Leaving Bedside Nursing

[Deebuzz]

Your emotional, physical and mental health will suffer along with your family life. I have finally decided to leave the bedside and I've never felt so happy. At only 25, I felt like I was going to be stuck in this state for the rest of my working life but I found the courage to finally make the decision that saved my health and my marriage.

I went into nursing with the intention of helping people and being the one to make a difference to those who may feel hopeless. All my intentions were quickly shut down when I started working on the floor.

We deal with some unappreciative, sarcastic, rude, and egotistical (patients, family members, physicians, coworkers, and managers). There is no care in nursing just bottom-line concerns.

My first nursing job was ok, I worked in ND at the time, I moved to FL and that gave me the green light to officially leave floor nursing. I hate the anxious feeling before every shift, the nagging family members, pts who are rude self-entitled, coworkers who throw each other under the bus, physicians who disregard concerns, and a whole lot of other things I can elaborate about that is just downright awful.

I'm glad to say my degree didn't completely go to waste as I am now an RN case manager. I believe being away from the bedside will renew my interest. I refuse to live a day dreading having to go to work, nursing has literally changed how I respond to people before I use to smile at everyone now I walk past people with my face looking like a pit bull ready to bite.

Whenever someone would tell me to smile I thought, "Wow I have changed for the worst" I refuse to be a martyr for this profession.

Taking care of myself is more important than risking it for people who **** on theirs.

[Libby1987]

I don't blame you for leaving floor nursing and I sure don't hold it against you. But I wonder how you will transition into case mgmt, and there are different types so that will be a factor, being so angry with the same people whom you will still have to work with. It will be less demanding in the physical sense and lower liability but you're going to need to have an advocate minded attitude as well as persuasive skills. Right now you just sound so mad, understandably but hopefully you won't carry that over into the new role.

I wonder how frustrated you would be with floor nursing and all of the demands and questions that come with it if your case load was cut in half? Was it the volume or the content? I mean, woukd the content have been tolerable with less volume?

[Deebuzz, BSN, RN]

sbustamante said:

I am truly happy you are finding your fit OP, but now I'm a little sad and worried about going into nursing. Not only am I a bit older but it seems like there is a great deal of negativity in the field.

Hello dear, as you can tell from this thread there are those that understand your point of view and those who are so negative that they shldve left this CARING profession long ago. Unfortunately, I've been around many coworkers who were just downright mean and rude. I tried to understand their pov as we all have so much on our plate. I do believe that we need to be intentional In our actions to treat eachother with respect no matter what the situation is. Unfortunately, In nursing lots of your coworkers will Intentionnaly be nasty.

[Deebuzz, BSN, RN]

I will be doing CM for a home health agency. Currently I work on a tele floor and pt ratio is anywhere from 6-8 per nurse with only 2-3 pca on a 35 bed unit. I feel I never get time to do anything but my timed tasks which is giving meds because I just don't have time for anything else. With the level of acuity pt ratio should not exceed 5. Turnover is very high on our floor and you just don't know what you will get once you go to work. There's always something additional to be done but with less resources. I quite frankly am sick of this and do not wish to continue with even applying to another hospital as this if the general environment in floor nursing.

[Deebuzz, BSN, RN]

Libby1987 said:

I don't blame you for leaving floor nursing and I sure don't hold it against you. But I wonder how you will transition into case mgmt, and there are different types so that will be a factor, being so angry with the same people whom you will still have to work with. It will be less demanding in the physical sense and lower liability but you're going to need to have an advocate minded attitude as well as persuasive skills. Right now you just sound so mad, understandably but hopefully you won't carry that over into the new role.

I wonder how frustrated you would be with floor nursing and all of the demands and questions that come with it if your case load was cut in half? Was it the volume or the content? I mean, woukd the content have been tolerable with less volume?

I will be doing CM for a home health agency. Currently I work on a tele floor and pt ratio is anywhere from 6-8 per nurse with only 2-3 pca on a 35 bed unit. I feel I never get time to do anything but my timed tasks which is giving meds because I just don't have time for anything else. With the level of acuity pt ratio should not exceed 5. Turnover is very high on our floor and you just don't know what you will get once you go to work. There's always something additional to be done but with less resources. I quite frankly am sick of this and do not wish to continue with even applying to another hospital as this if the general environment in floor nursing.

[astormofswords]

I'm starting to understand why you think the world is against you when if a person on this forum doesn't tell you exactly what you want to hear you outwardly mock them and play the victim. Bit ironic that you critique others for being negative while you mock them and show negativity in the same sentence, don't you think?

Some people question your attitude or elements of your post and you proclaim that they're the reason nursing is declining? WOW.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

Look, OP, your responses are not gaining you any sympathy. You need to chill a little and find a better way to respond.

I think so many people go into nursing for the exact, same reasons, but all react to it very differently. People have different coping mechanisms, and many do not deal with stress well. It's one reason I often question people who have this romantic notion of nursing when they get into it. They don't realize what all they are getting into, and that it doesn't give you this huge feeling of fulfillment every day.

Whether anybody likes it or not, nursing is part customer service. I think everybody should do some serious time in the customer service sector at some point before they turn 21. As a waitress, hotel worker, retail associate, I think most people would be much more kind to each other as a society. Hospitals make their money by who chooses to have their babies and elective surgeries at their hospitals, thus keeping nurses employed. I'm sorry but it's the truth. In the ER or medsurg unit, hospitals don't make money. Most people don't pay any more than what their insurance pays. They don't. It's a vicious circle. People can't afford to pay it, hospitals have to charge more, insurance companies have to pay more, they feel happier patients will be more apt to pay. Do you see where I'm going here?? So yes, the way you treat your patients is important.

I think you also need to look at the big pic. Ok, so a patient treated you like crap. Why should you give them the power to ruin your personal time? Your time with your family? You have to learn to let that stuff go. In the bigger scheme of things, does it matter? No. You need to let it at work. No person has that kind of power over me. My time with my family, is my time. And I think as you get older and gain some experience you will learn to do the same.

Not everybody is cut out for customer service. Not everybody can calmly deal with the public. It takes years of work to do it. I remember back in my early days of retail management, I would be the exact same way the OP is. I was angry all the time, I was tired. I couldn't go in another day to have somebody threaten me. They would threaten me with my job. If you don't do this, I'm calling your boss and will have you fired!! Over stupid things too. Like not giving them a discount for buying multiple items. Then I learned how to deal with these type of people and I stopped letting it control my life. It's learning how to properly cope. It's learning to stop giving people that kind of power over you.

That being said, the OP needs to realize they will still be dealing with families and patients. You will be doing the customer service thing at a little higher level now in Case Management. You are not getting away from it. And by seeing how you are reacting in here, I'm not sure you can handle it. But I hope OP, this gives you some of the relief you are seeking. And you can lose some of this anger you have taken on.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

I don't think there is any right or wrong as people seem to be viewing this.

If you are miserable and you are changing to something else that sounds like a reasonable and healthy thing to do. Good luck in your future endeavors and please come back and let us know how it is going. I hope it is really good for you.

[Libby1987]

Deebuzz said:

I will be doing CM for a home health agency. Currently I work on a tele floor and pt ratio is anywhere from 6-8 per nurse with only 2-3 pca on a 35 bed unit. I feel I never get time to do anything but my timed tasks which is giving meds because I just don't have time for anything else. With the level of acuity pt ratio should not exceed 5. Turnover is very high on our floor and you just don't know what you will get once you go to work. There's always something additional to be done but with less resources. I quite frankly am sick of this and do not wish to continue with even applying to another hospital as this if the general environment in floor nursing.

Home Health case management? I thought you were talking about conventional case management, I think everyone was also.

I'm deep into home health with accumulative of 20 years in since 1988. Home case mgmt includes both direct patient care as well coordination of care. Plus needing to understand a boatload of regulation, reimbursement and documentation requirements. We are now under the 5 Star rating system and customer service is bigger than it ever was. You have to like people and have both a high tolerance of dealing with the whole gamut of home environments, personalities and family dynamics.

I love home health but I'm pretty frank when hiring those coming burnt out from inpatient positions. And they come from every department, fed up with the workloads and expectations. Home health is hard work and all agencies operate differently, some will run the wheels off of you. But regardless of which company, it is not a place to slow down and relax and the first year is very challenging. If you're not prepared and up for it, you will hate it, likely more than floor nursing.

[Deebuzz, BSN, RN]

Home health CM is going to be another endeavor. If I don't like it then I'll just have to move on. That's fine. I'm going with an open mind.

[Deebuzz, BSN, RN]

I have a right to defend my decision as to why I do not like floor nursing, people can agree or disagree this is a discussion. That does not bother me. I don't need nor seek sympathy. I know what works for me and floor nursing doesn't. If you love it then great! But as for myself, let me have my own opinion.

[Soliloquy, MSN, APRN, NP]

CrunchRN said:

I don't think there is any right or wrong as people seem to be viewing this.

If you are miserable and you are changing to something else that sounds like a reasonable and healthy thing to do. Good luck in your future endeavors and please come back and let us know how it is going. I hope it is really good for you.

I think it's good so many people are passionate about what they do and can't imagine other people wanting to leave. It makes me feel good because I know when I leave others will be there. So I'm not letting anyone down. But won't miss it.

[NurseRies, BSN, RN]

Deebuzz, I think it is best to find a new job, I completely agree. I think people may be taking some of the comments the wrong way. I was just trying to help by saying you've got to find a way to leave work at the door. We all do. I don't have a perfect marriage or a perfect job. Far from it! But I have found a way to deal a little better with the stress. We've lost 30% of our staff in the last 4 months. I'm one of the charge nurses and have been working 50-65 hours a week to help the team because I'm in a specialty where it's hard to get nurses trained quickly. I hardly see my husband and it sucks. Believe me it's not perfect.

I have always believed in positivity/optimism and sometimes that makes people sick to their stomachs. It's what works for me. I hope you know I am just trying to give you a view into a different perspective. I waited tables /bartender 8 years before becoming a nurse. I guess I'm just used to putting up with a lot of idiots and jerks. And believe me , they are everywhere.