to stay in nursing or not?

[litljenarey]

The IV's are easy, it just take practice. I promise, I still can't watch needles on TV...I tried watching "Trauma: Life in the ER" I thought I was gonna puke but I'm a Phlebotomist. I do it all day, every day and each time things get easier and now I don't even think about the needles, I've passed that. I talk to the patients and tell them jokes, or little stories, and I'm done before they know I started.

I guarentee that there is a job out there that you will love! This field has endless opportunities, and if you have the strength to get though school then your tough enough.

[tubaska]

I have been an RN for 25 yrs. and a NA for 5 yrs before that. I have seen a shift from corporate owners "allowing" us to be nurses (patient advocates) (in the 70's and 80's) ........... to now.........when... a nurse can be fired if she says the new $60 million computer hinders pts. receiving meds, treatments, etc.
NURSES HERE ARE FIRED FOR NOT BEING A CORPORATE PLAYER and refusing to tell the lies they want the public to believe........yet these are great nurses!
ANOTHER MAJOR ISSUE IS NURSE ILLNESS IN THE WORKPLACE. I have recently contracted hep c from a pt. and the hosp. manager refused to check the pt. who later died from liver ca. I am undergoing the chemos for hep c........I have bone marrow suppression and take shots for that.......
My "not for profit/non profit christian hospital" has taken no responsibility for keeping it's workers safe and quickly abandon the nurses when they are injured on the job....NO NURSE GETS WORKERS COMP! For example, the 2 largest hospitals here (they own about 20 different facilities!) ..... switched to cheap vinyl gloves ........ (they said it was for the latex allergy which the majority of people do not have and we have special equiptment boxes just for those with allergies)......
Vinyl gloves like vinyl condoms do not protect against viruses and when the vinyl micro-cracks or tears...AND IT DOES, vinyl is not protection for anything. Doctors know this!!!!! But even they can't change back to latex or better yet, nitrile. We have many sick nurses but our employer, the workers comp program they have gutted with the government's approval and the insurance program they "got for us" won't help us when we get sick from their inferior protective gear. And then we pass it on to the patients ond our families.
I AM NOT PLANNING TO GO BACK TO A HOSPITAL....THEY WON'T ALLOW ME TO CARE FOR MY PATIENTS AND THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT ME......I AM ONE TINY VOICE AGAINST A MONSTER.
Final thought..........Nurses, Protect Yourself.......... Corporate Healthcare is an oxymoron.

[timeflies]

Without a doubt the best thing to do is to immediately leave the profession. There is no variety. There is no room for growth.

I hear there are bunches of software jobs in India. Some of the new start Chinese factories are hiring and the pay is even better.

Our work environment is horrible. At times the thermostat gets stuck or the other nurses dial it to extremes. The things I have to put up with. I think fondly back to my industrial laundry days with the tingly feel of those beads of sweat rolling down my forehead onto my 65/35 exec wear shirt and wish I could roll back the hands of time.

Now I'm in such an awful predicament. I go to work in scrubs that feel like pajamas, surrounded by beautiful women, and get paid by the hour.

I must admit, nursing has its days but like the old saying goes. A bad day in nursing beats a good day in industry. It's all about perspective. Sometimes a change is good. My bottom line is that each career I've had, the romance wore off after a couple of years. Nursing gives me a great income at some cost but all in all its the best show in town.

Personally, I've been considering living on the beach and selling conch shells for a living.

best of luck in your future endeavors!

[Faizi]

I have been a nurse for about twenty-two years. It is natural to burn out on it. I sold knives for a couple of years to get out of it and I was a stay at home mom for about a year.

But nursing kind of grows on you -- like barnacles. I have been at it steadily now for about fifteen years -- after selling knives and birthing.

I cannot imagine doing anything else. My sister has urged me to work at her bank. But I can't imagine just giving someone money without checking his pulse or blood pressure.

Seems so empty.

"Yes, Ms. Warbucks. Five hundred dollars. Let me check your pulse. You seem a little short of breath. What medications are you taking? Let me check your blood pressure."

It is natural and expected to burn out after a few years. Do something else. You may come back or you may not. Could be that you are not suited to nursing. Nursing is tough and thankless. Some people go into it because they are pressured into it.

If you are happy doing something else, do it.

Nursing is something that precludes anything else. It can sap the life out of you but you continue. You endure many slaps in the face and continue. The function of a nurse is to endure everything and to persevere in spite of or because of everything.

You keep at it and you develop this armour, for better or for worse. It may not serve you but it will serve your patients.

The development of the nursing shell is something that happens over time and with a lot of experience -- wanted or not.

Once the shell grows in, you're kind of stuck. Burn out is not an issue.

Faizi

[BizNurse]

It's funny, this original post is 2 years old yet it's still getting replies.

I think the question of continuing to work as a Nurse (Employee) or being home full time is one we all face at some point.

Before I had a family and kids, I didn't mind living (literally) at my hospital. But LIFE CHANGES cause PRIORITY CHANGES.

I have a business from home now so I can be WITH my kids... two teenage boys. Life is TOO SHORT not to spend that quality time I missed so much of when I was a Charge Nurse and they were little.. MAN, IF ONLY I could go back!!!!

Onward and Upward!

Linda/CMAS, BS, RN

[Faizi]

I definitely sympathize with those who have written here of burn out. Who would not feel burned out? The conditions described are atrotious. People outside of nursing have no idea. I especially feel sorry for med-surg floor nurses.

People look at nursing as a well paid profession and that's it. They have no idea of what it actually entails.

I am a LPN and I have also been a bookseller, a welder, a soldier, a knife seller and other things.

I have burned out on nursing many, many times in twenty-five years. Wow -- it is twenty five years!

I sold knives for a couple of years after burning out. Went back for a couple of years and quit for a couple of years when my kids were born and, then, went back and I have been at it steady for about fifteen years straight.

I do think that, if you are extremely burned out, you should get out for a while. Take a breather. It can help.

Chances are that you will return to nursing as I did. In many ways, nursing does stink. If you are truly a good nurse, you will come to the realization that you are expendable; that no one cares really whether you do a good job or not. Nevertheless, you will do an excellent job because you are a good nurse. You won't even do it for your patients. You will do it as a point of pride.

You may realize -- as I have realized -- that I am running while many are standing still. That used to bother me -- why am I killing myself while these others are going at a much slower pace and they are considered more valuable than I am? You may find -- as I have found -- that the more I put myself out, the more likely I am to be written up for something petty while others are talking on the telephone or complaining to supervisors.

These things can be very frustrating. I have often questioned WHY things are the way they are.

There is no answer other than things do stink. I have taken it on the chin from supervisors and DONs for doing my job more times than I can count. I take it on the chin because, if I do otherwise -- voice my opinion, defend myself -- it is my experience that it does no good.

So, over the years, I have learned to simply suck it up. I put myself out one hundred percent for doctors and patients. I am a perfectionist. I don't expect recognition for what I do. I do what I do because I accept that I must.

I may be neurotic.

But that is the way I have come to see it. I put myself out one hundred percent at all times and I accept it when I am written up for petty things -- I forgot to check the crash cart or I did not sterilize enough two by two's -- stuff like that.

The idea of nursing is that I work my ba**s off with no thanks. I don't expect or want thanks. I used to not want to be written up for petty things when I put myself out but I have now come to accept that crap as part of the job.

I was on the telephone once with one of my patients and a bystander heard me speaking and, when I hung up, she said, "You really give your patients excellent service. You don't see that much anymore."

It is my job to provide excellent service. That is the way I see it. To provide anything less would be neglect. Pay or appreciation or good working conditions have nothing to do with it.

I am beyond burn out now. I would classify myself as over-burned, i.e., so burned out that I could not do any other job even if I tried. I cannot imagine working in a profession in which I did not check vital signs. If I became a realtor or something, I know that I would be asking about my client's cholesterol. I would feel guilty making money on the mere sale of a house. I would want to listen to their lungs or their bowel sounds or check their neuro status. I would be looking at their veins -- "That is one gorgeous vein!!"

People think you are crazy when you say that.

Sorry for being so long winded. I do think that, if you are burned out, you should do something else for a year or two. Longer, if you can.

But nursing is something that eventually permeates your being, gets in your blood, under your skin -- to the point that, crappy or not, it is your profession. You will sacrifice a lot for that human contact. To me, it is not so much nurturing as advocacy -- advocation of the human being.

Take your time out. You need it.

I did.

Faizi

[Faizi]

Sorry.

I double posted without realizing it.

Oh, well. Both posts express my sentiments. I was just so bowled over reading the tales of burn out. People outside of nursing have no idea.

I have been a LPN for twenty five years. I thought it was twenty two.

Twenty something anyway.

Faizi

[Faizi]

Linda,

Do you also have a husband, father to your kids? Another provider?

I am a single mother since my husband died when my son was two months old. About fifteen years.

I feel a lot of guilt for not being able to spend more time with my kids when they were growing up. But I had to work.

I feel some guilt for not being able to find a better solution.

I should have had the brains to have done better.

All I had was being a LPN.

Faizi

[michigancna]

Remember that Nursing is a very noble profession. Some sacrifices will have to be made. In Law Enforcement I have met cops that drink and some that will later 'eat their gun'. You have to look at what specific area is bothering you, is it the employees you work with - then the problem is management, go to another hospital. If the problem is life and death you face, then maybe you picked the wrong field to work in. I try to keep a sense of positive cop humor (not to be shared amoung non-cops/health pros) and leave the death and dying in the locker when you punch out.

I am proud to be a life saver. I am willing to live the pain of suffering of many for a chance to save one life.

[bones_316]

Could someone tell me what all abbreviations mean e.g. LPN, RN, CNAs, CMA ETC... and if there are any ohter could you point them out. I am about to go to uni in england and i want to know what the difference is.
Thanks.
Chris