Please dont judge me as I am already judging myself hard enough for paying all this money for a degree I hate. I KNEW nursing wasn't for me 1st semester of nursing school. I am not a people person and found myself annoyed with the patients very quickly. My parents and friends told me this wasnt a field for me and my personality, but I for some reason stuck with it. I was 17 and figured "I'm in too deep now may as well finish because nursing credits won't transfer anywhere". So I graduated and got 3 years of ED experience. Hated every minute of it. The patients were often abusive and unappreciative. I felt like a maid who passed out pills between GSWs.
I took advice from this forum and tried outpatient. I enjoyed that environment and schedule more but hated one thing: The patients. In my outpatient role I literally put IVs in all day and gave IV contrast. I had the patients for 15 mins max, but had to ask them several questions to determine the reason for the study/safety of IV contrast. I found myself ANNOYED asking them the questions!! Having to repeat myself because they're on their phone, asking them to "take their shirt and bra off and put the gown on with the opening in the back" and returning to find them with the gown over their shirt, bra, and coat. ANNOYED at patients talking down on me.
I'm so defeated and depressed. I paid all this money and worked so hard for this degree. I just cant stand the patients. My coworkers seem to like me and I'm a good nurse. I'm just not happy. I've tried multiple hospitals and a different setting, but the underlying annoyance is the patients it seems. Are there any nursing fields I may be better suited to?
I have my bachelors degree in nursing. I was halfway through NP school before I realized becoming and NP won't solve my problem.
Thank you! I had not considered pharmaceuticals! I will look into that today!
Durable Medical Equipment sales
Cruise Ship Nurse. It's a chance to travel, although you would still see patients.
Don't guess you would like teaching. Do students get on your nerves?
Recovery Room or Pre-Op area. Often these areas are combined. There is some pt interaction but it is limited.
Anesthesia.
Public Health Nurse. Still some time with patients but not as much and it is in a different setting. You travel away from the office. When you are in the office, you have a desk. No poo, lifting, etc.
Work online or remotely for an insurance company. But do it soon - before your work experience is considered outdated. Same with Case Mgmt, your, QA, and the like.
Correctional facilities or student health at a university.
Become a librarian or an archaeologist or something else totally unrelated to nursing. Become a mathematician or a DJ. Sort of kidding. Just brainstorming.
What do you feel led to? Attracted to? Interested in?
So many suggestions, with no one pointing out the obvious problem. The patients are just people. Your problem is internal. Perception is everything. Work through your issue with a qualified therapist quietly away from your job. The enmity you feel towards patients is an outward fruit of an inward passive aggression due to unresolved emotions regarding patient care and/or some unmet expectation that these patients are typifying.
That’s just my 2 cents. I’m no one to judge. I deeply dislike interacting with other men for the same reason; unresolved trauma. The question is whether or not you can overcome the source of your frustration and begin to see them as just regular people in need of patience and help again.
OMG
She doesn't necessarily have an internal problem. She just finds some people rude. Because they are. She doesn't necessarily have P-A disorder or unresolved emotions re: pt care and/or some unmet expectation. Although yes, she would like them to be civil and some are not.
OP - is there a particular age or gender you prefer over others? Or some other quality or attribute you prefer to work with?
Please dont judge me as I am already judging myself hard enough for paying all this money for a degree I hate. I KNEW nursing wasn't for me 1st semester of nursing school. I am not a people person and found myself annoyed with the patients very quickly. My parents and friends told me this wasnt a field for me and my personality, but I for some reason stuck with it. I was 17 and figured "I'm in too deep now may as well finish because nursing credits won't transfer anywhere". So I graduated and got 3 years of ED experience. Hated every minute of it. The patients were often abusive and unappreciative. I felt like a maid who passed out pills between GSWs.
I took advice from this forum and tried outpatient. I enjoyed that environment and schedule more but hated one thing: The patients. In my outpatient role I literally put IVs in all day and gave IV contrast. I had the patients for 15 mins max, but had to ask them several questions to determine the reason for the study/safety of IV contrast. I found myself ANNOYED asking them the questions!! Having to repeat myself because they're on their phone, asking them to "take their shirt and bra off and put the gown on with the opening in the back" and returning to find them with the gown over their shirt, bra, and coat. ANNOYED at patients talking down on me.
I'm so defeated and depressed. I paid all this money and worked so hard for this degree. I just cant stand the patients. My coworkers seem to like me and I'm a good nurse. I'm just not happy. I've tried multiple hospitals and a different setting, but the underlying annoyance is the patients it seems. Are there any nursing fields I may be better suited to?
I have my bachelors degree in nursing. I was halfway through NP school before I realized becoming an NP won't solve my problem.
Maybe you gave too many instructions at once. Some people must be told each step separately.
Repetition can be annoying. But you should have found a way to get their attention and had them hang up their phones, not tried to tell them stuff while they were on their phones. Like just stand there looking at them until they realize you need their attention and it is time to hang up the phone. Or just say "We are ready to get started now. Please tell the person you will call them back after your test." I know it isn't always easy but they are there for the test, not to be on their phones. But no matter.. The past is over.
Did you quit NP school? Why would you not find that being an NP would help your situation?
She doesn't necessarily have an internal problem. She just finds some people rude. Because they are. She doesn't necessarily have P-A disorder or unresolved emotions re: pt care and/or some unmet expectation. Although yes, she would like them to be civil and some are not.
OP - is there a particular age or gender you prefer over others? Or some other quality or attribute you prefer to work with?
If you have spent literally years of your life and countless thousands of hours obtaining licensure in a specialized area of study, and it is nearly counterbalanced by your enmity toward humans in the context of said profession, then there clearly exists an internal problem. That’s not a normal and reasonable reaction to the circumstances; if it was no one would be a nurse or medical doctor.
You are obviously really intelligent and have real grit.
MDS, informatics and research.
Also look into Trancendental Meditation.
My IQ is way up there. I get impatient and annoyed when people don't get information the first time. I took up TM and it has truly helped me stay calm in the face of idiocy.
Best luck. I hope you find the perfect spot. Nursing isn't all about direct care. We need analysts to get the data together so we can all practice better.
As with Case Management and other suggestions, experience is needed. About all a NI nurse can do is serve as a business analyst/requirements/trainer role. They aren't technical enough to do anything else. And without experience to understand workflow, med administration, alerts, orders, not much use. right?
The bottom line is there are lots of things you can branch out to as an EXPERIENCED nurse, but not so much if you've just graduated.
Assuming the OP is legit and serious, my suggestion would be to chalk up the investment so far as a sunk cost and change majors. This is , after all, your one and only life.
My parents and friends told me this wasnt a field for me and my personality, but I for some reason stuck with it.
Was there a particular topic that you found interesting about nursing?
What are your interests outside of nursing?
Side note: On the bright side, you completed your general nursing education AND gained nursing experience before the pandemic started. You are in a sweet spot to step away from nursing and try a plan b career. If plan b career does not work, you can just return to nursing to make money as needed.
There are some positions with insurance agencies, health plan utilization review, worker's compensation, legal offices, etc that are chart review only. You are using your medical expertise as a nurse to determine if clients are eligible for programs, services, etc, or offering medical opinions pertaining to a legal case (like malpractice).
Of course it depends on if this is the type of work you would like to do. It is obviously analytical, a lot of reading, and for some people is too boring.
However, depending on who you work for you can have a lot of autonomy and flexibility. I work in a job where my primary role is screening candidates who are eligible to transition from a SNF to a residential home or to the community setting with supports in place. Although I have made my role more interactive because that is my style, there are other nurses in similar roles who do it all through chart and document review.
I also worked for a physiatry office specializing in worker's comp, that was all chart review and compiling medical summaries for the doctors.
Good luck-hope you are able to find a good fit for you. Life is too short to work in a job that makes you miserable!
You definitely need to be a circulating OR nurse. You have to deal with them pre-op, but not for very long. If you want to be a scrub nurse instead, even less patient interaction....
If you have spent literally years of your life and countless thousands of hours obtaining licensure in a specialized area of study, and it is nearly counterbalanced by your enmity toward humans in the context of said profession, then there clearly exists an internal problem. That’s not a normal and reasonable reaction to the circumstances; if it was no one would be a nurse or medical doctor.
She didn't spend countless thousands of hours. The hours can be pretty well counted.
Enmity toward humans? She just has had some bad experiences.
And some people find animals much more rewarding to relate to. Nothing wrong with that.
Some people are just more extroverted than others, some have a higher tolerance for rudeness and what she describes as people needing things repeated.
I wish she would come back and reply to all the responses she's had.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
On 5/5/2020 at 5:31 AM, InTheLongRun said:
As with Case Management and other suggestions, experience is needed. About all a NI nurse can do is serve as a business analyst/requirements/trainer role. They aren't technical enough to do anything else. And without experience to understand workflow, med administration, alerts, orders, not much use. right?
The bottom line is there are lots of things you can branch out to as an EXPERIENCED nurse, but not so much if you've just graduated.
Assuming the OP is legit and serious, my suggestion would be to chalk up the investment so far as a sunk cost and change majors. This is , after all, your one and only life.
Did you read the OP in its entirety? The OP has been a nurse for 4 years, working in the ED and ambulatory setting. S/he is not a new grad.
Please dont judge me as I am already judging myself hard enough for paying all this money for a degree I hate. I KNEW nursing wasn't for me 1st semester of nursing school. I am not a people person and found myself annoyed with the patients very quickly. My parents and friends told me this wasnt a field for me and my personality, but I for some reason stuck with it. I was 17 and figured "I'm in too deep now may as well finish because nursing credits won't transfer anywhere". So I graduated and got 3 years of ED experience. Hated every minute of it. The patients were often abusive and unappreciative. I felt like a maid who passed out pills between GSWs.
I took advice from this forum and tried outpatient. I enjoyed that environment and schedule more but hated one thing: The patients. In my outpatient role I literally put IVs in all day and gave IV contrast. I had the patients for 15 mins max, but had to ask them several questions to determine the reason for the study/safety of IV contrast. I found myself ANNOYED asking them the questions!! Having to repeat myself because they're on their phone, asking them to "take their shirt and bra off and put the gown on with the opening in the back" and returning to find them with the gown over their shirt, bra, and coat. ANNOYED at patients talking down on me.
Hi,
I think you did an amazing job getting the degree, a job AND doing 3 years in the ED as well as outpatient IV transfusion clinic. Shoot, lady all of this on top of you disliking it. I'd say you ought to give yourself one huge heckuva congratulations.
This is not an easy job for people who love it let alone tolerate it. There are people who love it but after a couple decades, also, hate people's expectations.
Shoot, I read some replies where folks got defensive towards you instead of having compassion and guess what, ta dah, they just displayed that they, themselves, were more annoyed than had compassion for you. Anyways, they proved your point Nurse and yes, it is perfectly A-OK to walk away and hold your head up hight with a good conscious. You tried. You worked hard and gave what you could. Bedside or patient side nursing is not the end all be all of nursing. We bet berated, abused, talked down too and taken for granted, by the patients, their family, the corporate health environment. I'm glad you posted this.
I look forward to finding other areas to work as a nurse or in a post nurse career because I suspect MANY of us are going to be looking for work...
Kooky Korky, BSN, RN
5,216 Posts
Durable Medical Equipment sales
Cruise Ship Nurse. It's a chance to travel, although you would still see patients.
Don't guess you would like teaching. Do students get on your nerves?
Recovery Room or Pre-Op area. Often these areas are combined. There is some pt interaction but it is limited.
Anesthesia.
Public Health Nurse. Still some time with patients but not as much and it is in a different setting. You travel away from the office. When you are in the office, you have a desk. No poo, lifting, etc.
Work online or remotely for an insurance company. But do it soon - before your work experience is considered outdated. Same with Case Mgmt, your, QA, and the like.
Correctional facilities or student health at a university.
Become a librarian or an archaeologist or something else totally unrelated to nursing. Become a mathematician or a DJ. Sort of kidding. Just brainstorming.
What do you feel led to? Attracted to? Interested in?
Best wishes