Why do you think nurses leave the profession?

Nurses Professionalism

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  1. Reasons nurses leave the profession

    • 567
      Short-staffing
    • 314
      Too many tasks
    • 46
      Lack of upward mobility
    • 311
      Poor management
    • 212
      Underpayment
    • 144
      Other- please explain below

85 members have participated

I've been a nurse for awhile and have always contemplated what makes nurses leave the profession (or bedside for that manner). As a matter of fact, I have thought about it from time to time in the 13 years I've been a nurse. From my experience I have found that aspects such as short-staffing, too many tasks, lack of upward mobility, poor management and underpayment contribute to a nurses' unhappiness in their career.

I just wanted to ask the general nursing population regardless of how long you've been a nurse what your thoughts were. Do you think leaving the profession comes from one of the aspects listed above? Or is it something else entirely?

To be clear this is not a school assignment...;)

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Won't quote the whole thing for space but: I 'Liked' this comment so hard I almost broke my touch screen. What you said.... ALL of it!

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Specializes in Acute Care, CM, School Nursing.
... nobody can tap-dance that fast without tripping up somewhere along the line.

That is an awesome line!!! :yes:

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.
^^^This, this, and this ^^^^

Especially #10.

Agree very much with #10 as well. The stark cold reality is that WE ARE easily replaceable. There is a nurse glut and being cranked out fast.

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Specializes in ED, etc.

It is awful in the hospital environment. The other support staff are indignant when you don't want to hop in and do their job for them. This is everyone from the housekeepers to the techs, clerks,volunteers, doctors, visitors,dietary,X-ray, IS, pharmacy. The list is literally endless. No one picks up any tasks for the nursing staff. No one ever. If you fell down dead, your patients and families would be ****** off at the inconvenience of it all.

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Nurses just complain too much over little things. I work in a hospital. Hospitsl RNs just compalain about this and that and blah blah.i have seven patients. My acuity is high. I came from a facility with the same acuiuty and I was dealing with 13 to 20 patients and I have to do wound care ( heavy wound care). I was a respiratory therapist, wound care nurses, medication aide..I can barely sit down. I can never go home on time. I have trach patients. I have always thought thats how nurses work and I started working in a med surg. Med- surge is a lot easier than skilled. It annoys me when staff complains about little things. I have work with great LVNs whi are better than RNs

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
Nurses leave the profession for a myriad of reasons, including:

1. Overworked

2. Underpaid

3. Treated badly by patients

4. Treated badly by families

5. Treated badly by managers

6. Treated badly by other nurses

7. Treated badly by other members of the interdisciplinary team (physicians, PT, OT, ST, social workers, case managers, dieticians)

8. Too much responsibility

9. Not enough authority

10. Administration treats us like we are as replaceable as the roll of toilet paper in the restroom

11. Mentality that the patient is always right

12. Increased focus on patient satisfaction scores

13. Decreased focus on proper patient care

14. Dangerous nurse/patient ratios

15. Feeling trapped in a lose/lose situation

16. Physical injury or disability directly related to the direct care of patients.

1
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Too Much Baloney said it all! As far as physical injury, I have seen a nurse receive a broken finger at the hands of a resident, which was, of course, blamed on the nurse. And, I have seen nurses and CNAs receive permanent back injuries, life changing injuries, which of course were also blamed on the nurses themselves. I really believe that the nursing profession is downtrodden because we historically have been mostly female. Unless we unionize, as teachers have done, this treatment will continue. (By the way, some of the commentators may need to review their basic English.)

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Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.
I have never understood why someone would leave nursing unless they truly wanted t pursue a different career path.

There are 18,482 different ways to practice nursing besides working the bedside and making more money.

In rural America the opportunities for different kinds of nursing don't exist. If they do, there are fewer, with hundreds of nurses looking for any kind of nursing job.

If you're over 50, and you leave what you have, good luck finding that other position that's less stressful.

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Specializes in Management, Med/Surg, Clinical Trainer.

I think some of it is the mismatch between what we are taught in school and how we are treated. In school we are taught that it is 'professional nursing', that it is a profession filled with respect. Yes we know we have to work hard and will serve the patients, but the schools also taught we would be treated with respect.

Graduation comes and WHAM that first job and those after teach a nurse that we are not treated with respect or professionalism.

In the hospital setting that eat your young mentality is toxic. That coupled with poor staffing and poor management says we do not respect you as a professional. In the office setting or LTC setting there is one nurse for multiple patients.

No matter the setting the RN is often responsible for everything but has little power. NOT a good combination.

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Specializes in Family Practice.

What is taught and what is not when they reach the "real" world of nursing can be a real shocker and it doesn't take much for them to throw in the towel. I had my moments when I just wanted to walk away but being the creative person I am I found other avenues to deter myself from leaving. 1. seeking more education 2. cut my hours and work agency or travel 3. not bringing my work home and do not bring my problems to work. 4. stay optimistic or fake it till you make it. 5. do not assume bedside nursing is the only form of nursing to do. Ijs.

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Hoping to revive this tread because I think it was very constructive. Personally, the lack of upward mobility is why I contemplate leaving... because bedside nursing is intolerable, where I live bedside options are limited to areas I loathes (and I cannot relocate) and I want to escape bedside. Unfortunately, the opportunities just aren't there and there is a real lack of upward mobility because those who hold those non-bedside nursing positions are not retiring.

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Well way too much focus on charting the same thing in three to four different places. A patient load of 6-7 when you walk in the door. And then before you can get one discharged the powers that be already have another patient coming up and I haven't even had time to chart on the one leaving. Another discharge maybe when cardiology signs off on them then of course we will be giving you the next admission. It's not safe. It's not fair to be pulled out of a room with full contact garb on cause your phone never stops ringing and a doctor needs to see you right away at the nurses station, even though you were in the middle of medication administration or dressing change. So many things. Aching feet at the end of the night. A full bladder and usually a night that started at 5 am when you woke up and ended at 815pm or later and you still have a 40 minute ride home. Understaffing, calling off nurses to save money and then calling us back in at 11 am if the ER gets crowded. It's all a bunch of hogwash.

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