Stressed out and Getting Out

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I am making the most of this beautiful and unusually cool August morning, by sending out resumes to prospective employers. Why? because the stress level has gotten so bad where I work, that people are actually exchanging fisticuffs with each other. Only two days before, our supervisor had had a staff meeting, to publicly announce her concerns with Upper Management "at all levels"...and to hold an improptu Stress Management seminar. It didn't and isn't working. A co-worker and I aren't even speaking to each other, after I turned her in a couple of weeks ago, for flying into me for "having less work than she did". Give me a break! :angryfire

I don't need this s---. I even applied for positions at Wal-Mart and at another retailer yesterday. I have had enough , and am getting out, while I still have the sanity to do so. :(

Specializes in Case Management, Home Health, UM.
I too, after 25 years of nursing, all of it being in hospitals, am getting out. It has been a month since I have worked. I have always wanted to be a vet, I love animals, have even raised a baby squirrel. On monday, I will be applying for a receptionist position at an animal hospital. Hopefully, once I get my foot in the door, they might let me take on other responsibilities, like helping out with surgeries, giving animals their shots, or dang, even cleaning out the dog cages. I do have much experience in cleaning up poop !!! It has become too hard to stay in the hospital....all the back stabbing, blaming, name calling, and your good is never, ever good enough. The money will not be near to what I was making..and a tight budget will be required. Good luck to all that are changing jobs.....I so understand the need to get out of nursing..Maybe some day I will go back, but for right now...I need a break.

You GO, girl! With animals, it's total, UNCONDITIONAL love, vs. the yahooing of demanding and draining nursing. Who NEEDS it??

Specializes in Education.

When I was through with the dead-end of staff nursing I went to graduate school for nursing education. I have been teaching at a state college for 6 years now and I want out. I took a $20K/year cut in pay from staff nursing, but I was thinking that the hours would be better and that I could be home in the summer with my kids. This has not happened for me yet. I work an average of 50-60 hours per week, this includes evening clinicals and spending all weekend correcting papers and getting ready for Monday lecture. I have been assigned projects every summer from curriculum work to teaching online courses. We also work short-staffed and there is no such thing as overtime pay (it is all salaried). I need to get out, but what should I try next? I have a MSN but it does not seem to mean much. :rotfl:

Good luck to all those who are trying to make a better life for themselves. I can't see my self getting completely out of nursing, because I don't think I can ever afford it. BUT, my husband and I are working very hard to get things paid off and minimizing our expenses so I only have to work part time. If I could get it down to 1-2 shifts per week I think I would be much happier. I had a friend who worked home health, had finally gotten enough and went to work selling purses at Macy's, and loved it. If there was something else that would pay the bills, I would do it.

wow! andI thought canadian nurses are under stress! WE are unionized across the country by each province so nurses have rights as well as management. We can change where we work in hospital as well as in ltc and can reduce hours if part time positions are open. we seem to have a better support system for our nurses I was very sad to hear you are leaving nursing and other nurses feel the same. WHo will look after us as we grow old

Specializes in Assisted Living.
Walmart is looking promising in my area too!

I left my nursing job in Dec. '03 (stress=health concerns) & have put in a couple nursing applications since then. Declined the jobs after I was hired, because I recalled the stress I was under when I left my last job.

Just put in an application at an Olan Mills (at 1/3 the pay) & I'm really looking forward to the interview this week. My first job (30 years ago) was at a photo studio & I loved every minute of it. After 15 years of nursing, I believe I should have stayed with photography.....

:uhoh21:

Specializes in ER.

ProRN, I worked with a nurse with a PHD in nursing who taught at a prestigious private university in Atlanta. She was single and had to work extra to make ends meet. That is a very, very sad commentary on the value of nurses and nursing professors in this country. I think this is a big clue as to how our profession is valued. The shortage will continue to worsen for a variety of reasons. Aging baby boomers are getting the blame, but that is only part of the problem. I have been following this thread since the beginning, and the ages of those who are stressed out and getting out vary from practically new grads to the old fogeys like myself.

I wanted to be a nurse since I was old enough to know what a nurse was. I got little nurse kits every Christmas as a kid, and had a hospital in my room for all the injured animals, stuffed and real. I passed out candy pills to my family and got a "real" stethescope from a nurse family friend when I was 10. I graduated from high school with honors a year early so I could go to nursing school. I graduated from nursing school when I was 19 and have worked constantly since them. I am now 50 and if I could afford it, I would do almost anything else. I have had jobs I absolutely loved, and some I could barely make myself get to.

Nurses now are only "numbers on a schedule" and managers generally do believe a nurse is a nurse is a nurse. This makes me very sad. Patient acquity has gotten higher, paperwork more intense, staffing much worse. I worry about being able to not only care for my patients safely, but being able to document my care so it will stand up in court if necessary. I am tired, I need to continue to work and have some benefits, and I feel trapped in a profession that I no longer enjoy. Sigh........

Specializes in Assisted Living.

My story is similar to yours Dixielee but I was sidelined in the middle of nursing school.... got married, had kids & was a stay-at-home-mom. Went to a 10 month LPN program when my youngest was a senior in high school, then worked 15 years in LTC.

I've seen enormous changes in nursing in the short 15 years I've been a nurse & the last 5 years were increasingly stressful due to changes in corporate values & goals. Staffing shortages, all manner of "cover-ups" & a substantial decrease in the employee work ethic has taken it's toll in a career which I truly felt I could make a difference.

Boy I sure hear ya Dixie, Ohlpn and others...nursing has changed tremendously and not for the better. I also tire of hearing how boomers (like me) are the problem. I'm a boomer who is still hanging in there doing all I can but it ain't ever enough. :(

I hate the politics and slavery associated with staff work so i do exclusively agency. Now however I'm finding agency work more and more hostile, the staff is burned out and 'dump' so much on me I'm not sure how much longer I can do it. All my years of experience yet I'm feeling extremely stressed and nervous with the liability. Then as agency we aren't in the 'clique' so we have trouble getting support when we need it .

Almost anything is looking better to me today than nursing. God help our loved ones when they are hospitalized...as we know too much to blindly trust the staff. No wonder nurses are difficult as family members and patients so often!.

How many nurses do you guys know who do the bare minimum and turf responsibility to others out of laziness? Who let things go they shouldn't out of fatigue? Who miss important things because they're overwhelmed and understaffed?I know too many, unfortunately. And not all of this is the nurses' fault but she will likely take all the blame when something goes wrong. No win situation...if I think too much about it I'll talk myself out of going into work at all.

I think you said it best mattsmom81, when you said "no win situation"..it doesn't seem to matter which dept 'messed up, or forgot something'..we get the blame for not checking up/babysitting them...we are expected to be all things to all people.

In my state (Maine) we're voting on a huge bill in November called the Palesky Tax cap that would limit the property tax to 1% of the value of your home (we currently pay over $7k a year in property taxes). This would have a huge impact on the jobs and salaries of civil servants (firemen, cops, teacher, etc.) many of these professions are working together to get the word out about the impact this would have if it passed. They have broadcasted their message on TV commercials, in the newspaper and by going door to door. Fewer firemen, cops and paramedics could have life and death consequences.

Nurses have been working short for years, with life and death consequences. Why can't nurses work together to get the same message out to the public??? Maybe then our working conditions would begin to improve :o :angryfire

Specializes in ER.

It seems like whenever legislators want more money, they use these scare tactics? Give us more money or we will fire teachers, firemen and police, cut programs to feed children, etc. They never say give us more money or we will eliminate beaurocratic BS....sorry for the thread drift, but GRRRRRRRRR.

Specializes in Case Management, Home Health, UM.

I haven't heard anything yet from the interview I had with that retailer last week. But I did get a call back from that national company looking for contract nurses...and they hired me. While they can't guarantee me x # of visits, it's a start...ANYTHING to get me out of the hellhole I am in now. By the way, another supervisor, who was well-liked and worked her a** off to no avail turned in her resignation this week...along with another nurse who had just transferred from another department only two weeks ago.

Needless to say, the mass exodous continues. When will they EVER learn??? :confused:

Specializes in ICU, Tele, Dialysis.

how about legal nurse consulting? or something with physical fitness? health clubs? I have no idea if these are feasible for you, I am just now getting back into acute care, trying to anyway, and yes, I think I may be crazy! good luck.

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