marystwin

Oh, my fellow colleagues - I feel your pain. I have been a nurse for 40 years, 38 of those years in the operating room. I know the feeling of one step forward, three steps backward when trying to deliver quality care in a compassionate and caring manner. You are right that the times are changing and to quote some smart person: "the only thing constant in life is change". If you are truly still interested in nursing, try reinventing yourself. Do you like the personal, one on one approach to patients? Try Home Health nursing - you can sign up with an agency and get paid per case - I tried this and loved it but needed to do alot of reading to catch up on my clinical skills but found it rewarding. Do you like to teach? Just this past year, a periop educator position opened up in my hospital and after 38 years as a team leader in an OR @ the ripe old age of 62, I took the position - so far, so good. If you like to teach but want to stay clinical, try looking into the many LPN/LVN schools that are popping up all over. The bottom line is not to get tied up in the minutiae - recognize that we can't change many things in healthcare but we can change our outlook, our attitude and how we react to situations - takes a lot of work and sometimes you have to leave your old thoughts behind in order to put yourself in a better place mentally. In the words of Dr. Phil - ask yourself "how's that working for me?". If it's not, don't be a victim - life is too short to be consumed by your job. Good luck!