Leaving the hospital and I feel guilty about it....

[TtuhscNurse, BSN, RN]

Hi all, 

Needed a place to vent and perhaps seek some validation from fellow nurses. I have been a nurse for 1.5 years all in the ER and at first I really struggled to find my own and have dealt with horrible bullying from charge nurses and senior staff and techs and tried my hardest to rise above it. I have sought out every possible learning opportunity available to me, I am the first to volunteer to float to other units to help, I am one of the few nurses on my unit certified in certain vascular access techniques and even served as a charge nurse multiple times without proper compensation. During the initial hit of the pandemic our hours were cut severely, I was getting flexed 4 hours every shift, our benefits were affected, I was not even able to afford my school loan payments. When the pandemic hit my hometown hard we were left with no PPE, no gowns, no gloves, I was buying my own gloves and my own N-95's to keep myself safe at work. 

 

I recently got offered a position outside of the hospital setting as a nurse still but not treating patients in the acute care setting. Upon my formal notice of resignation I got hit with a threatening tone from HR about a payment that would be due to the hospital and am basically being badgered by them about this, almost an attempt to beat me into submission to stay out my contract.

 

My point here being is that why as nurses, professionals, do we let ourselves be treated like this by these big companies? We are licensed and highly educated professionals, even as new nurses you have proven that you are educated and licensed and should be treated with some professional respect. Instead we subject ourselves to poor working conditions because we feel as though the hospital-acute care setting is the only thing we have available to us because we let them determine our worth and we fall for it. In the 1.5 years I have been a nurse I have learned so much about myself and what I will stand for and being treated like trash and being money baited into jobs that will only turn around and treat you like trash is not what I envisioned for my professional career. I hope this message reaches even 1 nurse, new or old and maybe encourage them to seek out other opportunities they have always considered and put their foot down and no longer let themselves be treated like less than the highly educated professionals that we are. 

 

There is a whole other world of nursing outside those hospital walls everyone, don't ever feel like you aren't qualified for other opportunities because the hospitals make you feel less than! 

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

What you speak of is true overall. But if you signed a contract, you are liable to pay, whether you like it or not. That's the whole reasoning behind a facility to have you sign one, and it's going to be to their advantage. No one was forced to sign. 

The reason for entities (yes, it goes on outside hospital walls as well, believe me) treating nurses like they do is that if you don't like it and quit, in many areas there is another fresh face to get hired.  Nursing schools are pumping them out every semester. With the cost of school vs student loans, many cannot afford to leave their jobs, there are only so many nonbedside jobs out there. 

I'm not trying to be cold, cruel or callous. I'm realistic after 25+ years in this business