2nd thoughts about being a nurse

Nurses New Nurse

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I was so excited that after 4 grueling years of school, I got my BSN. I really thought life would be better, but it stinks. I have been working about 4 months on med/tele. I am so sick of having too many patients, including some unstable ones. I am sick of catty coworkers, rude mDs, demanding families, no respect, overtime, the mone isnt worth the stress, anxiety, depression, grouchiness, no life, I hate this job. I am so mad.........I worked so hard. Nursing isnt what I thought it was, it isnt about caring for patients, its about how hard can u work one person, there is too much work to do, I feel like I am risking my license every day.......I dont want to go to work and when I am at work, I just wannna go home.

I am not married. I dont have kids. I work 5 12 hour shifts a week and then I work 2 12 hour shifts the next week........the 5 12 week is grueling. I need a more balanced schedule..........please dont say that u have 5 kids and are married and that if u can do it then so can i. I am doing the best I can.

change your schedule, that is too much work

60 hours a week helllllllllloooooooooo are you awake???????? or did your heart stop from exhaustion. honey quittttttt!!!! you are to young to get stuck

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I too have 2nd thoguhts about becoming a nurse. I hated school i thought the teachers were not supoortive and ignorant to us students and i thought "oh when i'm workng it won't be this way" Then I studied my behind off and i got my license last week. I've been working for a month and a half it wasn't what i thought. I'm a pediatric nurse and i feel like i'm not responsible or smart enough to take care of these kids. And my preceptorship is a joke. i'm not being taught, I'm being told what to do and not being told the reasons/rationales... And if i asks questions my preceptor gets fustrated and does it herself. I think i move too slow (which i do, to not make mistakes) for her b/c she roles her eyes,etc. I feel like i want out of nursing. I feel like i'm disorganized and i don't have a clue whats going on and that i made a huge mistake. I love nursing but right now i feel so helpless with it.

This is just what the witch want you to think, this makes her feel powerful

no, you become vocal ask questions, and if she cant tell you ask her supervisor why not, or if need be find another job. Honey you are an RN

DO WHAT WE DO, TAKE CONTROL.

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I'm so sad that you look nursing on the other side of the coin. I can feel your frustrations, time will come that you will value your profession. if you don't want to be in the hospital you can work on other related areas where nursing is accepted. sometimes, working in the hospital is very frustrating, but if you will work with your heart it is a blessing working with those people who are physically, emotionally and financially in need.

just take recharge your battery you might be too exhausted with your work environment! BE PROUD YOU ARE A NURSE!

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Specializes in Rehab, LTACC, Corrections, Med/Sug.

I became an LPN 3 and 1/2 years ago..worked for a year then went on for my RN while still working..I have been an RN now for a year and a half and I still feel the same way you do. I LOVE taking care of my patients. I did not go in to nursing for the money, I went in to nursing because I saw how my mom was treated as a cancer patients many years ago. I thought about becoming a nurse for several years but was afraid of failure. Well, I didn't fail..I did very well in school even though I was in my early 30s before finally starting it. Actually working as a nurse or thinking that I "will make a difference" is a joke!! It's not about patient care, it's a business and all about money like every other "business". It is so sad. I have worked for agencies, Rehab, LTACC, corrections, and now hospital med/surg as a new RN. I do the same things now as I did as an LPN except a few minor things. It's all the same everywhere you go. Always short staffed, no help, lazy co workers that just put their time in, no time for the patients, computer charting, paperwork, diresprect, ungrateful demanding families and patients, stressed out co workers including myself..even those with several yrs. experience. The only thing that gets easier I think is that you don't have to think things out as much as time goes by. Things that you used to really concentrate on and think through come more naturally. Other than that, it's all the same. My biggest problem with where I work is the charge nurses and magagement. Also, too many chiefs and not enough Indians. I am looking for a different job as well. I am also thinking of going back to school and not to study nursing. I am so glad I got the ASN and didn't waste the time getting the BSN. My husband is furious that I don't want to do nursing after all we went through while I was in school, but nobody understands unless they are in the situation and a nurse themselves. It is like no other job. I DREAD going to work. My first year was HELL as a new LPN..but even now, 3 and 1/2 years later and an RN..it might be a little easier in some ways, but it still sucks and I am VERY proud to be Nurse, not because I work as a Nurse, but for what I went through to become a Nurse.

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I just graduated this summer too. Got a job as a new grad and i am so depressed. I have horrible co-workers that are not team players. Too much work for one person. I honestly wonder if i did the right thing by becoming a nurse. I have not stopped crying for days, i thought nursing was something else too..... not this! I have never been so dissapointed about something in my life like i am now. Is it worth it? I have lost interest in so many things, i honestly do not know what to do. And this whole NCLEX thing has me so worried. I use to be happy, not anymore.

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I have to agree with you 100%. I came home from work today convinced that I don't want to get my advanced degree in nursing. I am a second career type coming from a business background. I love the pt care, when I actually get to care for them. I usually have 6-7 pt we can sometimes have 8-9 each, and most are unstable AND we don't have a nurse aide 90% of the time. I have good time management skills, and get the job done, but feel like I can never chart enough and never get to know my pt well enough, not to mention that what you do need/want to learn is impossible to since you are answering lights for ice, and water and blankets all day long! I am so sick of this, I hate it. We have mandatory overtime are always working short and never get two days off in a row. I never see my family or friends and barely get to sleep. Management never gives any feedback on how you are doing, and if you tell them no to coming in extra on your day off they get mad. It's like give me a break I have one day off in a week full of 14's-16's! Then they treat you like a child, act like you have to be told how to talk to others and how to give report and be professional. I'm sorry, but I'm the last person to lecture on that, even if you're lecturing the entire staff. The Dr.s are rude and obnoxious, the nurses are rude, back stabbing, etc. In my opinion the nursing shortage is caused by these factors, not pay! Pay is pay and no matter what you make if your job stinks then no amount of money or lack of money in the world will make it better. Nurses do themselves in. I for one am not planning on continuing in this lousy profession for the rest of my days. I say to all the nursing students out there, run for yourl ife, pick something else, get out while the gettin' is good. To the nurses who are burned out, please leave now, for the sanity of yourself.

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I have to agree with you 100%. I came home from work today convinced that I don't want to get my advanced degree in nursing. I am a second career type coming from a business background. I love the pt care, when I actually get to care for them. I usually have 6-7 pt we can sometimes have 8-9 each, and most are unstable AND we don't have a nurse aide 90% of the time. I have good time management skills, and get the job done, but feel like I can never chart enough and never get to know my pt well enough, not to mention that what you do need/want to learn is impossible to since you are answering lights for ice, and water and blankets all day long! I am so sick of this, I hate it. We have mandatory overtime are always working short and never get two days off in a row. I never see my family or friends and barely get to sleep. Management never gives any feedback on how you are doing, and if you tell them no to coming in extra on your day off they get mad. It's like give me a break I have one day off in a week full of 14's-16's! Then they treat you like a child, act like you have to be told how to talk to others and how to give report and be professional. I'm sorry, but I'm the last person to lecture on that, even if you're lecturing the entire staff. The Dr.s are rude and obnoxious, the nurses are rude, back stabbing, etc. In my opinion the nursing shortage is caused by these factors, not pay! Pay is pay and no matter what you make if your job stinks then no amount of money or lack of money in the world will make it better. Nurses do themselves in. I for one am not planning on continuing in this lousy profession for the rest of my days. I say to all the nursing students out there, run for yourl ife, pick something else, get out while the gettin' is good. To the nurses who are burned out, please leave now, for the sanity of yourself.

This is so true ! I feel the same way everyday at work. The increasing horizontal violence from other nurses makes me sick. Management doesn't know what they are doing. HR lies on the newspaper saying how wonderful this workplace is and how nurses are being respected blah, blah, blah. I have my phone ringer off the day I'm off and let the answering machine pick it up.

I'm also a career changer and have never been so upset about the working environment before I'm a nurse. So many childish games, so many unprofessional ways to treat staffs, so little team work and so much back stabbings. Nursing schools never preach the real side of the working place. But the teachers know well enough the problems at work (that's why they deflected from floor nurses into education).

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Im still on the dawn of actual experience as a nurse. Im on my 3rd week of orientation.

I did set out to find a nice small community hospital that offered as much support as they could. Also, I got the shifts I want, and the time I wanted (7a-7p). Most of the nurses on my floor are 'teamplayers' but there are a few that are not. Things got so hectic the other night, and even though I only had 2 pts with my preceptor, I left work and found myself thinking about other opportunities.

This is the 1st time in the past 3 years that I even considered any other job besides nursing.

I plan to stick it out for now. Like I said, I barely have the experience yet.

I want to get involved and figure a way to decrease the nurse to pt ratio and inrease the staffing of aids. My hospital is going for magnet status (which makes me laugh...) but I wish they would spend their money on fixing the issues than trying to make themselves appear to be good. I know that goes for most nurses here in the US.

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I am having mixed feelings about my job....I am not very happy with it. Nursing isnt what I thought it was. It is stressful, demanding, long hours, grueling, little time for my family..........I am thinking of leaving nursing as a whole because of it.......some of my coworkers think that it is unwise to leave my job after 4 months and try to find another because it is "unwise" and told me that I need a year of medsurg. They say it takes a good year for a new nurse to feel comfortable and that I need to to stick it out for a year. They tell me that it is bad everywhere and I had better stay here.........they even told me I was spoiled for wanting to leave because I need to pay my dues! I was hurt. I already feel like a failure and I invested 4 years in this........I wanted to be an NP. It is very hard to deal with the reality of nursing..I was gonna try to stick it out a year or at least 6 months but I am so tired of feeling grouchy and edgy and like shyt...........I am turning into a bitter monster. I want to be happy. And the majority of people at my job are on meds for depression and anxiety.......and try to offer me some and say that I will be doped up like them in no time. I dont drink.....and they always try to pressure me to drink..........I am so sick of this shyt. I have been through alot and try to deal with my life experiences and stress in healthy ways.......baths, exercise, praying, talking, journaling, and fo course chocolate. But I am just tired of working with all these old bitter vultures who are here because they have kids and hubby and need the money........many of them dont want to be here......and I think sometimes they get a little upset because of some of us new nurses being single and childless meaning that we have the ability to up and leave one job and find another without worrying bout kids/hubby. They tell me that they worked more than me with a family and that if they can do it, so can I. I am so sick of them. I am so angry. I feel like nurses eat their young and most nurses are pissed off, stressed out, and underpaid and overworked. I would not encourage anyone to become a nurse unless the research this career thoroughly....it is not what I thought it was. I wanted to spend time with my patients, not feel rushed and crazy.......all I ever do is tasks, and get yelled at, and be stressed.........I need some hope. Sadly, I talked to my some that I graduated with and we all feel the same, frustrated and considering new careers.

just want to put my 2 cents in - its not just new nurses who are feeling all these things. i know i can say for myself this anyhow. they are overworking us and shortstaffing us and abusing us. i stay because i do love my residents - i will reiterate what i have said in other posts - pllease get yourself some nursing ins cause we are in a litigous society and we as nurses are being held fully accountable wether they short staff us or not ( and trust me most places can make thier numbers look like they overstaffed you even when you dont have enough) -

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I'm only in my first semester and I'm already having 2nd thoughs about being a nurse. I can't really handle stress that well....i'm known to be the relax type who likes to take things slow. But in nursing, that's impossible. I really enjoy taking care of patients and helping them...but am I capable to handle the stress? Being a nurse is such a huge responsibility. I got a degree in business before getting into nursing. I wanted to do something where I can help the people in need. But the thought of being responsible for the patient's life is just too overwelming for me. I'm considering dropping....:o

Any advice for me?

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Specializes in ICU, Research, Corrections.
Smiley, I could have written your post myself. 9 months on my current unit and I KNOW I can't go on with this gig much longer. No techs, sometimes no secretary so we answer phones and take off our own orders and on days no less at those times! We deliver and return our own trays plus are responsible for delivering meticulous patient care in an ICU environment where assisting with bedside procedures is unplanned and common. It's all too much. And in my 50's, I want to spend my remaining "young" years watching my grands grow and being part of their lives.

Where do I go from here?

We have a lot in common RNKittyKat. Everything, right down to the no unit clerk on day shift. Also, most of the time, I have to deliver my own blood draws down to the lab too! And who watches my patient's while I am gone, MOSTLY NOBODY! Who watches my other patient while I am down in catscan, or have unplanned procedures on a patient? NOBODY! The other nurses are busy putting out their own fires. I can only take a break when my patients require no interventions at all because there is NOBODY to watch them.

The straw that breaks the camels back was last week. Both of my patients were over 300 lbs, both ventilated, both sedated, both dead weight. No lifts, NOBODY to help move them.....and they both had bed sores.

I am declaring my first year in nursing over at 10 months and looking for greener ICU pastures. That is where I go from here.

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Hello,

I read your post, and I can really sympathize with you. Have you considered working in a different unit at all? One of my best friends works on the med-surg floor of a big hospital, and she's always overloaded. It sounds like the unit you may be on. I work in the OR, and I completely love it. I knew in my second semester of nursing school that was the unit I wanted to be on, and so far, everything's been great. I love the patient ratio (1:1), and the fact that I don't go crazy trying to remember to chart everything and when to give meds to seven different patients. (Now, that's NOT to say I don't go crazy trying to remember everything I need for various cases, but that's a different kind of crazy in my opinion.:lol2: ) It is really frustrating to work so hard in school, only to get out and start doubting your dream. So far my experience in the operating room has been pretty good. My primary preceptor is great, although I still get a little intimidated at times, because she's soooo good. She's really a tough act to follow, but I tell myself that she's been doing this for five years, and since she's training me, one day I might be as good as she is too. Good luck in whatever road you may find, and I really hope that things improve or change for you.

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