Job Story: Nursing Has Drained Me...nurse

[Unregistered]

I feel your pain. I've been a nurse for almost 30 years. I've worked in critical care for most of those years and intend to keep on working, because I have to. I have seen nursing go through many changes, all downhill. And I don't know if nursing is going to get any better, and that is the scariest part.

Our working conditions are often horrible--we don't get meals, bathroom breaks, or even a chance to sit down for ten minutes during a 12 hour shift. It's becoming what I feel is "blue collar", because of the factory/assembly line/depersonalization conditions!! What happened to our profession? I blame it on our health care system and our hospital administrators. The buck stops there. Plus, patients on the units have much higher acuities now, families are often unrealistic and demanding, physicians who are so abusive to us and have no respect for the fact that without us, NOTHING happens..

We as nurses really need to care for each other. We need to stand up for ourselves and recognize how much power we have--there are several million of us! We need to support each other and listen!!
I can only say, hang in there and know that with nursing you always have choices and can move to something different. That is a very good thing about this career. We need nurses like you who care. We don't need nurses who bitch and moan and don't do anything constructive to change things. Good luck!

[Unregistered]

Power? Yeah right....This horrible system perpuates itself because the hospital admins know that there they can always find replacements overseas or from the new batch of nursing students. It's a revolving door situation...in these circumstances it's impossible for nurses to assert power.

[rose28164]

I dont know how old this post is that I am replying to, but I to typed in "I hate nursing" and found this web page. I have had the exact same experience. I have been out of school for 5 months now and on my own as a nurse for 2 months and was incrediably dissapointed with my preceptors. I was bounced around from nurse to nurse with no continuity of preceptors. I have found nursing to be very draining, physically and mentally! I have already started looking into other fields of nursing, anything not having to do with patient care. I feel as though I dont know enough and some of the nurses are great at making you feel inadequate! They look at you as though you dont know anything and that they are god! They seem to forget that they to were once a "new grad." I guess only time can tell, right?

[Unregistered]

I can only say"Amen!".I have been in nursing for about 13 years .I use to quit nursing jobs like it was nothing.Always thinking that there was something better.Well its not.I have been there and done that. now ,I just do my job and go home.For all you new grads ,if you have been to one meeting you have been to them all.Nothing gets solved.Upper admin. will look at you all and say"We feel your pain!".,but nothing will ever change.

[Doreen Headrick]

Fuck Nursing -- I wasted many years in college to get a BSN
better known as Bull Shit Nursing. I'd feel safer in bed Osama
Bin Laden than working with some nurses. Nursing is like running through a mine field. Only God knows how I wish the mines would blow up. Nurses never support one another -- they eat their young, their old and their new. They'd suck the dick of a doctor if they could bury you and get ahead. Patients have become insane sue alholics. News casters with the mentality of an ant make a living at insulting healthcare and nurses daily.
Lawyers need I say more are even worse. I am no more than
a poorly paid hospital whore... I used to love being a nurse, now I wish nursing would become extinct like the dinosaurs, so that people could finally appreciate what they have lost.

[Unregistered]

i hate nursing too. i took two years off after nursing school to take care of my first child and have another. i returned to nursing after my second child was almost a year old. i liked the new grad classes, but hated the actual job. it is so boreing and full of catch up. i made it two months and had an awful night, where i knew half way through my shift that i will never return unjless my children were literally starving. life is too short to be doing something you don't like. i have the option to stay home and raise the children so i'm going to do that. i don't want to be stressed out my whole life, with an aching back and on the verge of getting stress related cancer. i commend the people who do the job right( like my mother), but it is not for me. i am too spoiled.

[Unregistered]

I am a brand new LPN who has already been fired from my first job because of "office politics". I thought I would have a lot of different opportunities in nursing as an LPN, but I was mistaken. Most positions want require experience, which I don't have yet. The hospitals in my area are phasing out LPN's altogether. The doctors' offices either don't pay or don't use LPN's. In nursing school, I hated my geriatric clinical the most and vowed I would never ever work in a nursing home! I have been working at a nursing home for two months now and I hate it. I ONLY have 18 residents to take care of, so I am expected to be both CNA and LPN because I only have one CNA on my hall. I was blessed with two weeks of training, but I still don't feel like I know anything. As a new nurse, I am responsible for the lives of 18 residents and overseeing one CNA. From the time I clock in until the time I go home, I am running my ass off. I have no time for breaks. I don't even have time to look up medications or read charts to learn more about the patients I have, at least not while I'm on the clock. I feel overwhelmed everyday I have to go to work. My anxiety level is so high now that I take medication everyday that I work. I now suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, even on days I don't have to work because I start thinking about having to go to work. So far, I hate being a nurse! I question my decision to become a nurse and I long to leave this profession. My husband doesn't understand the stress and anxiety I feel or why I'm so depressed. But then, he doesn't have to be responsible for anyone's life when he goes to work each day.

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Unregistered
I am a brand new LPN who has already been fired from my first job because of "office politics". I thought I would have a lot of different opportunities in nursing as an LPN, but I was mistaken. Most positions want require experience, which I don't have yet. The hospitals in my area are phasing out LPN's altogether. The doctors' offices either don't pay or don't use LPN's. In nursing school, I hated my geriatric clinical the most and vowed I would never ever work in a nursing home! I have been working at a nursing home for two months now and I hate it. I ONLY have 18 residents to take care of, so I am expected to be both CNA and LPN because I only have one CNA on my hall. I was blessed with two weeks of training, but I still don't feel like I know anything. As a new nurse, I am responsible for the lives of 18 residents and overseeing one CNA. From the time I clock in until the time I go home, I am running my ass off. I have no time for breaks. I don't even have time to look up medications or read charts to learn more about the patients I have, at least not while I'm on the clock. I feel overwhelmed everyday I have to go to work. My anxiety level is so high now that I take medication everyday that I work. I now suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, even on days I don't have to work because I start thinking about having to go to work. So far, I hate being a nurse! I question my decision to become a nurse and I long to leave this profession. My husband doesn't understand the stress and anxiety I feel or why I'm so depressed. But then, he doesn't have to be responsible for anyone's life when he goes to work each day.

[hubcap]

Sure your stressed out, only a few % like there job, look at the pay scale you get compaired to factory workers, truck drivers. you have no complaint, be thankful you have a job thats needed & people need you. Most of the people in this country ( USA ) are completely spoiled. 3/14/2005

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by hubcap
Sure your stressed out, only a few % like there job, look at the pay scale you get compaired to factory workers, truck drivers. you have no complaint, be thankful you have a job thats needed & people need you. Most of the people in this country ( USA ) are completely spoiled. 3/14/2005

Are you a passing troll on this site?

Because you don't seem to know much about nursing. Otherwise, read all the posts...you don't seem to know what your talking about!

[Unregistered]

I'm a 25 Year survivor of the nursing field. There have been a lot of ups and downs. Being an LPN, I found the hardest and most depressing thing I've had to overcome was the attitude
of RNs, Doctors, and administrators who think LPNs "are just grunts" someone to do the dirty work. Someone who should give up all prospects of a normal life, who "HAD" to work over if the boss failed to staff the next shift or felt you could take care of it. Someone who could find a way to make do when there was not enough supplies/linens...Many times I wanted to quit. My Granddaughter said to me "The one job I never want is Nursing" Thinking she was just scared of "blood & needles" I asked her why she felt that way...Her answer surprised me..." All you ever do is work with no "Thanks" from anyone, even when you miss vacation, hollidays, birthdays, school events or whatever. The waitress at the diner makes as much as you do...you have no health insurance and precious few benifits and they are always trying to take what you have away. There are no retirement plans or perks....I don't understand why you don't just quit...You would have a lot less stress and might live longer if you did. My Granddaughter was 12 y/o... Then, I changed jobs and found a "Great Boss" who just happens to be an RN. I am still a nurse but not doing patient care...I'm in Public Health and love it. NO, nursing is not what I was lead to believe it would be. I have finished all but my Clinicals to become an RN...and have no desire to go on with it... if I ever leave this job I will get out of nursing for good.

[Unregistered]

I've been an LPN for almost 19 years. I've taken care of everybody's family but my own with only a handful of memorable families that expressed their appreciation for what I did. Now I literally have panic attacks thinking about going to work in the morning. No one DOES understand, and they never will if they haven't been there. I've spoken with new nurses who hate it already. Nursing and stripping are two professions that women have a hard time getting out of. I wish I had never listened to my mother when she said "Go to nursing school, you'll have an education in a year a come out making good money" Being the good daughter, I did as I was told. For once I wish I would have been rebellious and said "HELL NO!" Maybe stripping would have been a better choice.

[tranquil_realm]

Originally posted by Unregistered
I've been an LPN for almost 19 years. I've taken care of everybody's family but my own with only a handful of memorable families that expressed their appreciation for what I did. Now I literally have panic attacks thinking about going to work in the morning. No one DOES understand, and they never will if they haven't been there. I've spoken with new nurses who hate it already. Nursing and stripping are two professions that women have a hard time getting out of. I wish I had never listened to my mother when she said "Go to nursing school, you'll have an education in a year a come out making good money" Being the good daughter, I did as I was told. For once I wish I would have been rebellious and said "HELL NO!" Maybe stripping would have been a better choice. i have been an lpn for 12 yrs. and hate every minute of it now. and since you brought it up, i think stripping or even hooking would have been a better choice. for one thing you make a lot more money. then you have either an establishment owner or a pimp that will go after anyone who bothers you. then too you get to be the one that pisses and craps all over people and they love it and pay you for it. nurses dont make as much money. you have to work doubles and mandatory overtime, weekends and holidays. everybody feels free to piss and crap on us. nobody ever comes to our defense, in fact everybody jumps on the bandwagon to kick you when you're down. at least with the other job you only have one person working you over. and you at least stand a chance of meeting a guy/or woman that will get you out and take care of you because you can develop a lot of connections if you are smart. in nursing you meet people in a whole different context and they view you as their own personal servant.

[Unregistered]

I have been a stripper for almost ten years and have been trying to get out of it for about 4 years now. First I tried Massage Therapy school, but developed tendinitis and had to stop. Then I took all my pre-reqs for nursing school and began my nursig classes this fall. I have now withdrawn. I have a BS in psychology and am trying to figure out what to do next. I knew within 5 weeks of nursing school that it wasn't for me. I felt sick all the time because of the amount of schoolworka nd the clinicals that put me on edge and made me feel stupid. Being an exotic dancer is not the best job, but it certainly isn't the worst either. But I can't do it forever. The thought of being a dancer for much longer depresses me, but at least I don't feel sick and have chronic diarrhea anymore as I did when I was in nursing school. Reading all these posts helped me make my decision to drop out of the program, I'm reading them again today to make me feel better about my decision, since I am feeling guilty about it. But I don't recommend dancing either, there are plenty of terrible things about this profession as well. Good luck to everyone reading this.

[Unregistered23]

Originally posted by Unregistered
I have been a stripper for almost ten years and have been trying to get out of it for about 4 years now. First I tried Massage Therapy school, but developed tendinitis and had to stop. Then I took all my pre-reqs for nursing school and began my nursig classes this fall. I have now withdrawn. I have a BS in psychology and am trying to figure out what to do next. I knew within 5 weeks of nursing school that it wasn't for me. I felt sick all the time because of the amount of schoolworka nd the clinicals that put me on edge and made me feel stupid. Being an exotic dancer is not the best job, but it certainly isn't the worst either. But I can't do it forever. The thought of being a dancer for much longer depresses me, but at least I don't feel sick and have chronic diarrhea anymore as I did when I was in nursing school. Reading all these posts helped me make my decision to drop out of the program, I'm reading them again today to make me feel better about my decision, since I am feeling guilty about it. But I don't recommend dancing either, there are plenty of terrible things about this profession as well. Good luck to everyone reading this. Suck dicks and charge for it - beats nursing

[Doreen]

People need to realize that nursing can be the most rewarding profession - Just think how it feels when you actually help and patient, family member or co-worker, just merely by being a natural caregiver - we are care givers - and must stick together through bad times as well as good times - Nursing is my life and always will be - I love it!:) :)