New nurses thinking of leaving nursing

Published

Hello,

I am sure that all of us remember our nursing school days, and how hard it was to finish. I just finished last December of 2008. I worked so hard and I thought now I was going to have a big pay off. I was WRONG! Apparently that is why nursing school is like being in the military. My unit is full of backstabbing, backbiting and judgemental people. The hospital right now is cutting staff due low census and expecting more. We have to rotate all around the hospital even to units that I not comfortable with practicing on. I no longer have had a choice. It has been made clear to me several times that there are plenty of new grads that are graduating that will take my job. What has happened in the last 2 years in treatment of nurses. Was it always this bad! I thought it was supposed to be better? Should I stick it out in nursing is it going to get better when the economy rebounds? I try to compare it to my friends experiences that are equally overwhelmed at their jobs, but to be frank, I am responsible for people's lives and am able to be held liable. This makes that stress worse. All of the more experienced nurses out there. is this going to get better? Should we all start unions. (I actually mentioned the word "union" at my job and one of the older nurses told me never to say it again b/c I could get fired) We can get written up for opposing anything, or saying anything negative. Just Scary!

Thank you to the OP who started this thread.

I am weeks away from graduating from a nursing program and have been experiencing doubts about whether I want to start at the bedside at my first job. I come from a teaching back ground and really enjoyed working with adolescents and children on preventative health (earlier healthy habits, longer life later). When I did my clinicals at hospitals, I mainly see really sick patients. In the adult population, many of them have HTN, Diabetes, renal failure and come from socially disadvantaged back grounds. These are the sick "faces" in modern medicine.

I am hoping to use my nursing degree in public health to teach about disease prevention and life style management since many of the illnesses we see in hospitals are diseases resulting from unhealthy habits or some exposure in the environment.

Although the technological advancement in medicine is incredible nowadays, those services can be better distributed amongst patients if we spend more time in disease prevention.

I don't want to leave the nursing profession without having worked in. I think every new grad feels a little guilty for not spending their first year on the floor to pay their "dues." Without a doubt, nurses can still make positive impact outside the hospital doors if bedside nursing is not what you want to continue with.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

What really has gotten me is taking care of patients who do not need care who are taking time away from those who do need care...ie pain medicine seekers. These patients who know their pain medicine schedule buzzing me. When I walk in their room, they are smiling and laughing with their friends.

I had one patient say to me as she was walking off the hall "Can you draw up my medicine so that I can get it when I come back." She was eating her fried chicken in her room when I walked in to give her her pain medicine and she tells me, "This fried chicken is really good, if I give you some money can you walk down and get me some?" Were you not just walking off the hall??!!

Yes, grad school is looking better and better!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.
I have become a nurse I don't like, impatient with sick old people who want a chat when taking their pills. I am no better than my manager who only sees me as a number on a calculator. I am not valued for my empathy, warmth, compassion. I'm valued for how fast I can assess and pass meds.

That's why I have no interest in working LTC. If I just pass pills, I'm cold, impatient, and unapproachable. If I chat about the weather or a patient's grandkids, I'm slow.

I once got extremely frustrated during diabetic teaching because the patient took 10 minutes to check her FBS and administer insulin. We were both new to insulin pens, but I was on a deadline, and I could only think "hurry up! I'm behind!" I like teaching, and that's not the kind of nurse I want to be.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CVICU, Obs/Gyn, Derm, NICU.
I am going to play devils advocate here.

I have been in many facilities as a volunteer. At every place I have been the nurses have complaints such as these.

That does not stop them from chatting it up and surfing the net at the station......

It does not stop them from taking way more breaks (read smoke breaks) then the breaks that policy entitles them to per shift.

I think management needs to be more reasonable and I think that employees need to stop feeling like they are so entitled........and meet in the middle....

As a volunteer in facilities ....you are having an 'outside' look at what nurses do.

I don't think you are qualified to know what nurses need to do or not do.

How do you know what they are doing at the station ? How do you know what breaks they are entilted to?

I am on the computer A LOT at work ..... a volunteer might think I'm surfing the net ...but i assure you I'm never doing that.

Boy I am tired of non-nurses trying to tell nurses what to do

Up Vote Up Vote ×

"until we RN's fix it"

Good luck with that "RNs". Might get a little further if you are inclusive instead of exclusive. There are many who work in the medical field, and RNs, LPNs, med techs etc need to be on the same team for change just as much as to function in any capacity.

OP, one bad job does not a bad career make. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, etc. There are other types of nursing besides hospital, and more than one hospital to work at. Diversify, apply elsewhere, not every place is great, not every place sucks either. It may take awhile to find another job, but your job might seem that much less painful when you see an end in sight (a new job).

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in neuro/ortho med surge 4.
As a volunteer in facilities ....you are having an 'outside' look at what nurses do.

I don't think you are qualified to know what nurses need to do or not do.

How do you know what they are doing at the station ? How do you know what breaks they are entilted to?

I am on the computer A LOT at work ..... a volunteer might think I'm surfing the net ...but i assure you I'm never doing that.

Boy I am tired of non-nurses trying to tell nurses what to do

That is exactly what people think. They think because we are actually sitting down at a computer we aren't doing a thing. Sometimes nurses cannot sit down for the entire shift to chart. There needs to be a reality TV show of what nurses have to deal with on a daily basis. Maybe this way the public would know the craxzy conditions we have to work under.

I think a reality show would be a good seller if there was an interesting cast. There could be a brand new 22 year old grad, male nurses, and nurses who have been a nurse many years. Plus throw in the supporting cast of the Mds, aides, Rt, PT, OT, pharmacy, dietary, etc. Could be interesting with the right cast. Plus, it would inform the public of how smart one has to be to be a nurse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Maybe one of you who has been fortunate enough to find a job can call Mike Rowe from "Dirty Jobs" and get that going. I think that would make a great episode. Too bad confidentiality would probably preclude it. Can you imagine - "Sir, can you please sign this consent to show us wiping the poop off your behind on national television?"

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Yes, and this will continue until we RN's put a stop to it. What I don't understand is how the Grocery unions, truck drivers unions always make a big fuzz about contracts, wages, working conditions, etc. but in our profession it seems to be very difficult. Why because we allow it to be this way. Just my opinion:twocents:

I am a new grad LPN at a rehab facility. I am shocked at the expectations placed upon nurses! I'm also mortified at what some nurses call pt care. :eek: Those nurses get out on time, don't check placement on tube feedings, perform lame assessments, chart next to nothing, don't provide education, etc, etc. What did we spend all that time in nursing school checkoffs for if we aren't really doing what we were taught? I appear to be incompetent because I perform tasks the way we were taught in school (with sound nursing judgment and rationale), stay late to get charting done as requested by the facility expectation, listen to the patient/family concerns and address them, provide education to patients (after all we are rehab), and provide much needed TLC to them. When a patient verbalizes to me that they want to give up and just die, I'm not gonna just walk out and go assess the next guy. Caring takes time. Quick once over = good nurse, thorough = bad nurse. :confused:

I thought nursing was about taking care of the patient. I refuse to lower my standard of care just to get off on time to keep a job, that is unethical in my brain. I get kudos from family who say I take great care of the mother/father. I'm not saying I am the be all, end all when it comes to nursing after 1 yr of LPN school. I just NEVER had any idea that nursing care and work conditions were sooooo poor. I am getting totally burnt out, have no social life whatsoever. I can see why nurses take shortcuts to get out of work on time, doesn't make it acceptable though. We all have families to get home to. I just don't feel that's in the best interest of my patient to cut some of the corners I see getting cut. I know I am doing the right thing, its just hard to see the other nurses laughing and joking... done with "cares" and I am wearing myself out everyday!

I wanted to become a nurse to take care of people. With a 13 to 1 ratio, I feel like the previous posters do. I pass meds, assess as fast as possible, chart, talk to family, enter orders, fax to pharmacy, lab and xray. This is not patient care. This is paperwork care, legal care, budget care. I agree with you, RNman09. When will nurses get together and be nurses? i.e... advocate for our patients who are the ones who are losing in this "do more with less" battle. I know the economy stinks and budgets are an issue. But as one person mentioned earlier, why flat screens and all the fancy "stuff"? Weren't we taught in school to prioritize care, use our critical thinking, best nursing judgement, etc? Half the patients can't even hear or see the TV anyway. Where's the critical thinking in that. Hire one extra nurse and save money on some of the fluff.

I have always hated politics, but this new career of mine is inspiring me to get more involved and push for better standards in all types of health care facilities.

Any suggestions on how you nurses with more experience and solid ethics are surviving? It appears on here that complaining or even kindly requesting assistance from management just makes a one's life at work more complicated. Who does one talk to when you get off of work in the middle of the night and all your friends are in bed? I really don't believe in airing my concerns at work. It's hard to keep your chin up and leave the frustration at the door crossing over the threshold of the facility. I am managing so far though. :uhoh3:

Thanks!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

No matter what line of work you decide to go to, you can expect more of the same. Job insecurity is job insecurity. Watch your back. Don't talk union or anything else that is negative about the job. Just go there and do it. Be glad you have a job and a chance to save for a repeat education if that is what you decide to do. But don't expect anything better.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I'm not even thinking of changing professions. I was born to be a nurse. I have always been motivated by a challenge and boy do I have a heck of one now. I may change the type of facility I work at eventually. I am pursuing RN and will have a broader range of jobs to choose from once I finish that. I am probably dreaming if I think an organization or nurses association will ever be able to make a change re: advocating for the patient as far as lower nurse patient ratios.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
No matter what line of work you decide to go to, you can expect more of the same. Job insecurity is job insecurity. Watch your back. Don't talk union or anything else that is negative about the job. Just go there and do it. Be glad you have a job and a chance to save for a repeat education if that is what you decide to do. But don't expect anything better.

Job insecurity is the least of my worries right now. It's the patient care that I am appalled about. What do you mean about "Don't expect anything better"? I am just wondering how common it is to feel as I described above being fresh out of school?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I was in the world of work for many years before I went to nursing and was astounded at the negativity I met. I never realized what was behind the scenes, expecting everyone to be of the "calling" variety of worker. I no longer hold such expectations.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion