Rokufox

Has anyone had any issues loggin in? I keep getting an error message and can't get through on the phone due to the wait times. I'm assuming this is a generalized issue?

I always say I would work night shift if it wasn't at night. I wish I was one of those people who was able to adjust to it, but it didn't work for me (I think I'm just biologically a day person!!). There are so many things that aren't an issue on nights that are on days.

I like having 4 days off a week, but 12 hour days really exauhst you. I think I'd be willing to try something that might be less stressful even if it's a M-F job. 12 hour shifts are tough, especially bedside!

A lot of the issues in bedside nursing are not hospital specific it seems...they are problems that occur in a lot of places due to understaffing and workload. There's a lot to deal with on a daily basis as a bedside nurse (doctors, family members, decline in stability, administrative people). It's like having many jobs in one, and I don't really know if it will improve or not. The people running the place aren't the ones doing bedside care, so they don't see what it's really like.

I've seen a lot of power tripping people, not always nurses (I've seen several lab techs, doctors, and even radiology folks!). It can be overbearing sometimes but in the end I take care of my patients using my best judgement, but it can be hard when there is someone with the intimidating power trip going on. I'm not really sure why there's so much of it in the healthcare field, but it seems to be common in most places I've been. Just remember your scope of practice and don't get pushed into something you don't feel comfortable doing.

Especially situations where the CNA tries to tell you (the RN) how to do the job (which is a huge problem where I work). Not to mention certain providers that make you want to cry before you start your shift simply because you know they are on that week...you think if anything, they'd be nicer to the nurses since they are the ones actually taking care of the patients. Alas, not so.

I never knew a career could break your spirit like nursing. If I had known that, maybe I could have chosen another path.

I also hate dealing with some of the overbearing personalities in nursing. I'm a passive person who tries to avoid conflict, and there are way too many "alpha" personalities in this field who go out of their way to be difficult. I sometimes dread going to work when I'm assigned with someone because I know I'm going to get **** on the entire day, putting up with such an overbearing person. And usually nothing is done about it because they are buddy buddy with management, so I just have to deal with being steamrolled.

I feel for you - I worked really hard to get through accelerated nursing school and feel horrible at how much I hate being a nurse. It makes you feel guilty putting all that time and money into something you worked so hard for only to find that you can't stand it. I don't want to go back to making less money, but even making a nurse wage isn't enough to make you feel better about such a high stress demanding job. It's like being stuck in a mudhole, really.

Hospital nursing sucks. It sucks the energy out of you faster than you can replenish it.

Yes. I have considerable PTSD from being a nurse just a short time. It has greatly exaggerated my depression/anxiety issues, and affects me outside of work and causes me to dread coming back. I don't think people realize how much stress we have to deal with and that it really does affect us. It affects me all the time, and not in a good way.

I struggle with this too...over-stress vs burnout, and it almost feels to me like they are a cycle linked together. I work 12 hour shifts and have 4 days off a week...but it sure doesn't feel like it. I feel like I'm always working, and I think I'm so exhausted on my days off that it doesn't really feel like I have them (for example, work 2, off 2, work 3, off 2, work 3...). I never fully recover from the exhaustion...and I think that may be what burnout is...you are being sucked of energy faster than you can regenerate it.

It's reassuring to be on here and know I'm not alone in being burned out. It's hard trying to find something else especially if you live in an area where there aren't a lot of opportunities. Sometimes I feel stuck even though nursing is supposed to be a flexible career, but sometimes its not that way if you live in a certain area.

I used to pick up all the time because I felt obligated to, until eventually I just couldn't handle it anymore. Sometimes the manager calling you would entrap you by leaving a message "Can you call me back?", making you think you had done something. I would get calls on every single day off and it got to the point where I just don't answer. I never even gave them my cell phone number and somehow they had gotten it from someone else...but it gets really irritating when you can't even have a peaceful day off without someone calling you to come work.

I know exactly where you are coming from. I've been doing this for almost 3 years and find myself burned out and resenting the hospital, patients, and even people I work with. It's turned me into a person I don't like, and impacts my life even outside of work. They never tell you in school how burned out you can get and how little you start to care anymore.