Nursing Is No Longer Worth It

[AnonymousSuper]

I'd Like To Tell You A Story

I've been a member of Allnurses for nearly a decade. It's a little surreal to contemplate that amount of time but I vividly recall writing posts in the pre-nursing students section pleading for help in Anatomy and Physiology.

A decade! Time really flies.

Given my involvement in this forum over the years, I created this new username to remain anonymous and to speak freely about my opinions and feelings about nursing.

In the beginning, nursing was an exciting, interesting, and thrilling career. As a student, I would spend extra hours delving into extra readings about A&P and care plans. I would tutor students and help anyone that I could. I even volunteered in a local hospital to get more exposure.

I was addicted to the idea of becoming a nurse!

As a newly minted nurse, I loved connecting the pathophysiological dots at the bedside and helping the providers make well-informed decisions by providing them with valuable assessments and up-to-date patient data.

I've worked in many specialties over the past 7 years but my primary focus has been pulmonary step down. I've traveled all over the country and worked in a variety of hospital systems big and small.

I've helped save lives through rapid responses, code blues, administered vital medications and important treatments. I've teamed up with fellow nurses to help them catch up on meds or other tasks, then find ourselves at a local diner for an early morning post-shift breakfast.

Those are the best!

I've also experienced a significant amount of pain and agony. I've seen more patients die than a I care to count. I've listened to hearts stop. I've seen heart die on monitors. I've watched people take their last breath completely and utterly alone in this world.

I've laughed, cried, and been stunned. A host of emotions over the years.

When I was done working acute care, I transitioned to ambulatory nursing and started triaging patients in a variety of specialty clinics. This was a weird shift because I thought ambulatory nursing where were lazy nurses go or older nurses go to finish out their career. I found that outpatient nurses were just as hard but simply in a different way.

I even found myself in a nursing supervisor position where I currently reside. Something I never would have thought I would have found myself in. I even tried to talk my boss out of it when she first approached me about it because I thought to myself, "You must be crazy! Why would you consider me?" I am grateful for the opportunity ultimately.

Something Has Changed

There was a time where I absolutely loved the nursing profession and my place in it. But, something changed along the way. Burn out? I have my doubts it's that simple. This feels more definitive than the insidiousness of Burn out. This feels more permanent than burn out.

Over the past couple years, I've really questioned my place in nursing. Is this profession for me? Was it ever? Is it worth it anymore? I think Covid 19 really pushed me over the edge and was the straw that finally broke the camel's back.

Here's The Bottom Line To Me

• If I had to do it over again, I would not choose nursing as a profession.
• Nursing is no longer a profession that is worth pursuing and if a person would ask, I would recommend they choose something else.
• While there was a time when the love of the patient was what did it for me, ultimately, at this time in my life, nursing is no longer worth it because we are completely undervalued, underpaid, underappreciated, and understaffed.
• We are forced into dangerous scenarios with massive liability with compensation that doesn't match the risk we take as professionals and individuals.

Hospitals Just Do Not Care

While they give the facade of caring, healthcare organizations and hospitals ultimately don't care about you and your well being as a professional nurse.

Hospitals don't want quality. They want the appearance of quality but in actuality they want quantity. They want more with less in even lesser time. More patients. More calls. More responsibilities. More liability for you. More destruction on your physical and emotional well being. You are treated like a disposable piece of equipment with a short shelf life.

And, when it comes down to it, your professional and personal butt is totally on the line and if you screw up, there will be every effort to blame you, avoid organizational liability, and throw you under the bus.

Don't ever believe your hospital is there to back you. Consider yourself fortunate if you happen to find a manager that will stick their neck out for you and back you when the **** really hits the fan.

The PPE Crisis We're Facing Is Unbelievable

It's shocking to me that our hospital "leaders" didn't have the wisdom or foresight to have massive stockpiles in place. Now, nurses and providers are force to buy PPE on-line (impossible currently), wear the same PPE over and over, or not have any at all. This is a clear example of the failure of leadership all over the country and the clear lack of consideration for the front line worker's safety. Of course, nurses aren't the only one feeling this pain.

Nurses Are Severely Undervalued And Underpaid

We take massive liability when we're administering medications and implementing the plan of care. Yet, where's the pay? When you try to negotiate your pay with HR, you're going to get a giant middle finger. Organizations have standardized pay scales and there is zero room for negotiation. Nurses have zero pull when it comes to pay negotiation.

My theory about pay is that nurses are a cost to the healthcare system. You are not a financial asset like a provider who has billable treatments and procedures. We don't bring in revenue to the organization. Therefore, nurses don't have negotiation power. Yet, we're somehow sooo "valuable?"

Don't buy us pizza, baked goods, and crappy nurse's day prizes. Give us better pay and better benefits. That is the way to create loyalty. Yes, nursing is also about providing a service to the patient but if you're a valuable, highly trained, highly skilled, and highly knowledgeable professional, you should be paid adequately. Period.

Here's a current representation of the pay issue. I'm seeing travel nursing contracts for $4,000-$8000 per week in some parts of the country. That's crazy money! The organization I presently work for is "volun-telling" ambulatory staff to either "go acute care or use PTO/unpaid leave." However, when these staff to go in-patient, they don't receive temporary differentials or hazard pay.

Furthermore, the acute care nurses taking care of Covid patients aren't receiving hazard pay either even though they are reusing PPE and taking care of dangerous patient populations. So we're going to pay travel nurses six figures? But, when you force nurses back into acute care or not adequately pay acute care nurses, that's supposed to be okay? Think again.

Nursing Isn't Worth It Because Of The Liability

I've traveled in certain locations where nurses were taking care of 10 patients at night on an acute cardiac unit.

Unbelievable. Talk about liability.

I'm not going to go into it now but if you practice nursing without professional Liability Insurance, you're basically having unprotected sex but expecting not to get pregnant.

Why do you think providers have professional malpractice insurance? Yes, nurses get sued to and remember what I said above about hospitals throwing nurses under the bus? It's literally pennies a day for peace of mind. If you have any valuables or assets in your life you wouldn't want to be taken away, you need professional liability insurance.

Nurses Are Part Of The Problem As Well

The nursing culture is full of malignant toxicity, backstabbing, and bullying people. It's vial and toxic and incredibly hard thrive in.

I have rarely seen a unit or clinic act in a cohesive, team-based manner. My professional career has only been in nursing so I'm not sure how other professions are. However, most places I have been to, have been the same.

There are many nurses that bring their contagious negativity to the bedside and to the clinics. It's distracting and disturbing to be around and it has taken a toll on myself and I know it has on others around me. I'm speaking in generalities of course because not ALL nurses are like this but it's fairly common. Just spend a half a day on a nursing unit and you'll quickly notice who those problematic people are.

I once had hope for the nursing profession that someday they would come together and help change it for the better. There's what, about 3 million nurses in the country? That's a lot of voices. We're too busy bickering amongst ourselves to ever truly come together and create meaningful change.

Bickering, backstabbing, and bullying is easy. Coming together with a cohesive voice to promote real change in the nursing profession is hard and it will never happen in my opinion.

I guess I could go on and on about the failings of the nursing profession but I'll leave you with this:

Quote

Nurses are treated as expendable pieces of meat that are readily replaced like a disposable dead battery. You are severely under paid for the skills and knowledge you bring to the table. Hospitals don't give a crap about your well being even though they say the do.

Nursing Is No Longer About The Art Of Nursing

• It's about the numbers.
• The output.
• Doing more with less in less time.
• The satisfaction scores.

You only live once in this life. If you happen to discover this article and you're considering nursing, I would urge you to turn around and look elsewhere.

Nursing isn't worth the risk and the personal effects it has on your life.

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

On 7/3/2020 at 7:17 AM, Sorentomax said:

Well said unfortunately many of us equate this proffesion with our identity

YES and..most “other professions” do not hold peoples lives and well-being in their hands. Many other professionals, especially in business, have some leeway in when they get their work done or what to do now VS later. They stay late or work weekends (not ideal life style, but...), and don’t have to worry for example about monitoring an unstable patient every 5 mins getting a blood transfusion while some other equally important need is happening with another patient/s, at the same time you are told you have to take your break NOW or not get one, etc. etc.,etc...

I used to try to come in early to prepare or stay late to chart, but then of course, you cannot work “off the clock” and OT was highly discouraged. Or then told you’re being floated to another unit within the hour and have to get your charting done before you float.

Its maddening!!

[Asystole RN]

1 hour ago, BeenThere2012 said:

As some may have noticed from my postings, I feel the same at this point. I wonder where the disconnect comes in? So many of us feel this way.

Is it unrealistic/fantasy images of the Nursing profession causing false expectations?

Do the nursing schools/instructors mislead or withhold important teachings in preparing students? I mean, we have “safety” drilled into us and the importance of proper time management and prioritization but then in reality, we find it so difficult to uphold (even come close at times) what we are taught.

For those of us who’ve been in this awhile, have “things” changed over the years from where we started? (I’m not speaking to “good ole days” mentality). Obviously they’ve changed a lot with medical knowledge, technology etc...I still think the corporate world has changed the medical profession globally. Not just for nurses.

After 35+ years and personal maturity, I hope I’m not just a weak weenie. ?

What is changing is our awareness. The modern healthcare environment is several orders of magnitude safer today than it was when my mother was practicing. Today we have gloves, we sharps protection, smoking indoors is banned, there is training and some lift assistance etc. Along with growing safer our awareness of the danger has grown as well.

This phenomenon is similar to what is seen in the news. If one took their view of the reality of the world one would think things are worse than ever. In reality the world has not become worse, it has only become smaller and more recorded. I think this quote from Will Smith regarding racism is describes this phenomenon well, "When I hear people say "it's worse than it's ever been", I really disagree completely. It's clearly not as bad as it was in the 60s, and it's certainly not as bad as it was in the 1860s'...'Racism isn't getting worse, it's getting filmed'."

[Asystole RN]

53 minutes ago, BeenThere2012 said:

YES and..most “other professions” do not hold peoples lives and well-being in their hands. Many other professionals, especially in business, have some leeway in when they get their work done or what to do now VS later. They stay late or work weekends (not ideal life style, but...), and don’t have to worry for example about monitoring an unstable patient every 5 mins getting a blood transfusion while some other equally important need is happening with another patient/s, at the same time you are told you have to take your break NOW or not get one, etc. etc.,etc...

I used to try to come in early to prepare or stay late to chart, but then of course, you cannot work “off the clock” and OT was highly discouraged. Or then told you’re being floated to another unit within the hour and have to get your charting done before you float.

Its maddening!!

I personally think a lot of our issues stem to how nursing is viewed institutionally and legally.

In the 70's before the DRG, HIPAA, HCAHPS or any other the modern non-sense there was a large debate over how to control healthcare costs. The early PPS system that was the predecessor to the modern MS-DRG system intentionally sought to control healthcare spending by controlling the single largest and most variable (read controllable) expense any organization has, and that is labor costs. Today hospitals are literally financially penalized by the federal government for staffing heavy. If anyone is interested you can find the old health econ articles on controlling healthcare costs by controlling nursing wages and the nurse to patient ratio, most of the articles are written in the 70's and 80's.

Personally I think we should be reimbursed by our patients, not hourly by the hospital. As professionals we should be compensated for the skilled work that we do and thus be allowed to bill for services rendered.

When I practiced vascular access I billed for the services I rendered. I was paid a flat fee for each service regardless if it took me 5 minutes or 5 hours. It allowed me to focus on the important things and give attention to the things that were important.

[guest769224]

46 minutes ago, Asystole RN said:

Personally I think we should be reimbursed by our patients, not hourly by the hospital. As professionals we should be compensated for the skilled work that we do and thus be allowed to bill for services rendered.

When I practiced vascular access I billed for the services I rendered. I was paid a flat fee for each service regardless if it took me 5 minutes or 5 hours. It allowed me to focus on the important things and give attention to the things that were important.

Yes. Just like PT and OT services do. Nursing ought to have this option as well. What type of nursing do you do now that you've left vascular access?

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

17 hours ago, BeenThere2012 said:

As some may have noticed from my postings, I feel the same at this point. I wonder where the disconnect comes in? So many of us feel this way.

Is it unrealistic/fantasy images of the Nursing profession causing false expectations?

Do the nursing schools/instructors mislead or withhold important teachings in preparing students? I mean, we have “safety” drilled into us and the importance of proper time management and prioritization but then in reality, we find it so difficult to uphold (even come close at times) what we are taught.

For those of us who’ve been in this awhile, have “things” changed over the years from where we started? (I’m not speaking to “good ole days” mentality). Obviously they’ve changed a lot with medical knowledge, technology etc...I still think the corporate world has changed the medical profession globally. Not just for nurses.

After 35+ years and personal maturity, I hope I’m not just a weak weenie. ?

HaHa, weak weenie! I love it. As a 25+ year veteran in nursing I agree. No, I don't think you are a weak weenie at all. I do think it's several factor's that have caused the shift to more nurses dissatisfaction with the career.

I also don't want this to be one of those "in the good old days" responses but there are certain realities of current nursing that make that kind of difficult.

The biggest is probably the lack of respect from our employers. While nursing remains one the most respected professions by the general public we sure don't get anywhere near that measure of respect from our employers. With rare exceptions we are treated like interchangeable pieces of machinery.

Wage stagnation is also a big factor for many of us. Sure, there are places that fairly compensate nurses, maybe. I mean I hear rumors about these employers but I've yet to actually find one. Seems every time a decent raise is on the table it's offset by worsening benefits. I recently changed jobs after many years for an employer with better pay and benefits than I was getting, in particular the health insurance is half the cost for better coverage so that was the tipping point for me changing jobs.

It's also pretty darn hard not to be offended by nurse managers and above getting huge annual bonuses largely based on budget. Which means of course the less the front line workers get the more they make. I know I am truly offended by the go team go newsletters from some company bigwig touting how "we're all in this together!" when I know darn well we are not. That person is raking in multi-millions a year while sitting in a boardroom discussing budget cuts which don't affect that job but sure impact us nurses!

[Asystole RN]

18 hours ago, ICUman said:

Yes. Just like PT and OT services do. Nursing ought to have this option as well. What type of nursing do you do now that you've left vascular access?

I am still heavily involved in vascular access, I just work a desk now. I consult on global vascular access issues now.

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

20 hours ago, Asystole RN said:

What is changing is our awareness. The modern healthcare environment is several orders of magnitude safer today than it was when my mother was practicing. Today we have gloves, we sharps protection, smoking indoors is banned, there is training and some lift assistance etc. Along with growing safer our awareness of the danger has grown as well.

This phenomenon is similar to what is seen in the news. If one took their view of the reality of the world one would think things are worse than ever. In reality the world has not become worse, it has only become smaller and more recorded. I think this quote from Will Smith regarding racism is describes this phenomenon well, "When I hear people say "it's worse than it's ever been", I really disagree completely. It's clearly not as bad as it was in the 60s, and it's certainly not as bad as it was in the 1860s'...'Racism isn't getting worse, it's getting filmed'."

Your points are well taken. There is more safety, but then not really if as a nurse you can not uphold the duties and tasks associated with maintaining safety. We give so many more powerful medications. So so many more procedures and have equipment uses which are supposed to benefit the patients. Our ability to treat so many more issues patients face is awesome! Just wish I was given the time to do so safely. I find I have to choose between tasks and care.

THAT is the difference. How many times do I walk down a hall and see a patient’s leg hanging off the bed and the linen in a disarray? Note how depressed a patient may be or see the fear and anxiety in a family member’s face and feel as if I don’t have the time to address these issues? That used to be a part of my care consistently. When I bring these issues up with younger colleagues, they look at me as if I have two heads and shrug their shoulders, and proceed to TELL ME I have to prioritize, or that the messy linens don’t matter etc., as if I don’t already know that.

Its “safer” alright, but at what expense?

[amoLucia]

2 hours ago, BeenThere2012 said:

....

THAT is the difference. How many times do I walk down a hall and see a patient’s leg hanging off the bed and the linen in a disarray? ...

or that the messy linens don’t matter etc., as if I don’t already know that.

Its “safer” alright, but at what expense?

Funny thing ... my previous 9/2019 hospitalization, bed linens WERE NOT routinely changed daily. If you felt you needed or just WANTED a change, you told the nurse or housekeeping. No big deal - I could see how decreasing UNNEC linen changes could save the facility staff time & money.

But the interesting thing --- my roommate was SOOOOOOO indignant & highly offended. She must have complained bitterly to every one of her MULTIPLE phonecalls/texts! As if her WHOLE hosp stay revolved about the bed linens! She TRULY had several other serious physical, emotional & life altering issues, so it made sense that the linens were the ONE thing she could piss & moan about safely. (I wonder what her post hosp survey had to say!)

But personally, I NEVER would have expected to see HOW SIGNIFICANTLY measley lousy bed sheets mattered to that woman! The BED LINENS ISSUE - 'at what expense?' That was a difference to her AND to her caregivers who had to 'grin & bear' her petty nastiness. THEY DIDN''T DESERVE THAT and WAS NSG STILL WORTH IT TO THEM??? I doubt it. Nor did they expect it (or think it OK) when 'they signed up' for nsg (like from another not too old post).

[ptreebranch, BSN, RN]

On 4/29/2020 at 9:35 PM, LaJuaNA14 said:

To be honest with you these post are frightening. I am new grad and recently obtained my license. I am/was hopeful nursing is where I wanted to be. I did not realize how degrading it could be. I am a former EMT in NYC and had dealt with emergency department nurses and never heard of such horrific conditions. Few of my friends are nurses and it has worked for them. Obviously the do not have 20-30 yrs of experience under their belt. Would that be one of the reasons? Trauma and ICU is where I want to be. I really hope I get to experience a different side of nursing. This would be my second profession and I do have military experience. I know I have a very thick skin but reading some of these posts makes me think otherwise!! I'm already here cant go back and change to a different profession however, I took notes and will be on the lookout. Thank you everyone for all of the advice! I'll keep you posted on how life as a nurse turns out!

Completely agree with you. I am just getting started with nursing school and reading all of this really is making me think. I am used to working hard without being recognized, however, hearing many of these people say that they have felt under appreciated even after 20-30 years is disheartening...

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

For decades WE who provided direct nursing care (LVN, CNA, and RN) respiratory therapists, therapists (PT, OT, and others, our wonderful unit clerks/secretaries, Lab Techs and phlebotomists, radiology techs, transporters, pharmacists and techs, most nurse managers and shift supervisors, NP and PA, appreciated and supported each other. We had CEOs and departments who were clueless, OK, good, and a few actually listened to we who provided care.

Once 100% of top management went on a nine day retreat on Maui. WE staff ran the hospital, including calling in extra staff. After they returned as charge nurse I was told by our manager I was lucky that although I allowed extra staff at the beginning of the shift patients were admitted on those nights so the budget was OK.

The ONLY reason for a person to be admitted to a hospital is that they need NURSING CARE. I won't even imagine what would happen if all the nurses went on a retreat. We deserve to be proud of ourselves and each other!

And most patients appreciate us too.

PS: Once I got to tour the Alamo with fellow nurses. The Texas Ranger who greeted us said, "When my wife was in the hospital it was the nurses who saved her life!" THAT is appreciation!

[amoLucia]

A sad realization for many, if not most, of the more experienced nurses here is that it is prob much TOO LATE in their careers to do a major shift to a second profession (like from teaching to nsg, or pharm or LEOs to nsg, etc).

Our education is SOOO very specific. I don't have any political science or world finance school credits. I just can't become an architect, mechanical engineer, stock broker, social worker or fiscal auditor. I don't have the blue collar labor skills to become a plumber, electrician, HVAC tech, cosmetologist. No legal training to become a paralegal.

There are 3 major obstacles for nurses like myself - schooling is time consuming and expensive. Entry competitive and prob very hi-tech for many. Then the job market for many other professions are prob just as limited also (AEB by freq AN posters). Career switchers will likely be giving up a salary (and a commensurate lifestyle). Thirdly, our age and HEALTH may be against us. Just too many years pounding the floors, strining iur backs,

[toomuchbaloney]

What is too late?

I'm retired after 40+ years. I worked with nurses who changed careers in their 30s, 40s, and even their 50s. Both ways, in and out of the profession. I know retired RNs who supplement their income with hobby "work". Does that count as a career change? LOL