New nurses feel like quitting?

dudette10, MSN, RN · Mar 18, 2012

Most posts that I've read are from nurses who got away from the bedside, but they are still nurses. Leaving the field all together? Well, I doubt they will be hanging out on a nurse's website, know what I mean? :)

missladyrn · Mar 18, 2012

My first nursing job was horrible. I was sick to my stomach on the way into work. I would sit in the parking lot wanting to vomit and not wanting to go in. I would go home and lay awake thinking of all the things I did wrong or forgot to do. I had no support and it was a very dangerous place to work, the patient loads were very unsafe. The other nurses were mean and cliquey and I did not fit in. I crossed days off on the calendar trying to make it to the 1 year mark, I quit 5 months on the mark. I came very close to going back to my former career, I was done with nursing. But then id ecided to give it another shot I went to work in a totally different area, dialysis outpatient, where they give you 3 months of training.The staff was welcoming and friendly, and I looked forward to working with them (well most of em, lol) It was also stressful and very difficult, but much more organized and there was a lot more support. I loved it and it really helped me to learn what I do like and what I do not like. I needed that experience to develop my confidence and assessment skills. We are not born knowing how to be a nurse, and school only teaches you the book stuff. Being a real nurse requires on the job training. The only way to do it is to be in a place where people will help you learn. You will make mistakes.

Maybe this job or this floor is not for you, that is ok. You just have to learn what you can and find something else. I am now trying hospital nursing again on a different type of floor at a MUCH better hospital. It is terrifying but I feel much better prepared for it now.

You need to try something else. You need to give yourself time to find your own way. How long have you been working? What kind of job do you have now? What do you LIKE about nursing? Wounds? Teaching? One on one patient care? Counseling the patients through hard times? If you give us a little more info we might be able to help you find something that is more "you".

You chose this field for a reason, and whatever you were passionate about got stomped out of you at your job. You just need to find it again and find a job that focuses on what you like and what you are good at.

Guttercat, ASN, RN · Mar 19, 2012

I'm wondering if any relatively new nurses (a year or less in the field) are on the verge of quitting or did quit with no intention of getting another nursing job. I'm not talking about the, "I had a bad day..." kind of 'wanting to quit; rather I'm talking about seriously feeling like you can't take it any more.
If this is you and you're either about to quit or did quit, what lead up to wanting to end a career that you worked so hard to enter? We know that getting into nursing school, finishing nursing school and passing the NCLEX are not easy accomplishments, so after years of hopes and dreams, something dramatic must have happened to get you to the point of giving up on what was probably your dream job? Can you share your story, here?

There is a huge leap between the reality, and the romanticized.

DanaNP · Mar 19, 2012

A young woman just shadowed me (I'm a Nurse Practitioner) who wanted to enter the field because she got discouraged with nursing. She sees the work as an NP as very different than that of a nurse--and she's right about that. We shared horror stories about being on the floor with far too many patients, responsibilities we weren't prepared for, and colleagues who tried to sabotage us.

When I worked in ICU as an RN I saw many new grads come in as new hires. This was during the worst years of the nursing shortage and the hospital filled those jobs any way they could. Patient acuity, meds on two or three critically ill patients, codes every time you turned around, and technical equipment that they were unfamiliar with as new grads was way too much for them. Some survived, but many couldn't handle the stress.

Guttercat is right that there is a big difference between the fantasy of spending time with patients, offering compassion and encouragment and the reality of rushing into a room, scurrying to do what you need to while knowing that you're 20 minutes late on another patient's pain meds.

I disagree with the dudette that nurses who have left the field don't frequent this site. I read posts all the time from those who are on the verge of quitting or who have just quit. I think their stories may have some similarities.

anotherone, BSN, RN · Mar 19, 2012

I'm wondering if any relatively new nurses (a year or less in the field) are on the verge of quitting or did quit with no intention of getting another nursing job. I'm not talking about the, "I had a bad day..." kind of 'wanting to quit; rather I'm talking about seriously feeling like you can't take it any more.
If this is you and you're either about to quit or did quit, what lead up to wanting to end a career that you worked so hard to enter? We know that getting into nursing school, finishing nursing school and passing the NCLEX are not easy accomplishments, so after years of hopes and dreams, something dramatic must have happened to get you to the point of giving up on what was probably your dream job? Can you share your story, here?

I have more than one year, not much more, but will reply anyway. Ignore if you want. I often felt like, " i can't take this anymore" and still feel that way sometimes, wanting to quit and never stepping foot in a hospital, clinic, etc ever again. For me school, nclex etc was not that difficult, just time consuming. The reason why I haven't quit and probably won't anytime soon is because 1. of the massive amount of time I spent in school. 4 years for a bsn. and 4/20 was basically 1/5 of my life at that point. although as a I get older, still in my 20s, four years does not seem like much. And I have no idea where else I would find a job that would pay me the same thing nursing would. The times I felt like that, which in the beginning was almost everyday were related to : being very overwhelmed at the responsibility, the massive amount of information I did not know, the work load, which even some experienced nurses struggled with, the constant calls to come in and being mandated to the point of 52hour weeks or more all of the time, seeing my friends out partying all the time and with easy jobs ( although they make a lot less money). Nursing was also NEVER a dream job for me, so abandoning it would probably be easier on that aspect.

Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN · Mar 19, 2012

I fantasized about quitting almost every single day during my first year. I'd look at those elevators and daydream about getting on and not coming back. For me, nursing school was fun. It was all about learning things that really interest me, and during clinicals, I didn't feel the full weight of being solely responsible for the patients. I could take time with patients and get to know them a little better. Once I hit the floor as a NURSE, not a nursing student, the experience changed completely. It was a complete culture and reality shock, going from the safe little bubble of nursing school with my instructors to hold my hand, to the real world of what nursing is really like. I remember how the anxiety would begin hours before my shift started; how the sense of impending doom would become more and more intense with each step I took from the locker room to the report room.

Five years in, I don't think about quitting nursing altogether, but I am ready for a change of scenery. I'd like to get out of the hospital, where I feel so rushed every second of the day that I feel like I've accomplished something if I've had time to actually interact with my patients instead of running from task to task, and work in an area where the interrelational is the focus.

It's really strange that I feel that way, because I'm a very linear, rational, logical person, and do a lot better with blood and guts than the feelings stuff. I don't understand it.

Aurora77 · Mar 19, 2012

I actually had the opposite experience from Stargazer. I couldn't stand much of nursing school. All the NCLEX style questions that were so ambiguous and assumed that nurses are incapable of two things at once. The instructors trying to rationalize the answers that flew in the face of logic (not that I blame them, they were good, it's just the testing style that drove me nuts). The busy work group projects. I liked the actual nursing part and finally began to thrive when I had my final preceptorship. I'm 8 months in to my new career and while I know I have so much to learn, I love it, because even though conditions don't follow the book, they make far more sense to me than the book ever did.

I think Guttercat is spot on--the reality of day to day nursing is far different than the fantasy sold in school. Again, not that I blame the schools; until you're actually doing a job, you can't possibly understand what the reality is. Clinical experience gives a person a taste, but not the full experience.

Nursing is billed as a profession. In the U.S., professionals are equated with white collar jobs, where brain power outweighs the physical. The reality of nursing (at least bedside nursing, the only kind I have experience with) is that it takes a combination of the physical and the mental. Some days I go home physically exhausted. I don't think most people are ready for the sheer hard work that goes into being a nurse. The general public thinks we do a lot of hand holding and comforting; nursing school portrays us as using our brains doing all that "critical thinking," while real live nursing includes both of those, plus running up and down the halls, transferring patients, lifting them, etc. To those who are expecting all of this, I bet it's a huge shock.

Patti_RN · Mar 19, 2012

Thanks all for your feedback. This informal survey is my attempt to find some of the many reasons nurses quit after a year or so in the field. The time, effort, loss of sleep, money, and sacrifice it takes to get from 'wanting to be a nurse' to 'being a nurse' is enormous. It was the hardest path I ever took (That includes running my own business, going to law school, motherhood, and living in a foreign country where customs and language were different.) I'm sure I looked like the deer caught in the headlights my first year of nursing. I was terrified every moment of every day. Somehow I survived, but there were many, many times I wanted to quit, and many days when if that 'one more thing' had happened I would have quit. Luckily, I was brought almost to the breaking point, but not quite to the breaking point.

What I'm hearing, so far, is that there is a difference between what we imagine nursing will be and what it actually is. I see that all the time when I read posts on this site about student nurses and new nurses wanting to "sit with patients and hold their hands". I'm also seeing that the burden from student nurse to employed nurse is like night and day. It's easy for experienced nurses to forget how difficult it is to suddenly have the responsibility for so many acute patients when you're still learning the practicalities of the job (like where the supply room is, how to chart unusual occurances, and what hospital protocols are).

Do you think shadowing a nurse as part of the application process would be helpful?

Do you think a more gradual transition period would help? (Even if that meant lower wages for less patient load until a nurse transitioned to more patients?)

Would it help if new nurses were allowed to spend an hour each week attending meetings for new nurses where information and concerns could be shared?

What other kinds of support would make a difference (or would have made a difference) in your early months as a new nurse?

Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN · Mar 19, 2012

Hmmmm, I don't know....maybe a complete overhaul of the health care system?

MyUserName,RN · Mar 19, 2012

I think nursing school in and of itself should be more clincal based and less of only teaching how to pass a test. It got to the point in my schooling where I could pass a test without studying much because I figured out the way to answer the nclex style questions. Not that I didn't study, because I did, very much. The first two semesters I studied my butt off, third semester I studied a lot, then last semester, didn't really need to study much at all to pass the tests. After the nclex, I felt like I probably could have passed that test long before I graduated. I don't know, I just feel like by the end of school, I knew how to pass an nclex style test with my eyes closed, but had very little clinical experience actually USING critical thinking. I felt like I learned how to be a nurse more in my preceptorship that lasted 6 weeks than the whole 18 months of my nursing program. I think this is probably a big part of the problem.

I personally do not hate nursing. I have been a nurse now for 9 months. I am satisfied (enough) with my job. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. I know that I won't leave nursing. I do want to leave this particular job one day (maybe sooner than later), but I don't know if my reason for not being happy with this particular job is because of the work itself or because of the lack of respect from upper management, the feeling like nobody in management cares or listens or does anything about what the nurses need or complain about. The manager retaliating on it's employees for complaining. The morale on my floor is way down. People are leaving in droves. We can't stay fully staffed, ever. I like the patient care part. It's all the other bullcrap that I don't like.

I feel like if we were better staffed, better patient ratios, more support, people wouldn't be leaving like this. But apparantly, in the feild of nursing, that is just a pipe dream.

Columnist · Mar 20, 2012

Moved to First Year After Nursing Licensure.