phasing out of nursing

caliotter3 · Feb 20, 2009

Glad to hear that a new opportunity is opening up for you. I was forced to go back to nursing when I couldn't get a job in anything else (ageism). Good luck in your future endeavors.

swimincatz · Feb 20, 2009

Wow how many of you feel trapped by your nursing career?

marie-francoise · Feb 20, 2009

Yup, yup, and yup. I'm about to graduate from nursing school, and feel as though I'm staring into the Abyss, already! Thank heavens I have prior degrees to fall back on. Hospitals have to really re-evaluate what they're doing to nurses, if they don't want just new grads and imported nurses filling their nursing rosters soon, or patients left unattended in beds because nurses are simply overwhelmed.

meluhn · Feb 20, 2009

Swimincatz,

I sometimes feel trapped but there are other opportunities out there aside from bedside nursing, its just that they are not that numerous. I am currnetly looking for something else.

gentlegiver, ASN, LPN, RN · Feb 20, 2009

After 4 years as an LPN in LTC, I'm currently taking courses to get as far away from nursing as I can. I loved taking care of my pts, I was a very good nurse (told this by pt's, families & other nurses). I am just not into politics, I refuse to join the clicks, I will not kiss butt to make others happy, and I will not dumb myself down so the higher up won't feel threatened by me. Results, being treated like s**t, given the worse assignments, having the 7-3 shift nurses reviewing my work every day for something, anything to report to management, having management refuse to send help to me when I need it, having a project I worked hard to create (on my own time) taken from me & given to a friend of the DON. I finally decided my health (mental & physical) is worth more than this job.

Becoming a Nurse was a life long dream for me. Now it is a neverending nightmare.

Maybe, if, Nurses (not all Nurse's are bad, I know this) ever learn to work together as a team instead of attacking each other (to make themselves look good) you will be able to stand together and decrease the rate of burnout & dissatisfaction I've seen & experienced. Good Luck.

Rhone · Feb 20, 2009

if they don't want just new grads and imported nurses filling their nursing rosters soon, or patients left unattended in beds because nurses are simply overwhelmed.

As long as it's cheaper and they can get away with it, that might be precisely what they want.

Bugaloo · Feb 20, 2009

I burned out of hospital nursing after 14 years...At that time I looked into all the other nursing options out there...and, ya know, very little appealed to me or fit my life for various reasons. So, I've been doing private duty nursing since then (almost 4 years now). Essentially I am "underemployed", but it is easier nursing work and it fits my life at this time. It is nice to be able to give one-on-one care. I have gained a handful of new skills, but for the most part I am losing my skills, but, ya know, I don't really care.
Recently...I have been pursuing some non-nursing educational endeavors for purely "personal enrichment" purposes. But I have just realized that these endeavors will very likely open up some non-nursing job opportunities for me in the next 2 or 3 years, even though employment was not my initial goal. At some point, then, I can completely leave the nursing profession! AND...I can't tell you what a tremendous sense of relief I suddenly feel!! I can phase out of nursing all together in the next 2 or 3 years. I feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel!!! I feel set free!!!!! Sad, perhaps, but true. I'll be another nurse leaving the field...
Looking back, I don't even know how I hacked hospital nursing for 14 years. I think one of the only reasons I did hack it was I was only prn/part-time hours. I was just sent an article link by a relative from their local paper that stated that 1 in 5 new grads burn out of nursing in less than ONE year and leave nursing! One in five in less than a year! I was surprised, but not really. I started hospital nursing back around 1991 and left the hospital setting in 2005. I saw so many changes for the worse in those years...in regards to the nursing working environment. Primarily: the patients we had to care for became more and more acute, yet our nurse to patient ratio stayed the same. And I noticed patients and families becoming increasingly demanding (which I blame on the hospitals starting to promote themselves almost like hotels.) So...with the way things changed, I am not surprised that some new grads aren't even lasting a year.
here is a link for that article: http://www.buffalonews.com/nationalworld/national/story/581007.html
Thanks for listening...All power to those of you staying in nursing! I don't know how you do it. You are needed!

Wow! I feel like I could have written this. I have been working full time for 16 years and I am fried to a crisp. I am currently working on some other non-nursing endeavors in order to go part-time in nursing and possibly to even phase out of nursing altogether within 5 years.

I, too, see our patients become more and more acute, yet our ratios do not change. Families can be absolutely ridiculous and demanding. A lot of patients are non-compliant as all get-out, yet it is everyone else's fault that they are in the shape that they are in.

I really hate to sound negative, but I only see it getting worse. I have tried everything in my power to see things in a positive light, but the reality is, nurses receive no respect whatsoever. It is disheartening, discouraging and draining.

For those of you who love it still....Good for you...Bless you. I am glad that you can do it. We need more nurses like you!

marie-francoise · Feb 20, 2009

Originally Posted by marie-francoise

if they don't want just new grads and imported nurses filling their nursing rosters soon, or patients left unattended in beds because nurses are simply overwhelmed.

As long as it's cheaper and they can get away with it, that might be precisely what they want.

Yikes! Although I've had this sneaking feeling that, yes, the hospital powers-that-be don't really care that this is happening, or at least they like the fact that they're cheaper (never mind that retention can save...). Or, if they care, they feel helpless themselves (although their sinking millions into "customer service" programs and CYA mechanisms makes me feel this is not the case). Disheartening.

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · Feb 20, 2009

Wow thanks for all the encouraging words ! I'll be a new grad in a few months and its so nice to hear how wonderful nursing is even after 16 years ! Thanks alot guys, Can't wait to get out there and work as a NURSE :)

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · Feb 20, 2009

Yeah, when you hear so many bad things about nursing you have to have a little sarcasim once in a while :)

nwanne7 · Feb 20, 2009

I also felt like I could have written the same letter. I look back after 30 years and wonder how I did it and why. I guess I came from a Catholic HS so we either had to be nuns, nurses, or social workers. :lol2: :saint: I just recently left an office job due to taking care of an aging parent and a husband who had surgery. Now due to economy, there are very few jobs, I have lost clinical skills ,and offices or clinics hire only MAs. I am now taking on line refresher courses and have so much respect for you young nurses. I forgot how much there is to learn. I just feel bad , I see a future where there there might be fewer nurses, heavier work load, and not as many opportunities outside the hospital.

Thanks to all of you who are hanging in there, and remember to treat patients like you would want your family members treated. Worked for me .