Nurses leaving the field?

This hadn't been a phenomenon that I'd seen often until recently ...

One of my very favorite critical care nurses left the bedside within the last two months. What for? Real estate. Go figure.

If I had to do it again ... I wouldn't. Honestly. Nursing school was brutally torturous, and if I knew then what I know now, I would know it's not worth the strife right now with the state of health care. It's sad, but it's true.

I left nursing two years ago. I was completely burned out and my anxiety level was off the charts. That being said, I don't regret going into nursing because I have a lifetime's worth of great memories. I was a good nurse, just not a very good employee. There's a big difference.

That's great that you have the memories! What do you do now?

More often I see nurses leaving the bedside to NP or CRNA school

More often I see nurses leaving the bedside to NP or CRNA school

Right, that's what I see a lot of too. But I mean people leaving the actual field all together

I see a lot of nurses move to a different position or advancing by the means of becoming a NP, manager, educator ... .

In recent years I have seen nurses trying to get out of the bedside hospital grind by trying out home care only to discover that there is productivity and even more charting - and go back to the hospital.

I also know a lot of nurses who reduced work time to 30 hours/week or less and take another non-nursing job in addition. I know nurses who also work as yoga teachers, in book stores, give dance lessons, teach languages...

I have an Auntie who left nursing to work in a big box department store, and LOVES it. The hours are awesome, she gabs all day about clothes and other whatevers, she gets a discount, she is paid well, and gets regular raises......

And for the younger set there's a significant amount of benefits--including tuition reimbursement.

I left accounting for nursing almost 2 years ago and I'm often tempted to go back. Nursing seems to be mostly about the paperwork, being constantly short staffed and being strongly "encouraged " to work doubles and on days off, and the doctors are jag offs . Add to that the constant fear of getting written up or losing license.

At least I know I have something to fall back on

I left accounting for nursing almost 2 years ago and I'm often tempted to go back. Nursing seems to be mostly about the paperwork, being constantly short staffed and being strongly "encouraged " to work doubles and on days off, and the doctors are jag offs . Add to that the constant fear of getting written up or losing license.

At least I know I have something to fall back on

Accounting to nursing is a big change... What made you want to get into nursing?

I actually always wanted to be a nurse, but 20 years ago, when I had my son, I got divorced and couldn't quit my day job, which paid well. There were no evening/weekend nursing programs at the time. I would have had to quit my job for a day program. I did plan B and got a degree in accounting which I could do 1 or 2 classes at a time and get my degree entirely on the nights/weekends. I worked it for 10 years but I still had the desire to be a nurse so when my son turned 18, I was finally able to find a night/weekend accelerated BSN program, while still keeping my full-time day job.

I am only nearly 2 years in, and maybe my confidence level isn't up to feel secure, but, in addition I am becoming disheartened in what I see on where the hospital focus is, I'm having health issues which may or may not be connected to shift changes and doubles, and if I wanted to sit in front of the computer most of the time instead of interacting with patients, I should have just stayed in accounting. Maybe I just need to find something in an outpatient setting, which seems to be hard to do without a lot of hospital experience.

I left nursing to raise my family not intending to return. I was recruited to teach art, and did so for over a decade. Now I'm attempting to return to nursing.