I'm a Mental Health nurse who wants to get out of nursing....

Bikerbob_2

christ on a bike, I think you all need to suck it in a bit. You should think yourselves lucky to be in a reasonably paid profession and not working for NMW in some sh*it hole sweatshop. My wife has been a nurse for over 13 years, sometimes she's hated it and sometimes she's loved it.
Your all going to struggle to find anything better, especially if your on £45K thats like band 7, if you were working for a trust you would be on nearly half that (I doubt you have made band 7 in 3 years).

Here's the thing, for me, it was never about money, more about doing something worthwhile. It isn't like a normal job where you can clock-out and go home and pretend the day never happened. Some days are ok, others are truly horrible.

I've lost count of how many times (even in my relatively short experience) that I've been literally squeezing bags of blood/fluids into people with it running out of them more quickly than I can get it in just to keep them alive, worked on patients that have gone in to arrest, broken the worst news to both patients and family, the list goes on, and then had a roasting from management because some paperwork had not been finished off or other such nonsense while we had been struggling. It's all about paperwork and budgets not people, neither patients or staff. Add to that mix professional accountability in a court of law and this is where the problems start. Anxiety, stress, insomnia, chest pain - I've had them all.

There are also two types of nurses. One that would bypass an ill patient to get another job done, and one that would not. I know which camp i'm in.

In the past I have worked for NMW and bloody hard too, but minus the resposibility.

I would love to work with people with learning disabilities, young adults, maybe in a support/mentoring/teaching role? Or addiction maybe?

Croatoan, yeah I know loads that would love to do another job but are caught in the 'I can't afford to reduce my wage' scenario.

Joe_L

tonyh66 wrote: »

christ on a bike, I think you all need to suck it in a bit. You should think yourselves lucky to be in a reasonably paid profession and not working for NMW in some sh*it hole sweatshop. My wife has been a nurse for over 13 years, sometimes she's hated it and sometimes she's loved it.
Your all going to struggle to find anything better, especially if your on £45K thats like band 7, if you were working for a trust you would be on nearly half that (I doubt you have made band 7 in 3 years).

I don't really give a flying f$%k about making band 7 or racking in 45k, I got into psychiatric nursing to earn a steady living at something that I thought might give me a sense of purpose and, with my rich life experience, I might be able to be of help to people who're suffering mental illness. Then came the reality and that's something that you know nothing about, because you haven't worked in the field for the last 12 years as I have.

Nursing can be an extremely demanding, stressful and dispiriting job, hence the relentless drop out rate and nurses suffering from burnout, same as social work. Just before I left I had a lady who I assessed kill herself just days later and within weeks a bloke I assessed cut his own throat. I felt I could've done more for both of them, but at the time we were so busy.

So my old mate, speak of what you know.

Joe_L

Bikerbob wrote: »

Here's the thing, for me, it was never about money, more about doing something worthwhile. It isn't like a normal job where you can clock-out and go home and pretend the day never happened. Some days are ok, others are truly horrible.

Snipped

Amen to all of your post, including the bit I snipped. I hadn't read this as I was writing my post. You said it all for me.

The thing about nursing that more or less done me in, was that I couldn't give people the care they deserved. I think most good nurses are aware of this and that's why morale is so low among us. Like most things the state has it's hand in these days, nursing has gone corporate.

Joe_L

Bikerbob wrote: »

Hey Guys.

Reading this thread has spurred me on to register on here. I'm not alone!:)

I'm also a R/N, am in my late 30's and can't abide being a nurse, to the near point of becoming a 'phobia' as you folks put it. I qualified around 3 years ago and have worked in acute and rehab settings. I started to hate nursing so much that I have recently quit my job and am currently unemployed. The usual things, low moral, politics and frustrations have driven me out and I currently feel I no longer want to be a nurse. Despite constantly hearing 'how caring I am', 'what a good nurse I am' etc I have just lost heart.

The thing is, I have no clue as to what I do want to do?

Maybe we should start up a support forum for burnt out nurses;)

Reading you other post, I had same thing. To this day I still have insomnia and that is one of the reasons I can't work full time anymore. And doing shifts again would put me in an early grave.

Bikerbob_2

The thing about nursing that more or less done me in, was that I couldn't give people the care they deserved. I think most good nurses are aware of this and that's why morale is so low among us. Like most things the state has it's hand in these days, nursing has gone corporate.

Hi Joe L.

Correct. I reckon it's only going to get worse too. As much as the powers that be like to promote individual care, the reality is that we have our hands tied, being weighed down with paperwork and nursing metrics. An example of one of the things that really got me thinking that things were not right - At one trust I worked for I actually had to fill in a form to say that I had filled in a form??? I genuinly believed the ward manager was having a laugh - not so.

If we were to start a support group, it is going to be a large one because I know loads of nurses that feel like this.

Croatoan - sorry for kind of hijacking your thread.

mel48rose

As a registered nurse just wanted to say that I totally agree with the above. Some days I feel like going to work in Tesco's instead.

Croatoan

I do plenty of work for care homes often run by companies that are household names. The staff try really hard but on nights there's often only one nurse and one carer to look after 20 to 30 doubly incontinent, often heavy, often unsteady, often physically abusive, often frail and usually dementing, residents.
Management don't give a damn. It's all about money. Why anyone is prepared to be a carer I don't know. I wouldn't do what they have to do for, usually, minimum wage.

Person-centred care will never be a reality unless companies are forced to increase staffing so that people can actually be cared for rather than simply helped to exist.

fluffymovie

I just wanted to say that I left my RMN training after a year (on a 2 year advcanced course) and have always felt it was a massive mistake!

Having read some of these posts though, I think I feel a bit better but am sorry that you are finding the job so hard going.

Croatoan

Joe_L wrote: »

Actually about a year into my nursing, I went the route of working as agency and for all the reasons you mentioned. I then got a very good substantive NHS job, but, as expected, the politics and crap management forced me out. After a year working for a charity, I worked as a bank nurse for the same team most of time and that was probably my problem, as I got worn down with the usual BS, when I should've moved on.

When I left there a couple of years ago I sort of developed a nursing phobia. My reg runs out this Feb and if I don't get some work, that's me finished as a nurse. Problem is I'm too old and broke to train for anything else. Not sure where you're based, I'm near Watford, but I'd be grateful if you could recommend an agency to me by PM. Cheers.

Resurrecting my old thread I know. Wondering how you - and the rest of the disgruntled nurses who posted - are getting on? Like yourself I feel like I'm starting to a bit phobic about work now. I've cut down to the absolute minimum I need to pay the bills just so I don't have to be in more than I need. I'm now on less than half the pay I was on when I instigated this thread. I've even started to apply for minimum wage jobs (without, I admit, a great deal of thought on how we're to get by), just to get out of nursing. Not had any replies yet though, although I admit to restricting myself to minimum wage jobs I think I'd be able to endure.

Shoey1610

I didn't reply on the original post, but I read it all and clicked out a few thanks. I was a senior RMN with over 10 years experience, until late last year when I just couldn't do it any more. I was holding nearly 30 complex severe and enduring cases on part time hours and my own health was really suffering. I handed in my notice on the first day back at work after Christmas this year.

I've never felt better. I have a physical and emotional energy and space that I haven't had since I was a first year. I've just let my registration lapse. I would never go back now, I would rather work in McDonalds (which I have done previously and it was a hell of a lot better than nursing) for twice the hours just to maintain my own health and wellbeing. Yes, my income has been affected, but it was more than worth it.