Leaving nursing

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I hate nursing. I've only been an RN for 6 months. I work in a clinic, and am sick of being treated like crap by doctors and nurses, and not respected by patients. I want to switch careers, but don't know what I want. I am young, have many school loans and bills to pay. For those of you that have quit nursing, what careers did you end up in after? Was the pay similar to what you were paid in nursing?

Specializes in Med-Surg, Oncology, School Nursing, OB.

My first nursing job I worked with 3 nurses who had major issues on nights. They thought it was "funny" to tell me things to do or not do and then watch me get in trouble for it. Once I realized what they were doing I no longer trusted them or talked to them. If they told me to do something, I'd ask someone else if that was right. Once they realized I was on to them they left me alone. For instance, I had no idea some of our doctor's had standing orders at night for things like fevers. After I called and woke the dr up twice for a couple different things he informed me that's why he wrote standing orders. When I asked the nurses where those were they literally all laughed and said we wondered how long it would take you to find out. (This was back in the pen and paper days.) They let me switch to days three months later. The day nurses didn't purposely try to get me in trouble. However, they were very cliquey (the manager the worst) and would purposely leave me out of any lunch rotation and when I'd ask when mine was laugh and say oh we forgot about you. Every day? Ok whatever. They'd assign me the worst patients and ask me questions in front of the dr's like what was your patients Hg again and is that normal to try and make me look bad. (Back when we were just given a printout of lab results without the normal ranges!). Most of the time I knew their answers or I'd say ask the dr, I just saw him/her looking it up and walk away. It got old fast, I cried a lot on my way home from work, thought what in the world have I gotten myself into...I didn't want to go back to school AGAIN so I started floating the rest of the week around the hospital by picking up extra shifts not on that floor. I learned there were many different units where people were treated differently. I was able to find a position on a different unit once my 6 months were up and never looked back. They were so nice, respectful, and wanted me to succeed. It was like night and day.

I've only had two positions I truly didn't like in the past 25 years. Those two had much more to do with the people/dr's I worked with, not the work itself. If you like the actual work then just find a new position.

I looked at changing careers after I stayed home with my kids for 10 years. I explored many different careers and even substitute taught for a while. I I have worked with or personally known counselors, social workers, teachers, aides, secretaries, management, paramedics, cops, accountants, etc and everyone gets dumped on, treated without respect by someone, expected to do more with no more pay, etc. It's everywhere. If you find a well paying job where you don't, let me know!! However, nursing has so many more avenues for variety and schedules than any other position I've seen. Even doctors pick a specialty and usually stick with it their entire career.

I will say most of the dental hygienists I've talked to really like their jobs. Some do NOT get dental insurance of all people but if cleaning teeth doesn't gross you out then that may be a nice change after four more years of school. In which case, you could have a doctorate in nursing and have many more job opportunities!!

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Sadly, I think this might be another one of those "one thread wonders" where the OP doesn't reply to any of the great comments and suggestions anymore.

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On 3/4/2019 at 4:29 AM, Tron8622 said:

Everybody in medical field are weirdos and rude too .

Yes, EVERYBODY in the field are weirdos and rude.

Wait-YOU are in the medical field as well, so...

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Thank you everyone for these wonderful comments! I've been having a hard time at work mainly because of the doctors. It's a private practice, and some of the docs are incredibly rude. And, then there's the "nurse eating their young" happening daily. It's so overwhelming and makes me doubt if it's all worth it.

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1 hour ago, nay2018 said:

Thank you everyone for these wonderful comments! I've been having a hard time at work mainly because of the doctors. It's a private practice, and some of the docs are incredibly rude. And, then there's the "nurse eating their young" happening daily. It's so overwhelming and makes me doubt if it's all worth it.

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I have a friend that worked in an outpatient surgery center and she said the same thing to me. There's a particular doctor who talks down to her in front of other staff and is very rude. She reached a breaking point and resigned in front of his face after he yelled at her in front of other coworkers. She found a different job and is happy. When you can't change the people, perhaps you can change the circumstances. I would give your job some more time to grow on you and then make an informed decision about what to do next. Nursing has so many specialties to offer. As long as you get the initial experience, many other doors will open for you.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
6 hours ago, nay2018 said:

Thank you everyone for these wonderful comments! I've been having a hard time at work mainly because of the doctors. It's a private practice, and some of the docs are incredibly rude. And, then there's the "nurse eating their young" happening daily. It's so overwhelming and makes me doubt if it's all worth it.

Look at it this way - if you moved to the middle of the desert in Nevada and didn't realize there were entirely other terrains across the country, you would think the United States was one miserable place to live.

Start looking for work elsewhere. You are young, you have little experience and it is no wonder you hate it given your circumstances. Before you give up on those student loans and start all over again, begin looking for a different situation. Branch out, even into areas you didn't necessarily think you would like. You will find there are collegial docs out there. There are kind and mentoring nurses. We didn't all get as far as we did in spite of awful others. Some of us are very dedicated to helping the next generation find their footing and most of those who aren't "dedicated" to that per se are at a minimum not gunning to "get you".

I am sorry you are struggling. Square your shoulders and take matters into your own hands. You have more power here than you realize, the number one of which is the power to find a different job. Good luck and hang in there. Let us know how it goes.

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I actually think you should follow your gut. Maybe try another place or two and then leave the field if it doesn't click. Honestly, it's a thankless job and most nurses seem to be disgruntled and angry once you get through the shallow veneer of niceties which many nurses have perfected because they have to show "customer service skills" in the midst of being powerless and engaged in a futile career defying nature (which is very stressful in acute care life/death situations) where they make just enough to pay the basic bills unless you're willing to put in 60 hrs a week (which will leave you emotionally and physically exhausted) or become a traveler.

I have worked at 3 hospitals in 6 years, and all of them have horrible retention. I was working at a level 1 university trauma center in the ED which was union. After working there for 1 year, I was half way up the seniority list. And by 18 months I was 3/4ths the way to the top. Only 10 nurses in the entire department had worked there for more than 5 years. No one had worked there more than 7 years. This department had over 120 full time RNs plus a myriad of travelers. This is at a top five hospital in the state at a major public university with over 50,000 students recognizable to the general public, and they have a great football team. You would think they wouldn't have an issue retaining great staff, but they couldn't retain many because they didn't pay very well ($28 an hour), management was horrible, and doctors would try to throw RNs under the bus when the doctor messed up. It ended up that they fired our manager in the end, but they went through a total of four managers in two years. I worked in another ER and they went through three managers in 2 years. Where I work now, we have gone through two managers two years and will probably be getting a new one soon. "People leave managers, not hospitals," which is somewhat true. Maybe some of the other units at the hospital were managed well?

There's very poor management in nursing and everything is about profit. Don't set your sights/ideals too high because you'll realize at some point that patient care suffers so the boss can show a larger profit to their boss. Once you get enough experience that you're not thinking about your skills on a daily basis and understand the deeper understanding of the politics of the unit and hospital and how mismanaged things are, you'll probably become angrier and disgruntled. Additionally, they (doctors and administration) will always scapegoat the lowest man on the totem pole if possible and people lie, lie, lie! There's no integrity or honor in medicine/nursing. If you can find a job in a government agency, work there. You'll have better hours, pay, and a pension in addition to 401K if you work for the feds or a good state government.

I work for the military in the National Guard and have been there for over 10 years and multiple deployments. They actually have written policies and directives for everything, which most hospitals do not. Integrity, excellence, and service are vital to the mission and everyone is on board to help each other to achieve the objective. Because there is such investment on training, indoctrination, and technical order formation, the organization works pretty well. Also, leadership actually takes on issues and has authority to resolve issues or implement solutions. Much of the nursing management model seems to revolve around not making a decision and allowing nebulous decisions to be made. One e-mail will say one thing, another e-mail will say something else. When you ask for clarification, the manager may tell one employee something and tell another employee something else. Only one hospital I have worked at had written policies for everything, it was the university hospital in the prior paragraph. Anyhow, because expectations are clear, there's very little stress unless deployed to a combat zone where you have to think about survival. I would suggest that if you dislike what you're doing, educate yourself out of the problem by getting a masters of PhD, or do the American thing like start your own business where you're the boss and make money.

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I am right there with you. I have been an RN for just 2 years. Worked in the float pool in my hospital for the first year and a half. Was quite stressful as a new nurse. I did get to decide which units I had an interest in and which ones I wanted to avoid. I took a job on a floor that has amazing nurses. Fact of the matter is while I love the people I work with, I find zero joy in nursing. For me, the stress far outweighs the benefits. I dont see myself in nursing much longer. I never left the job I've been doing for 25 years. It's a job (part time now) I love and pays more than nursing does. I am lucky to have that to fall back on and plan on going back to that full time very soon. Just because someone made it through nursing school does not mean that they are meant for it. Go with your heart. I am.

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"Blah, I hate nursing but I have only worked beside or a very limited number of places or specialties but the entire thing definitely is terrible even though I have only chosen to stay in a single area."

Nursing is more than a job, the amount of jobs you can get within nursing are honestly ridiculous. Both my wife and I drive desks. A family member professionally spoke and consulted. Friends push desks as well.

I know nurses who write for a living, do consulting, statistical analysis, clinical research, teach, speak, informatics, usability, animal research, are police officer RNs, the list goes on.

Nursing is not a single job. Don't like the job, look for another one. Bedside is not the only choice.

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On 3/4/2019 at 11:41 AM, DTWriter said:

Suggestion: Try a different nursing field AND shadow the place (i.e. the actual place where you will be working AND during the time(s) you plan to work) before accepting the job offer.

From personal experience, the workplaces that I did not shadow prior to accepting the job ended up being downright bad, but still experience. Not everyone finds that job that they can "just stick it out" for 1 year, on the first try.

Try again if you need to - you have 6 months of working experience to do so; take advantage of it.

Very good advice! I’ve never asked to shadow but in two different cases wish I had! It probably would’ve been eye opening! Do you ask during the interview? Have you ever been told no?

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Six months is hardly enough time to get your feet wet. Don't expect it will be easy until at least 2 years or more, no matter what specialty. Be patient. Everyone feels overwhelmed in the first year or two.

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I sincerely hope you are just venting after a very bad day at work. That's perfectly okay.

If that's not the case, there's a saying I learned from Allnurses.

If one person I meet treats me like crap, that's on them, if everyone I meet treats me like crap, that's on me.

Re-read OldDude's post. His reply was similar to mine, but more gently said.

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