours, regular clothes, much less pressure. I traded in the 12 hour ICU's for this...and like it fine. However, I have been doing it now for 2 years and I actually miss my 12/h shifts...or rather miss the 4 days off...I don't want to do anything 5 times a week much less WORK:D..

but try it, you may like it, it's a nice break and you can always go back. The work is a piece of cake compared to ER/ICU, too.

I also went from ICU to Hospice for a while and LOVED it.

Maybe you just need to get out of the ER?

(again, there is nothing like those 4 days off....;))

diva

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ER background--

Try school nursing. Lots of action, but regular hours. If you love the

autonomy of ER, school nurses mostly work alone and often cover

more than one school....and the first student that has the sniffles

and comes in to the health office for hot chocolate--you'll adore school nursing~!

Good luck!

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I too had the same feelings. I tried to do a career by going back to school for something totally different and it didn't work out. Then I realized.... one thing is for sure, you can't beat the money we make even if you had a stick! So I decided to stay a little longer. I am thinking about PA school. Who knows. Nursing may be my calling.

I agree with everyone esle that you may want to go to a doctor's office or maybe an urgent care clinic like Patient First. They are always hiring.

Hope this helps.

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I too had the same feelings. I tried to do a career by going back to school for something totally different and it didn't work out. Then I realized.... one thing is for sure, you can't beat the money we make even if you had a stick! So I decided to stay a little longer. I am thinking about PA school. Who knows. Nursing may be my ca

I agree with everyone esle that you may want to go to a doctor's office or maybe an urgent care clinic like Patient First. They are always hiring.

Hope this helps.

Why? are they always hiring????

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Patient First is an urgent care center business that is expanding in VA and PA.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

I have "bailed out' of nursing twice in my 40 years as a nurse; Once I worked with wildlife in a nature museum and found my nursing exprience helpful with injured wildlife. The vet for the animals we kept (couldn't be released for one reason or another) said I improved their diets 80%, and decreased the amount of cage-fever and sickness. It was an extremely satisfying job even though the pay wasn't so hot. The other time I was out of the field, I went back to school for two years and took art and English/writing courses....That time out was like a long vacation (being at 'camp', living in a dorm, ten years older than most of the students)... Eventually I went back into nursing because I needed the money. I liked Home Health visits, out and about all day, a variety of cases. Now I do PDN and alot of hospice cases, not near as stressful as Hosp./LTC facilities. Now, though , with the economy and ga$ price$ it probably would be harder financially to be able to do any of the past stuff. But I did find it exhilarating not to be in the traditional nursing settings. I am also older, and settled down in a place where the job market is puny, so I don't know that I'd be accepted for employment at things I might be tempted to try, like for instance , a chimney-sweep! And I did get weary of those 12 hour shifts, so I currently do a mix of shifts........currently two 12 hr. shifts, several 6 hr. shifts, 3 four hour shifts. With agency work you can mix and match if you're flexible. You don't always make forty hours, but I do get some overtime every couple weeks by being able to rearrange days/times. You can also sometimes find something with regular days/hours for long stretches.

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Specializes in ICU.

Another thing you could look into for evening off is clincal documentation specialist, search out JA Thomas on here. It's a branch off case management. ReviewIng charts for " correct documentation" then coding it prior to the coder getting the chart. We work in " real" tine while the PT's in the hospital or at least try to get it done while the pt is there. Also look into the hospitals it department. These can be stressful but not like floor stress.I never go home exhausted or aching or wondering what I left for the next nurse.

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I feel you. I had the same experience. I worked in a cardiothoracic icu for 2.5 yrs and got burned out from working too hard and all of the other "stuff" of being a nurse. I swithced to interventional radiology for a break and the schedule (7a-330). I recently applied and was accpeted to CRNA school...ready for the challenge.

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