this is similar to many posts. but what i have found is that many people say they cry themsleves to sleep, they are taking medications for anxiety, i've had health problems because of stress. is this an acceptable result for a profession? where does it end and is it only going to get worse did nurses 20-30 years ago have the same problems??
i am very unhappy with nursing. i have just over a year of experience. i began working in the icu right out of school. i stayed there for six months then went to hospice. i graduated as one of the top of my class. i am finding that nursing is nothing like they teach us in school. there isn't enough time to do the holistic type of nursing we expect when we graduate. i had to leave icu because i was scared to go to work every day. i couldn't handle the fact that i could do something that could cause harm to someone else. the life of a person is a huge responsibility. i didn't make any big mistakes and i did pretty well but i was becoming obsessive about checking and double checking everything because of the fear that i could make a mistake. so, i left icu and became a hospice nurse. in hospice there were a whole different set of problems. i saw how patients are treated and neglected in nursing homes and how they are treated at home with their families. i feel responsible for every little aspect of the patients life. this is definately not a job i can leave at work. i carry everything with me. i don't know what to do. i thought about getting into med-surg but then i will run the problem of having to double check and triple check everything that i do again. i am very analytical and i think i am a fairly good nurse based on my patients and supervisors. it just bothers me that i take everything i do very seriously when another nurse might cut corners and do things to save time, and they may not be doing a good job but i look silly because it takes me twice as long to do everything because i try to do it the right way. anyway, i've left hospice because i became very sick, the doctors were unable to diagnose me. i am starting to feel better but only after i did some serious rearranging of my life. it is amazing what stress can do to a person. i asked the physicians every time i visited if stress could cause my symptoms and they all said no, but the minute i started changing things in my life i started feeling better.
anyway, i just wanted you to know that there are others that think they have made a mistake in choosing nursing as a career. it is sad, because i think i am a good nurse but i don't think i can keep doing it. one of my supervisors told me i am trying to be "too good of a nurse" i didn't think that was possible.
it makes me very sad because i love my patients and if i could just be a nurse and not worry about all the other responsibilities of nursing, hours of charting in icu, concerns about other caregivers providing good care, medication aids giving the wrong medications, etc, i would be happy.
i spoke to a nurse who has been in the profession for 30 years about why there is such a turn around for new nurses but other nurses have been in the profession for so long. he said it is because when he began nursing he was allowed to just be a nurse. why can't we be allowed to just be nurses?
I just started 2 weeks ago. I am a new nurse just having graduated in May. As I look at my schedule I will be working with 4 different preceptors. The first preceptor was also the charge nurse and didn't really have time for me. The first week she gave me two patients on my own. I just learned the charting system 2 days previous. Talk about diving in and drowning. I was very upset by the second day. I am just hoping the next preceptor next week will be better. This is a big transition period for me going from student to nurse I feel like I am being thrown to the wolves.
I feel the same way. I am a brand new nurse just graduated in May. I have been orientating for two weeks now. I had my first patient with my preceptor on Thursday. She was also the charge nurse of the unit and really did not have time for me as she was too busy with her other tasks. On Friday she assigned me two patients for myself. I only learned charting on the computer two days previous. I felt like I was thrown to the wolves. I will have about 4 other preceptors during my orientation. I hope the other ones will be able to spend time with me. They have also scheduled me to work almost every weekend. I was told that as a nurse on the unit we had to work only 3 weekend days per month. When I questioned why i am scheduled for 4 weekends in a row the charge nurse said they can schedule new nurses on orientation that way. Not fair. I told them that I was sorry but I also take care of my mother once a month on a weekend to give my sister a break. Thank goodness they were pleasant about that. I eventually will work the 7 pm-7 am shift.
I know what you mean, Peachy, about wanting to be dilligent in your nursing and wanting to care for patients hollistically. I've only been a nurse for 6 months now. I always think to myself "This patient is someone's mother or father, sibling, husband or wife, friend, someone's child... what if that was MY parent or MY SO or My friend laying in that bed? How would I want them treated?" And because I do that, I end up taking it to heart and worrying about my decisions and actions, too. Did I remember to tell the oncoming nurse about such-and-such? There is ALWAYS something to do, even when I could take 5. I don't know how some of my co-workers are sitting in the nurse's station chatting (maybe they're jaded or something). But you're not alone and your thread and the posts that have followed have helped me, too. Thank you.
I've also lost the 15 lbs, don't sleep, I'm terrified to go to work, etc., and I have to say this isn't normal or acceptable. More experienced nurses say, "Well, now you're dealing with reality, dear!" like it's a cute right-of-passage. Our nursing schools are seriously doing some wrong. They've got to figure out a way to make nursing school more true to life.
My mother was a nurse in the late 60s/early 70s and she never went through this misery. My guess is because was in a diploma program through a hospital and had waaaaay more clinical experience than I did. For example, her psych rotation was 8 to 5, Mon - Friday for 3 months. Mine was 6 days. Somewhere the nursing profession decided that nursing school needed to move into more of the university setting, and I think that was a mistake. With the university model, it's impossbile to get enough clinical time. Not to mention, I did clinicals in 5 different hospitals all over town so you could never get used to one system.
Then, once we get out of school we're thrown to the wolves, dealing with much sicker patients than my Mom had to deal with - and she had more training. Then, throw in some of the more experienced nurses who think they have to break us in and make our experiences even worse. And guess what? We quit, and there you have the nursing shortage.
The morale of the story is, with the way the system works now, new grads are set up to fail.
As for me, I've been on a specialty med/surg unit for 5 months now. I hate it. Running crazy all the time, other nurses criticizing me, etc. I was going to quit nursing and go back to my cushy corporate job, but I'm trying to move to another unit and see if that's a better fit. If that doesn't work, I'm outta nursing! There are many more professions out there where you don't have to experience this hell, and you get paid a lot more!
What's sad, is that I really like helping patients, but the rest of the stuff just ruins it.
....I have to say this isn't normal or acceptable. More experienced nurses say, "Well, now you're dealing with reality, dear!" like it's a cute right-of-passage. Our nursing schools are seriously doing some wrong. They've got to figure out a way to make nursing school more true to life.
....Somewhere the nursing profession decided that nursing school needed to move into more of the university setting, and I think that was a mistake. With the university model, it's impossbile to get enough clinical time. Then, once we get out of school we're thrown to the wolves,
....The morale of the story is, with the way the system works now, new grads are set up to fail.
I graduated as an LPN in 1971. When I worked in a huge, well known medical center, on a medical floor, each nurse had 2 patients. Were told to have lots of 'therapeutic conversations'. There were also daily learning experiences - the docs would come over and invite us to listen in to a class. Spent so much time with my patients I remember them to this day.
When I got my RN, in 1986, we had maybe 4 patients each (in another hospital) but plenty of time to spend with them. I guess the medical patients then were folks who would be short-stay nowadays. Instead we had them for a week at least.
I don't know just when it all went to the dogs, cause I was overseas, but nowadays its all about what insurance will cover, and how quickly patients can be discharged so the profits don't dip.So more and more high-acuity patients, along with the pleasing-the-customer, his family, friends and neighbors attitude, and more and more paperwork gets piled on the backs of fewer and fewer nurses.
There is a limit and you get to a point with that straw just breaks the camel's back. There is not a nursing shortage, only a shortage of jobs that any normal person would consider doable. I'm not saying this well at all, and I apologize, but what I really wanted to say is nursing school only cares about recruiting - like the armed forces - promise you anything then once your in, reality hits. But maybe they're hoping by the time you've put so much time, sweat, and money into school you'll stay in the profession - trapped.
Nursing itself is fine. Its wonderful to be able to spend time with patients and feel you are making a difference in their lives. But the way its set up now, you're lucky you have time for a quick assessment - forget sitting and just 'being present' with your patients. I think the only way it will ever improve is if there is more awareness in the general community about how dangerous our nurse/patient ratio is, and nurses refuse to put up with the B.S. - Problem is, then the corporations hire nurses from overseas.
Wish I knew the answer. I'm counting down till I can hopefully retire one of these days, but dread the thought of ever being a patient myself, cause us nurses are well aware of the care we won't/ can't get from overburdened, overworked and over-tired nurses. What a shame!
Then, once we get out of school we're thrown to the wolves, dealing with much sicker patients than my Mom had to deal with - and she had more training. Then, throw in some of the more experienced nurses who think they have to break us in and make our experiences even worse. And guess what? We quit, and there you have the nursing shortage.
The morale of the story is, with the way the system works now, new grads are set up to fail.
As for me, I've been on a specialty med/surg unit for 5 months now. I hate it. Running crazy all the time, other nurses criticizing me, etc. I was going to quit nursing and go back to my cushy corporate job, but I'm trying to move to another unit and see if that's a better fit. If that doesn't work, I'm outta nursing! There are many more professions out there where you don't have to experience this hell, and you get paid a lot more!
What's sad, is that I really like helping patients, but the rest of the stuff just ruins it.
Wow--you have either read my mind or seen my life. I am giving my hospital job until December to get better, then I am also outta there, and maybe outta nursing, as well.
I don't understand this nursing culture of other nurses criticizing us, duh, we're new, aren't we? I have worked in the corporate world, and although there is plenty of back-stabbing, there is at least the attempt to work as a team, whereas it seems in nursing that we are set up to fail, as you said.
It is truly amazing...I spent a day providing emotional support and monitoring a patient after we withdrew care in the ICU (extubated, morphine drip for comfort, etc.) The family was so grateful to me for being there every step of the way and smoothing over various issues that had come up. The patient passed, there were hugs all around, they tell me what a great nurse I am, and later the charge nurse reams me out about some paperwork issue.
But I think it stands to reason that the acuity of hospitalized patients, on the whole, tends to be higher now than years ago. So many of my instructors and nurse mentors with many years of experience have continually commented that today's med-surg patient was yesterday's (figuratively) ICU patient. This greater acuity means more intensive treatment/care.
I agree. It's a different world with sicker people, and nursing has changed so much through the years.
OP, You're not alone in your feelings, I think many of us battle serious second-thoughts and insecurities along the way until we can find our niche.
I've also lost the 15 lbs, don't sleep, I'm terrified to go to work, etc., and I have to say this isn't normal or acceptable. More experienced nurses say, "Well, now you're dealing with reality, dear!" like it's a cute right-of-passage. Our nursing schools are seriously doing some wrong. They've got to figure out a way to make nursing school more true to life.
I agree with you! I'm in my 4th week of nurse residency...luckily the nurses I have been put with so far are great...The first 3 weeks I worked days and it was chaos....just learning all the computer and paperwork is enought to drive you insane...Also since I feel I really did not learn much from nursing school...I am having to get use to using all the equipment too. Now I'm working graveyards, nurses are still great...only get two patients...so don't have many meds to give at night...I'm able to focus more on charting, chart checks, etc...The hospital I work at gives PBDS test to all nurses when they hire on...it is suppose to see how much you know and where your week areas are...if you don't pass it...they give you excess paperwork to feel out each day and put you on remediation until you finish residency and then you retake the test. If you don't pass it...there's a possibility you could be let go...Oh great! Like I'm not under enough stress and their going to give me more paperwork to get done, along with the 10 pages of skills that have to be checked off by my perceptor before the end of residency. Oh did I say I didn't pass it...So I've made up my mind at this point I'm just looking at each day as a learning experience and will try to fill out what I can on the paperwork...I'm not going to worry about what happens at the end of residency...If they let me go...oh well! I'm sure I can find someone else that will want me...Right now it's all about the learning experience... Thanks for the input...it always helps to hear others input...it helps me not to feel so alone in this situation.
youngatheart
107 Posts
I just started 2 weeks ago. I am a new nurse just having graduated in May. As I look at my schedule I will be working with 4 different preceptors. The first preceptor was also the charge nurse and didn't really have time for me. The first week she gave me two patients on my own. I just learned the charting system 2 days previous. Talk about diving in and drowning. I was very upset by the second day. I am just hoping the next preceptor next week will be better. This is a big transition period for me going from student to nurse I feel like I am being thrown to the wolves.