RN-767

I guess for myself it just boils down to the fact that my heart is just not in the healthcare profession. I guess when you don't have the love for something it is just not meant to be. I love to work and always have but I need a sense of satisfaction and some level of like and sanity that healthcare just don't provide for me. I have tried ignoring all the drama but mostly it just gets on my nerves and makes it even harder to show up the next day. I have never seen the level of drama before that I have seen in nursing. It's unreal.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I'm not saying that everyone should not be a nurse or avoid working in the medical profession, please read my previous posts. I know there are those out there that love nursing more than anything and wouldn't even think about doing anything else and my hat is off to them because they are needed. Don't take my comments the wrong way but I know a lot of people that really don't have a choice in the matter anymore and they just do it because they have no choice for one reason or another and I feel for them. I'm just saying I don't want to get stuck in something I really don't want to be in before I end up not having a choice. I don't think the people around me understand my position completely. Anyways, I hope it all works out well for you. Good luck.

Thanks all for the replies. I haven't checked in for some time but I will check back from time to time. I had considered some of the other nursing options but it seems they all want 4000 years experience in this and that to get a lot of those specialty jobs that seem like they would actually be decent jobs. I guess I just refuse to let my self be miserable, treated like trash, and feel like I'm gonna have a MI every day just to try and get there and it possibly never happening. I have always had a job prior to nursing and they have all had there days and moments but i'd gladly take those days and moments back over nursing. In my past jobs a bad day was something that happened every now and then but in my nursing experience it seems like your lucky if you ever have a halfway good day. Something is wrong with a picture like that when you know tomorrow's work day is gonna suck before you even get there. I really applaud those that have a position they love and it works out great for them. I really hope it continues. Since my last post I reluctantly took another nursing job for a short time because it was sorta just offered to me so I though to be fair why not give it a whirl? Oh boy, that was a mistake. More of the same BS, understaffed and over worked just to say the least. I thought I would give it a fair chance but the third time was not a charm. I'm just getting a new start before I get too old. Considering starting my own business at some point. I have hung up my scrubs and stethoscope for the last time unless someone offers me a hands off too good to be true nursing job which probably aint gonna happen :) I do hold an FAA Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor certification. I do some fixed wing flight instructing on the side. Flying is kinda my stress relief. I never really thought much about making a career out of flying because it is a very difficult path to take but I think I'm about to start putting a lot more effort into it. At least I have a degree which makes me a little more marketable now in the aviation industry, even though its a nursing degree it really don't matter in the aviation world :-). I would never make it as a flight nurse coz my first passion is being at the flight controls, not in the back

Actually, I rather enjoyed my clinical experiences for the most part. Of course their were a few that I didn't particularly like but It was never to the point that I felt that I was going down the wrong career path but if seems like after school everything changed. Now in the work environment, the whole perspective of nursing changed for me and I found nothing at all to like about it. I realize all jobs have their frustrations, likes, and dislikes but I have never felt so bad about any job I have ever had as I have with nursing. It's just all wrong. Actually, I would say it was exactly the opposite. My nursing career was affecting my home life in such a negative way. I live a pretty straight forward and simple life at home, fortunately not many bills other than a few utilities so theirs not much financial strain right now. I would come home grumpy, ill, frustrated and couldn't enjoy my personal time like I should and I know it affected those around me. I wouldn't sleep at night from dreading having to go back to that work environment the next morning. The money was okay but I hated the nursing life so bad that money didn't mean anything anymore. My hours and work days were pretty good and were well balanced with my home life I just don't like the nature of nursing work. I quiet possibly have already found something new that would compensate me financially as much or a little more than my last nursing job. A job that is not even in the medical field. I think it would be something more along my area of interest. I do have experience in the technical and electronics field and have always enjoyed it but unfortunately this opportunity didn't come along before nursing did. I wont say too much at the moment as things are still in the works but fingers crossed it works out and I never have to work as a nurse again. It has just been a horrible experience for me. Thanks all for your replies and insight. Right now I feel 100% better knowing I don't have to go back to work as a nurse. I think maybe I'm heading in the right direction now :-)

Im not trying to gain any sympathy, I guess im just venting my frustrations. As a male nurse I have decided that nursing is just not for me and that it is time to move on. It's sad that I just graduated a little over a year ago and worked for a while in a nursing home and then for a while in the OR of a large hospital and hated every minute of it, I hated nursing period once I started working. I found nothing to like or love about it and went to work miserable and depressed every single day. I found it getting worse and worse as time went on. I had rather go back to one of my old $10/hr non nursing jobs than to put up with this crap, drama, and politics everyday and be miserable and grouchy the rest of my life. Life is too short for that. I guess it's just not what im geared for. I consider myself more of a technical minded person so I have decided to regroup and move on before I get much older. I will probably be going back to school pretty soon. Nursing has been an experience and I am proud of achieving the goal of gettning a college degree but beyond that, it's time to move on. Im tired of being PRN'd to death and having nothing. I think these companies are getting to where all they want is a bunch of PRN employees that they can use, abuse and have them work a day or two here and there so they can get out of giving them any benefits. All I heard with my last job is money money, time is money, we cant afford this and that, you need to speed up and blah blah blah. Well, I have to eat and pay bills too and two days here and there just won't cut it. I was never mean or grouchy to my patients and got tons of thank you's and great compliments about how well I took care of them and I appreciated that but beyond all that it was a whole different world. Their might be a niche out there somewhere I could do but im not gonna spend 30 years trying to find it. Good luck to those that truly love nursing and I hope it works out well for you. We need nurses and professionals but my advice, especially to perspective nursing students it to make sure it is really what you want, or think it is before you jump in head first. Nursing is not for everybody.

Wow, that is awesome. Glad to hear that it worked out well for you. That helps me to relax a little more knowing of other new nurses that have been successful starting out in PACU. They hired several new RN's last year and they told me that they have worked out really well. I really think I'm going to like it a lot once I get my routine and comfort level down. I also like that your not alone and have other experienced nurses there beside you, plus the doc is usually just nearby if things start going south. Everyone I have known that worked in PACU always said that they wouldn't work anywhere else and I hope for me it's the same :-)

Thanks brownbook & GHGoonette for the tips and information. The article by Canesdukesgirl was really informative. I think getting a routine down and then dealing with the variations of each individual case as they arise is a big part of it. Still nervous as the day draws closer but at the same time looking forward and excited about the experience.

Hello everyone, Sorry if my post is a bit lengthy. I guess first I should say that I am relatively new to the forum and so far I have found tons of great information here. This is my first post but I have been reading others for for a while now. I know their are several posts about new grads going straight into PACU and I just wanted to post my own situation and get any feedback that might be helpful. I graduated Nursing school (RN) back in May of 2011 and passed the Nclex about a month later. Much to my surprise finding a job has been very difficult at best. I think we have so many nursing schools in my area graduating students that the market is just saturated right now. After many applications and months of waiting and only a couple of interviews I applied for a PRN PACU position at a large hospital and somewhat to my surprise I was offered and accepted the job. The job was advertised with new grads considered and considering how hard it's been to even get an interview I couldn't turn down the offer. The good thing about this job is that I am very familiar with that particular unit in that hospital because I worked there as a tech before I went to nursing school. I know all the nurses in the unit well and work very well with them. They were all very excited to find out that I would be coming on board as an RN in the unit. I think job satisfaction there is very good because the turnover is almost none. I guess my question comes as to what advice would anyone have for a new grad working in pacu? I know it is a very high acuity environment and know first hand how busy and hectic it can get sometimes. I have read a lot about how CCU experience really helps a lot if you have it. I was assured by the nurses working there that they would all be there to help me. I do know for a fact that they all work together as a team very very well and nobody has to ask for help, they just pitch in and help. Even with all that, I'm very nervous about starting my new job but I think that knowing the people I'm working with and knowing the hospital and department is already a major stumbling block that I do not have to worry about so that I can just focus on doing my job to the best of my ability and learning as much as I can. I am not the type of person that breaks under pressure. I might bend a little but I am very persistent and always love a challenge. I know the initial orientation will last about a month but beyond that I'm not real sure what to expect. I will find out more details pretty soon as I have not yet started. Looking forward but at the same time wishing I could just move ahead a couple of years and be settled comfortably with my job. Any advice, tips, or pointers would really be appreciated. Thank's everyone.