eyeball

I've read stuff like this and no longer believe it. I put my heart, soul, and mind into nursing and it's been largely an ordeal. Reading comments like this make me sadder than I already feel about how lousy a choice nursing has been for me.

I think nursing sucks and would not advise it as a career to any of my children. You can message me if you like.

This is a d$&!ish response.

Hey all- After experiencing the misery that is floor nursing for 16 months I took the plunge and left. I seriously contemplated ditching nursing entirely but then began to apply for nursing jobs with one stipulation: no hospital. I am now working in a Health Department as a public health nurse. I really like my job....the pace is doable, I get 1:1 time with clients, I do lots of education, work in a small team that can't afford to ****** with each other cause it'll come right back atcha, get treated like a professional. I truly feel bad for any of you who feels that the only option for you is hospital nursing. When an earlier poster said referring to hospital "Your soul dies" he/she was not kidding and that's just too high a price to pay.

OK, First, I am so sorry your first job is this bad. The word in your post which screamed out at me is that you are "ashamed" at the thought of leaving the job. This is to me proof positive that you are in a toxic work situation. Abusive behaviors are not only to be tolerated but you are feeling ashamed for not tolerating them well. Try to re-name that feeling into more positive language: Instead of shame, can you see that you are a healthy person with good instincts? My dear, your self respect and sanity are worth so much more than this. Another job will come. My advice is to draft that letter of resignation and leave immediately. I did it 2 months ago. It was hard,I'll admit but it was the right thing to do. Got 2 nice job offers 3 weeks ago and started one of them yesterday. Honor yourself!

I couldn't have said it better...This post nails it.

I am a second career nurse with 16 mos hospital experience. I left my first job (Med surg/tele) after 14 mos. I hated every day I was there but stuck it out to get in the first year. I moved to an IMC in a different hospital because most jobs I applied to were now asking for 2 years acute care experience. Goal was to do this for a year and move out of bedside nursing which is as stressful and grueling as many previous posters have written. This job was a bit better than my former one but still not great. I left after 2 months when I became the target of a bully co-worker who seriously sabotaged me several times. My thought was "Floor nursing is too d****** hard on a good day but now I have to contend with a sociopath along with everything else?" Manager was a wimp and gave me no backing. I resigned and vowed to myself..."No more bedside nursing for me, no matter what!" Less than 2 months later, I had 2 job offers. I accepted a position with the health department and am hoping that it will help me redeem my hope that nursing can be a rewarding profession. Have you looked at non-bedside nursing options? I wish you the best.

I think if were not for this website and the honest responses regarding nursing as a career, I think I would have gone mad long ago. What I mean is that it is here and only here where I have realized that my experience of nursing as a second career is rather common. I seriously regret going into nursing. I have had 2 jobs at the bedside and can attest to the truth of previous posts. I think of bedside nursing as a pink collar sweatshop where one gets to occupy a relentless,sloggy, hell for 12 hours plus.On top of the inevitable and endless demands of nursing, hospital administrators do NOTHING to back up the nurse when it counts. Hospital administrators are not the nurse's friend. I recently lost my job due to a serious case of a nurse bully/saboteur on my floor. Manager, HR, Higher-ups refused to deal with it. Maybe what I'm trying to say is that I discovered 2X over that there was no one to advocate for me as a nurse other than me. One needs more than that in a job. Bedside nursing is completely ridiculous. I have been very unhappy in this career.

Some are angels, most are ok, a few are just plain bad seeds. I just resigned from a new job I liked. I was 2 days off orientation and this particular bad seed grabbed me by the arm,verbally accosted me, and dragged me into my managers office. She was trying to get me in trouble. It's been devastating.

Long story short: After 13 months of suffering through my first RN job on a chaotic and unsupportive MS/Tele floor, I have been offered a new job at another hospital at an intermediate care unit. My initial impressions have been good (strong manager/ clean,new facilities, lower nurse pt ratio) but I realize I'm feeling just a little doubtful/fragile after the past year. I've had some mixed feelings about taking another hospital job. (It's very hard to find the community nurse positions everyone offers as an alternative to hospital work.) I feel relief at being able to leave the floor I'm on, but part of me is scared to death to work in another hospital. Another part of me is scared at being jobless. I have a lot of mixed feelings which are too much to go into here. My bottom line question is this and it's based on so much of what I read in AN: Are all hospitals the same? Are there any of you who found a large difference in units? Any tales of experience any of you can share will be appreciated.

I agree, it isn't your age but a very tight market. One piece of advice someone shared with me not too long ago: 75% of jobs are gotten through networking. So, think about who you know who might have some position in health care who may be able to forward your resume, put in a good word for you at a hospital. It may be a friend of a friend of a friend but sit down right now and comb your brain for who these people might be. Then contact them! Also, spread the word amongst your people that you are actively job hunting and if they hear of anything, glean anything in their travels, to let you know. Best of luck!!!!!!

My thoughts exactly...I'm too busy to notice how other nurses are performing their jobs. The only thing that catches my notice is that some nurses seem to sit around and have time to chat a lot..something I never have time for.

I had an interesting experience 2 nights ago. I work days and one of my best buddies from nursing school works nights and got my group of patients. She asked me "What needs doing?" at around 1850 or so. I said, "Don't worry-go do your pt research...I'll be ok." She then insisted on helping. So the 2 of us worked together to tie up loose ends, visited pts, rooms, I reported off to her and I stayed and helped her till she was up and running....maybe 20 minutes. It was fun, without rancor, smooth, and perhaps the easiest and most graceful passoff of pts I've ever done. I wish every day could be like that!

"...I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what in the world is wrong with me." Heartbreaking quote! I must be emphatic when I say there is nothing wrong with you!!!!!!!! It's an erroneous conclusion. The first year of nursing brings the best of us to our knees. Hang in there, remind yourself that difficult as it is, the likelihood is that you have the makings of a very fine nurse. Be good to you and avoid the kinds of thoughts that diminish you in your own eyes. It's a heck of a tough journey and you are so not alone in your experience.

Our stories are very similar: second career, middle age, graduated with honors, successful in previous endeavors, and then WHAM knocked flat on your back by your first nursing job. I read your post and feel your pain. By the skin of my teeth I survived a miserable first year and am now poised to move to a better situation. What got me through? This website helped me realize that it didn't mean I was a freak or incompetent. The first year of nursing is a notoriously difficult one. There are lots of postings on allnurses that attest to this. Reading others' stories helped me feel less alone. Good luck to you! So sorry it's been so brutal.

Well, I didn't get the job but in an interesting way....I interviewed today and the interview went well. It was the most thorough and thoughtful interview I've ever had. I got a tour of the unit and fell in love with it. The hospital is new, and the unit was really well organized, supplies at one's fingertips, quiet friendly vibe. I was told I'd hear within the week about the job. I came home excited and thought "I can really see myself there and loving it." I got a call a few hours after I arrived home from the clinical supervisor who interviewed me. She began with "I've been thinking...." which led to a very reasonable explananation that while I had interviewed very well, she had a multitude of candidates more experienced than me. When push came to shove, she admitted that my experience was limited and it held her back from choosing me over more experienced candidates. It would take more time and money to get me trained in. She then added that she thought it would be good for me to work in their intermediate care unit to get more experience with drips and vents and then I would be a stronger candidate and said she would be forwarding my application to the intermediate care manager. I feel kind of strange about it all. Truthfully, I think her position is more than fair but I can't say I didn't start bawling shortly after hanging up the phone. It's not so much that I didn't get the job but that I hate my current job (medsurg/tele) and I felt sentenced to another year of it. I can't see that intermediate care is going to be all that different from what I am doing and gritting my teeth through. It's enough to deepen my already deep despair about my nursing journey.

Last week I had a patient whose family had earned the reputation of "difficult/needy/demanding" from the previous nurses. And they were, in every way possible. These are the families that to my mind, suck the oxygen from the room and interfere with care. At one point I went in and found the Aide had closed the door and was in there alone giving her a bath while the hypervigilant family hovered in the hallway outside. She said to me "I can't deal with this...I kicked them out so I could give her a bath." I said "Good! Maybe we can get something done here." She and I worked in there for the next half hour doing bath, meds (Peg tube), turning, suctioning, reapplying restraints, and assessing. We both agreed to hang there till the other was done, help each other out, and not leave the room till our care was done and to keep the entourage from flooding back in. It worked really well. The patient received good care and the two of us were calm, cool, and collected throughout the process. I think it was a relief for the three of us, truthfully.

THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 year telemetry/med surg experience (still there) and am 53. I've been reasonably successful at my job and am ready to move on. I have an interview for ICU at another hospital. Am I too old for them to even consider me? I am healthy, in good physical shape, but suddenly worried that they'll laugh at me as soon as I walk into the interview. Am I being paranoid or should I steel myself for likely being turned down?

I forgot to add that I would definitely give two weeks notice!!!!!

Hi All! Well....I am less than two weeks away from having completed my first year on a very busy Telemetry floor. Anyone who reads my previous posts will know that it has been a very difficult year. I started off with a really bad orientation and have struggled with the job since then. On the positive side, I received a good appraisal in June, I definitely feel much more able to perform the essential job skills, my time management has improved hugely, I get good feedback from my patients, and I like and respect of many of my co-workers and feel liked/respected by them. BUT... bottom line is, the floor I work on is a pressure cooker for us RNs. Turnover rate is very high and support from management is nil. Yesterday was another grueling day of missed communication, (pt having NSTEMI and no one told me he was my pt till 0735 cause he had arrived on the floor after 0700. I ended up rushing him to Cath Lab by 0810.) Two very angry families throwing fits because they "didn't want their family member in this hospital to begin with yadayada", phone ringing nonstop , rude docs, pager going off nonstop, weak, lazy charge nurses, nasty night nurse. As I said to my husband "Maybe it's time to end this abusive relationship." I have been putting out multiple job apps and am willing to consider just about anything now. I know there are different schools of thought amongst this community about leaving a job without a new one lined up. But I'm really at the end of my rope here...I do not see myself ever being happy in this job.I continue to dread going in each day. Yesterday, I ran into an acquaintance who had worked on my floor a few years ago...she's an NP for a private practice. She said "I hated working here. I don't miss it. It's too busy and insane and nurses can't give decent care." So....I'm throwing it out there....is it too crazy to submit my resignation today?

Gastric issues can contribute to bad breath....Get a medical workup!!!!

I'm with the previous poster. I started my job last September and my primary focus during the work day is to get my work done. I have been very careful about treating my co-workers as friends and getting too intimate or chatty. By the same token, I have tried to be friendly and respectful in my dealings. At the end of the year I find that I like many people I work with and am liked by them in turn. I do not share much about my personal life, politics, opinions, etc. My advice to you is to avoid the people you perceive to be catty/gossipy other than necessary professional dealings. Work hard and be respectful in all of your dealings...try to create a "catty gossip-free zone" wherever you go. People will get the vibe. Be too busy to get engaged in any of it. You have a job you like. Don't let this get in your way.

Too funny and too true! I've seen this a lot.

Oh so sorry! You sound like me 8 months ago. I sense from your post that like me, you are working to the best of your ability, you know you aren't going "fast enough", and once you are reminded of this from preceptor/doctor/whoever you go into fight or flight. And unfortunately, that mind state overrides ones ability to think and prioritize, thus the tunnel vision and sense of being completely overwhelmed. I would like to make several points: 1) You are a new nurse. 2) Being overwhelmed, unsure, feeling incompetent is a normal state for new nurses. 3) When you fall into the trap of "the other orientees are doing better, going faster..." remind yourself that it does not necessarily follow that they are/will be better nurses than you. The practical learning curve in those first few months is huge and we are all very individual in how we incorporate the vast amount of information into our practice. Think tortoise and hare. Keep plugging away. 4) At some point, I predict you will reach a watershed moment where you are able to say to yourself "I am doing the best I can and freaking out, panicking is not only getting old...it's not helping. It will all get done." (This actually happened for me about 3 months in...I think I simply got tired of being overwhelmed and panicking. When all hell broke loose, I started to shrug my shoulders and mutter, "Do one thing at a time...there is only so much about this within my control." It helped. 5) Once again: You are a new nurse. You are doing the best you can do. What you are expressing is so normal and an exceedingly common experience for new nurses. Numerous posters on this site attest to the reality that it took them 1-2 years to feel comfortable in their jobs. You can do it!