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.

[sbustamante]

Nursing has always been a goal/dream of mine so I am going to continue on. Hopefully I will work with a team or in a setting that benefits all.

[LittleOldLadyWho, ADN, BSN, LPN, RN]

Are you saying that those same people don't ask a million questions when you are supposed to be managing their care? You don't sit and talk and counsel them as a CM?? Are you really a nurse at all?

[LLynne50]

I have been working as a private duty nurse in pediatrics for about 12 years, after a year of misery in dialysis and 6 months as a hospital nurse. I have been so happy as a peds private duty nurse! One pt per night! Do everything for that pt, but that is cool. I am hoping to keep this job until I retire, but I will see what happens in the future....may go into another field.

[Hock3ygirl]

I absolutely agree with you 100%. After nearly 20 years as a nurse I have become so disenchanted with being a floor nurse. My background is in ER/Trauma which has its own set of obstacles. I have been a Case Manager now for 3 years and it is a happy middle most days. I'm still not convinced I should'nt find something else to do .

Good Luck

[NurseNeLz]

I hear you but with only 1.5 years into it I would have tried another unit, hospital, specialty. Im 10 years in and def at the point you are. Maybe its just the times. Over the years its gotten worse. I feel bad for new nurses coming into nursing where all we are concerned with now is policy, patient satisfaction, and discharge times!!!!

[agrayRN, MSN, APRN, NP]

I had a lot of anxiety when I started out in the hospital. It didn't end up being the right fit for me, either. I made the change to ambulatory care, and have been there for 8 years. It was a pay cut at the beginning, but it was the best decision I ever made. But it was the best decision for me. You need to do what is best for you, and only you can know that. If it turns out this CM position is it, that's great! If not, you'll find your fit. You got into nursing to help people and you still will. We all do in various ways, and we all make a difference. Don't listen to anyone but yourself when it comes to decisions about your own life, because in the end, you are living it. If you love what you do every day, it's not really work.

[pthelper777, BSN, RN]

Deebuzz said:

I hate nursing, never thought I would say that but after 1.5yrs of working as a floor RN I know this crap is not for me. This job will suck the living life out of you. 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, 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 eachother under the bus, physicians who disregard concerns, and a whole lot of other things I can elaborate about that is just downright aweful. I'm glad to say my degree didn't completly go to waste as I am now a 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 pass people with my face looking like a pit bull ready to bite. Whenever someone would tell me to smile I though, "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.

That's so funny! I've been in it for 1 year (ED/Trauma) and I could have written this myself! My biggest issue is not the patients or their family member, or even coworkers (I really loved my coworkers), it was mismanagement of the entire department...and the stress/anxiety was unbearable before and during my shifts.

I just accepted a Field Case Manager position for a national company. It combines my 17+ years prior career in Workers' Compensation Claims (7 of which I was a supervisor to adjusters and nurse case managers) and now my nursing. I'm so looking forward to hopefully now making a difference and helping patients navigate and understand the benefits of treatment. Not to mention, working from home (which I have done in the past) and being out on the road a bit.

Good luck to you!

[oldred]

I was a nurse for 40 yrs. Started as a floor nurse but times were different. RNs were treated with respect both by the patients and the MDs. We only worked 8 hr shifts but for 30 patients we had 3 nurses ...1 RN the others were LPNS. We did not split the floor by numbers on doors. We split by what the patient accuity. Nobody got all the total cares. We worked as a team. We did not have to chart every time we turned around! If it was important yes it was charted, but for the most part a note at end of shift was plenty. The supervisor made rounds EVERY HOUR. If a doctor acted poorly, the supervisor took over..if that didn't work we could go to Chief of Staff . Today there are cell phones in everyone's hand! Your told not to use them but nothing is done by admin. RNs act like robots-- must get report, must go to breakfast, must pull my meds and they haven't seen the patient because they don't like bedside report!! Yes, you are right to move on. Try other sides of nursing! So many choices these days!! The important issue is to stay with nursing because you have the heart!! You could be the one who figures this mess out!! Good luck to you!!

[lovingtheunloved, ASN, RN]

I've been in direct patient care all of my 13 years in nursing, and I love it. Not to say there aren't bad days or situations, but for me the good outweighs the bad. Maybe I've just gotten lucky. IDK. Best of luck to you.

[janice_c67, BSN, RN]

Nursing without ratios will suck the life out of you. My first job was in Texas and it was murder and it was extremely unsafe. I am in California now, and I don't hate nursing now that I know I won't get an unlimited number of patients of any acuity level.

[danarooo, BSN, RN]

I understand where you are coming from. I think that maybe some who read your post are focusing more on the venting then the valid frustrations your having. Your tired and overwhelmed and hitting a wall. The fact is that with the focus on ratings healthcare is being driven in the wrong direction and nurses are bearing a large brunt of the demands/blame. I'm an HH RN in a very tough territory, a large majority of my population is under-educated, poor, very sick and very non-compliant. And no matter what I do or how I do it a decline is a decline and it's held against us. This places the majority of the responsibility on the shoulders of the nurse, not the patient where it actually belongs. Believe me, I feel your frustration. We are almost always short staffed and pushed to perform...perfectly. You are constantly being told what you missed in charting, asked to do more paperwork, see more patients and held to a standard that no nurse can maintain. The bottom line is that as long as we are rated on what the government/insurance companies and corporations consider "standards of care" this will not get better but worse. Nursing will continue in this fashion until we stand up as a whole and work to stop it. The only problem is we are all too busy and exhausted to do much about it.

As an RN in HH you are in a patient's home, and with that comes pt's who are extremely difficult...and feel they can dictate your schedule to you - they won't care that you have 9 pt's to see that day either. You'll go into houses that are so bad they need to be condemned -- and we do call to have this done sometimes. You will have pt's who are never sober, share their homes with roaches/rats/bed bugs and even scabies (yes it has happened). You may have pt's who's families are crazy, abusive, violent even. I can say I've seen more in HH then anywhere else. I've also done more in HH and been able to have a more direct impact on my pt's lives too. All HH agencies aren't the same, some are good and some are bad. You will be pushed to your limit in HH as well. It's no cake walk. There have been many many days I've logged 16 plus hour days between pt visits and the sometimes unbelievable amount of charting. A medicare OASIS start of care/recert/resumption of care is I guarantee much long then any documentation done in the acute care setting and you'll be doing a lot of OASIS documentation. One thing that may be better is that you may find areas where you are better able to set boundaries which are important. As another OP has said, the first year can be extremely hard, but if you can get over the rough parts it can get easier.

I've considered getting out of nursing many many times. I do love my job (most the time), but I can see that the emphasis on ratings are making nursing harder and expectations more unrealistic which will end up driving a whole lot of really good nurses right out of nursing.

[Willow73T]

I too, have been in the nursing profession as an RN for 5 years. I have had the same experience and ive lost my passion. Administration does not care about you or the patients and keep putting more crap on our all ready full plates. Its kind of ironic i came across this article because i was thinking how much i would love to get out of nursing but unfortunately i have a huge amount of student loan debt so im stuck, i have no choice. Its sad because i came into nursing wanting the patient care end of it NOT all this documentation and sitting at a computer bs. Never thought i would see the day i would hate my profession but the administration has taken the wind right out of my sails.