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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?
Other businesses and industries are learning that happy, satisfied employees actually IMPROVE productivity. Healthcare is about a decade (at least) behind in this regard.
A major problem is healthcare is not like other business/client relationships. In other businesses, the client pays for services and if that client is dissatisfied, they take their business elsewhere. Because our system is driven by the insurance companies who pay the bills, the client loses the ability to demand more or better care. And, as long as the insurance company decides how much the compensation will be for an appendectomy, the hospital will trim expenses elsewhere--and the first place they trim the budget is nursing. No one really cares if the patient is happy or unhappy; the insurance company wants to pay the least possible, the hospital wants to make as much money as possible and the patient's quality of care suffers. Sure, the hospital sends out surveys and asks patients for feedback, but it seems the results are used to penalize individuals and departments that don't make impossibly heroic efforts to keep patients happy (and just like nursing students who dream of 'holding patients' hands', there are plenty of patients who believe the nurse should be there--literally--holding their hand.
after passing RN last year i feel like nursing is not for me, everytime i go to work i am very stress, nervous and overwhelmed i dont know why is because of the patient, coworkers or afraid to makes mistakes. I want to build my confidence and i dont have enough support system. Until now i keept asking myself is it for me or not why im still here trying to survive as a nurse.I am a foreign graduate. Hoping someone give me advice.
after passing RN last year i feel like nursing is not for me, everytime i go to work i am very stress, nervous and overwhelmed i dont know why is because of the patient, coworkers or afraid to makes mistakes. I want to build my confidence and i dont have enough support system. Until now i keept asking myself is it for me or not why im still here trying to survive as a nurse.I am a foreign graduate. Hoping someone can give me advice. thnx!
emtk, You're not alone! If you read what others have written here, and on other posts, you'll see that many, many new nurses also feel overwhelmed and stressed. It seems that the first year is the worst--by far. Completing a year is a milestone, not just because of the time spent, but because it's often a turning point in a new nurse's career. At about that one-year anniversary, most nurses feel they are finally getting into a routine, they're finally able to organize their day, and they can feel confident about most procedures and skills.
We're all afraid to make mistakes, whether we have a month in nursing or 20 years. We all lose sleep because of changing schedules; this makes it harder for us to function--it's like having serious jet-lag several times a month. We all want to do our best, but have too many patients, too many duties, and not enough time for everything.
Can you find a trusted, more experienced nurse and tell her how difficult this is for you and ask her advice? There are a lot of mean nurses, but there are a lot of very kind, helpful ones, too. If your unit director is sympathetic, you might explain to her how you're struggling. If you do talk to your director, make sure you say that you want to do well, be successful, and stay in nursing--but you're feeling all kinds of pressure and you want advice how to survive until you gain the confidence experience brings.
I also understand what it's like to be in a foreign country and struggle with language and customs. Thinking in another language is stressful and demanding enough without the added burden of being a new nurse! When I lived overseas, I used to rent movies in English and use that time to relax. If you can do this, I'd strongly recommend it--find movies in your first language and spend an hour or so turning your brain off. It might help with the stress.
I hope you're able to find a mentor or find some way to survive this first, difficult year. Good luck to you.
I'm a new grad working in a level 1 trauma ICU. Everyday before I go to work-even several days before work, I get anxiety attacks and almost throw up from how nervous I am anticipating what kind of a night it's going to be. I guess what I portray on the outside does not depict this because it seems the unit trusts me enough to handle complicated-ish patients. It's 100% TMI-but since we are nurses, what the heck, but I can not remember te last time I had a solid BM-my anxiety about this job is THAT overwhelming. It's not only Thr patho, but the drugs, the interventions, the paperwork the protocols, who to page, what neurosurgeon/trauma doctor likes what and who's going to rip me a new one today over something? Can't complain about the people I work with-most are very helpful-all I have to do is shout I need assistance. But then there is person x who criticizes everything I do, don't do, say, think, etc-you get the point. This job is not easy-I think about quiting everyday-fantasizing over it almost. I have to be my own therapist just to work up the nerve to walk onto the damn unit. Our educator says this is normal-and that at 6 months it should go away. I wish 6 months was here tomorrow. It's really disheartening because I've always wanted to bra nurse-I love helping others and Helping them feel better-now I barely get the feeling I've even charted everything each shift-let alone improved my patients outcome.Love this thread because it makes me feel less alone-I find comfort in knowing others out there are feeling the same way I am.
I hope you stick it out. The ICU is the very best place to start your nursing career-in my opinion. You get the great opportunity to assess patients repeatedly which will serve you well and will give you great experience to go anywhere in nursing. You don't have a huge patient load, you have full responsibility for your assignment. You will see how to handle emergencies and watch for subtle changes to report and try to correct.
Don't give up. I remember I used to call back when I got home after finishing my shift because I thought I missed something or even caused my patient's fever. I had those anxious moments, but I always went back because I knew this was the best place for me to learn the hands on care and control of my work situation while I started in my career.
You must work together on the unit, you have to help with interesting procedures and give complex treatments and coordinate complex drug mixtures. Just work on a couple of years. If you feel the same after that time, you have worked in a great learning environment, and have pretty much given you an open ticket to work anywhere. You'll be amazed when you look back and see how much you remember-It's amazing for me, I remember and it's been 1978-1984 since I did my stint in the SICU.
Very wise advice, cdsga! I never worked in ICU, but loved that rotation in nursing school. Two critical patients were easier than 6 med surg patients. (And, sometimes those med surg patients are, or should be, in ICU.) There was less back-stabbing and more cooperation in the units, and the staff was more willing to help each other. This was just my own experience--too small a sample group to say is the way 'all units' are. But, the advantages are fewer patients, more staff support, and quicker response time if a patient has a problem. Yes, it's an opportunity where new nurses can really learn and thrive.
I keep wondering how we can better support and encourage new nurses. The difference between nursing school and working as a new grad is like jumping out of an airplane. Years ago, my instructor remarked to our nursing school class that being on your own is scary and intimidating. None of us really 'got it' at the time; heck all we wanted to do was graduate and be nurses! But, once we were on our own we wanted to go back to the comfort of nursing school and the security of having someone double check our meds and charting.
I hear new nurses say that they get physically sick before work, that they are terrified about what might happen during their shift, and are constantly worried about making errors. And, many, many of these nurses quit in their first year after graduation. These new nurses aren't lazy or incompetent or fickle. They suffered a long hard road to get to that first job: applying to nursing schools, taking entry exams, taking pre-nursing classes, long nights of writing care plans, early mornings on the floor, the constant exams and threats of failure, becoming an expert on meds you never heard of for conditions you never knew existed, finally graduating, then studying for and passing the NCLEX (hopefully on the first try). Nursing school is one long uphill struggle from start to finish; those who make it are survivors. So, why do we have all these nurses who have proven themselves to be tough, strong, committed hard-workers quitting after a few months on the job?
Maybe it's a matter of .perseverance Just like nursing school was a challenge, the first year as a nurse is a challenge. Maybe we do encourage people to put in 'one more day' until that knot in the pit of the stomach finally goes away. Or, maybe we demand a different way of transitioning nurses from 'student' to 'RN'.
Traditions fall hard. We'll always have some jaw-clenching old nurse saying, "*I* had to put up with that my first year and it just made me tougher!" But, is that the best way? Do we lose more good nurses than we retain by continuing to make new nurses jump through rings of fire? As long as the there is a new crop of nurses and 20% of them are retained, employers have little incentive to change the status quo.
It's a philosophy question. Growth is hard, even just physically. I remember my son having growing pains while he was a teenager. He didn't even have anything to do with it. It was a natural phenomenon. If you want to stay a baby-you would have to die wouldn't you? So think about anything worthwhile takes some painful growth and scary moments. This is to grow your confidence. No one can do it for you. It's something everyone has to go through. It's a hard truth sometimes. But you have graduated, you have the skills, you just need to grow your knowledge and settle in.
Some people can adjust better than others. I think coping mechanisms, focusing on your work, studying constantly, to be well prepared (in school or out, knowledge is power) asking pertinent questions and treating others like you would want to be treated, not how you were treated leads to tremendous growth in your daily life and in any endeavor. Things that are easy, aren't necessarily the best for you. You don't learn, you don't grow. Just understand that others have been in the same boat as you and they've had to weather similar storms. You are not alone in your situation.
Some nurses will be helpful, some vindictive and some will sabotage your growth because they have self loathing issues. Don't worry about them too much. You set your own goals and persevere. You will be the better person for it. Through all things self-evaluate. Where do you want to be, what kind of nurse to you want to be, do you like where you are going, where you are working, what you are learning in this environment, Can you connect, What's holding you back???? Those are steps to self-actualization, where we all want to be. I think Donald Trump said some of these things are needed to be successful,
Great post, cdsga!
Each and every item on that list is hard! really hard!
Most of us have little voices in our heads questioning our abilities. It's really easy to give into the doubt. We have to somehow learn to overcome our self doubt.
Staying focused is another problem for most of us. We all need time to relax or distract ourselves, but those distractions can really eat up our time and destroy our focus. Ever wonder about people posting on Facebook all day, every day? How much might they accomplish if they weren't constantly tethered and thinking about documenting their lives on social networks? Or, anything else that consumes much of our time and effort.
I love that hypothetical question, "What would you do or accomplish if there was absolutely no chance of failure?" The fear of failure prevents us from working on our dreams.
cdsga
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Wouldn't it be great to hear a manager say-We are going to be about being the BEST! and we are going to do it together!
Take the time to find the little annoyances that impede productivity and start ridding the place of them. It's the little things that make work more difficult that they build and build until people just quit. Whether toxic personalities, disorganization, work flow issues, lack of communication, lack of supervision, unexplained goals and vision, staffing issues, constant change without rationale-whatever.
This would help retain new employees and people would actually WANT to work with you in your unit, and think what a wonderful environment that would be! It is possible and it can happen.