New grad RN, absolutely hate nursing

Nurses General Nursing

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I am a new RN, graduated in dec 2018. I am starting my first RN job this month as a surgery float. Im from Canada so I did a 10 week preceptorship at the end of my degree.

I really really dislike nursing. To be clear, i enjoyed the academic part - i like science and learning and i did well in the academic part. It was clinicals i hated. I realized this more than halfway through my degree but I didnt want to quit and i naively thought id somehow like it by the end. In 2nd year i made a med error in clinical with no harm to ththe patient but i was seriously traumatized and didnt deal with it until after i graduated when I decided i needed to start going to therapy. This event in 2nd year severely intensified the anxiety i was already experiencing. Honestly i had never before experienced in my life what i would call anxiety until nursing school - and I already had a unrelated diploma and had worked since i was 15, but never experienxed anything near the continually worsening anxiety in nursing. In the first week of my 4th year preceptorship, I had a "near miss" were i hung a med and realized at the last second that it was too early. I was completely devestated, went home and told my parents i was quitting and not going back the next day. Long story short i did go back and finish, but it was rough

I didnt realize fully how much nursing had affected me until i finished school. All of the sudden i started to be happy again. Like, actually happy. I hadnt realized how much i hated my life and myself up to that point. My therapist diagnosed me with situational depression.

So now, i dont know what to do. I have this job starting in a week and i am getting very anxious again. I really really dont want to do it. But i feel like i need to? I dont know what else to do and it seems pretty difficult to get a nonhospital job without hospital experience but there in absolutely no way i can go back to how things were before, even if "just" for 6 months or a year. Any insight? Tips?

53 minutes ago, Sarah2018 said:

Non-bedside nursing means a bullsh*t job where you won’t make a difference whether you are there or not.

That's harsh and what kind of difference are you referring to? Janitor at my hospital makes a difference for nurses and for patients; patients are pleasant because their rooms are no longer dirty and nurses don't have to be the housekeepers on top of our many different roles on the floor. Unit secretary also makes a difference for nurses; she or he takes care of paperwork, so nurses can focus on patient care.

6 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Non-bedside nursing definitely does NOT mean you have a BS job where you don't make a difference. What nonsense. I left the bedside to become an educator and I make a difference every single day. EVERY. single. day. How incredibly shocking and offensive of you to state that. I am trying to think of a nursing position away from the bedside is BS. I can't think of one.

58 minutes ago, Sarah2018 said:

A hospital nurse is like a pilot of a big passenger plane, she has to be skillful.

I became comfortable with nursing when I saw how my colleagues were happy. I was not the only nurse, also so many of them graduated with me. They are humans too with feelings.

Look at your friends whom you graduated with. Maybe this will encourage you. You are not the only one.

Non-bedside nursing means a bullsh*t job where you won’t make a difference whether you are there or not.

5 Votes

You don’t realize that you are costly for poor patients. Please do not work in non- bedside nursing. Do not accept a BS job. What do nurse educators do that doctors cannot do? What is the role of a doctor then? Just to dispense pills?

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
4 minutes ago, Sarah2018 said:

You don’t realize that you are costly for poor patients. Please do not work in non- bedside nursing. Do not accept a BS job. What nurse educators do the doctors cannot do? What is the role of a doctor then? Just to dispense pills?

What do I do that doctors cannot do? I onboard 100% of the clinical staff that comes to my hospital to work, including the doctors themselves. I set their priorities, ensure they have documented training, monitor requirements from TJC, CMS and other regulatory bodies. I provide our staff with the information they need to care for patients, begin their career with us and to manage things like navigating our intranet site. Yep, I am expensive. I worked hard to get where I am and not everyone can do what I do. I am not sure what kind of troll you are, but you have a seriously limited understanding of the various clinical roles. I don't cost the patients money. I save patient lives through the knowledge, skill checks and evidence-based interventions that I pass on to every person who passes through our doors.

8 Votes
Specializes in Emergency.

Don't know if it was already posted, but how about research?

2 Votes
Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

Don't do it. It is not worth your mental health and then physical. This career is not for everyone and unfortunately, most don't realize it until they are far into it and try it out for themselves. There are plenty of other jobs you can do away from the bedside. May not pay as much as a hospital job but there is a reason for that. Much luck to you.

ETA: Look into nursing jobs through insurance, case management, informatics etc.

On 5/6/2019 at 1:22 AM, Davey Do said:

I'm paraphrasing a bit here: "S/He who can does; s/he who cannot, teaches.”

Alternatively, those who excel at what they do clinically and want to share their love of the profession with others so that they, too, can excel teach. But you could've probably guessed my stance from my screen name. ;)

OP, nursing isn't for everyone, and that's totally ok! I think the suggestions to look into health research, informatics, and pharmaceutical/medical devices sales are good ones. Another idea may be to obtain a secondary school teaching certification for health sciences or science. If you'd be interested in law, an undergrad nursing degree could serve you well working with med mal cases. Or you could always pursue a completely unrelated graduate degree. Or somewhat related training like sonography... So many choices!

2 Votes
Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.
On ‎5‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 2:01 PM, Kypovan said:

Maybe you should consider a different type of nursing? Doctors office, WIC office, public health, legal nurse, nurse health coach, hospice care, etc? There are a number of non-bedside nursing options out there.

This was my thought. Tossing aside an entire profession, especially one with as many varied opportunities as nursing, after only four months following that much preparation seems extreme.

3 Votes
12 hours ago, Sarah2018 said:

A hospital nurse is like a pilot of a big passenger plane, she has to be skillful.

I became comfortable with nursing when I saw how my colleagues were happy. I was not the only nurse, also so many of them graduated with me. They are humans too with feelings.

Look at your friends whom you graduated with. Maybe this will encourage you. You are not the only one.

Non-bedside nursing means a bullsh*t job where you won’t make a difference whether you are there or not.

I have to say, this comment comes off as judgmental, holier than thou, and totally inaccurate.

Are you suggesting that the OP isn’t good enough for the job, or inspired enough, and that you are?

I always tell people, nursing is not a job it is a career field. There are literally so many things you can do as a nurse, as many of the previous posts have mentioned.

If you think non-bedside nursing jobs don’t make a difference, who do you think is responsible for the changes in protocol over the years that have improved patient outcomes, elevated the field of nursing, brought hospice care to the mainstream, increased the use of NPs in primary care, etc etc? Who advocates for the rights of nurses, and who helps create new laws that protect nurses and patients?

So many nurses have gone on to become researchers, lawyers, advanced practitioners, who saw the need for change in their field and worked to be part of positive change.

Things would be so much worse for nurses and patients if nurses were only at the bedside and had no other role in the healthcare team.

Let’s not take nursing back to the dark ages where we really were just seen as the doctor’s assistant. Bedside care is absolutely vital and I am glad that there are nurses who can stomach it for the long term, but I’m also grateful for the nurses who contribute in so many other ways.

4 Votes
Specializes in Managed Care, Onc/Neph, Home Health.
7 hours ago, CKPM2RN said:

Don't know if it was already posted, but how about research?

How can one research with being a new grad with NO EXPERIENCE

Oh and another interesting idea for a career choice if your into the maternity/newborn field, lactation consultant!

The hospital sent me to a lactation consultant when I had trouble with latching initially, and she was so helpful and she also had this nice cushy office all to herself and basically spent all day doing one on ones with new moms and their babies, and then I guess she also did community-based classes. I’ve always thought that sounded like fun, and also gets you off the hospital floor.

Specializes in NICU.

Dont kid your self without experience all those goody jobs will not materialize,the course for legal nurse certification by the Viki Milazzo is about $4-5,000. If you can tolerate doing finger sticks,many blood bank collection places like Red Cross,take you to do the screen at blood collection drives in corporate places. My suggestion is continue therapy,see your MD for anti anxiety tx,do the six months and leave.

Wish you the best,I really feel for you,but you are not alone,come back with updates.

2 Votes
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