u/consideredtaken

Has anyone ever left their nursing position to take a mental break and were those jobs hesitant to hire you because of it?

I truly need a break from nursing to take care of myself mentally. My anxiety is outrageous and I think about work nonstop… but I fear “BSN, RN” on my resume will push recruiters to thinking I’m overqualified. I haven’t had a retail position since 2021 right before working towards my RN so I would of course have to explain that 2021-2026 gap of work.

Any advice is appreciated!

EDITED POSTED: I’ve tried SEVERAL specialties. A burn out is a burn out and I’m at the limit. The post is asking for those who have ALSO experienced the same thing and gone to another field and/or to retail in THIS CASE. I’ve worked retail PREVIOUSLY and ENJOYED what I did. I’m just asking advice on HOW they may have done so. Thanks!!

PREVIOUS RANT LINKED BELOW
https://www.reddit.com/r/nursing/s/l3nZhkF9Kq

So Friday was my last straw. I have my schedule set to have light Friday’s because we have mandatory meetings every morning at 8am-8:15, 8:30 IDG that lasts 2 hrs, and another mandatory meeting at 4:30pm. Every single Friday. I had 3 patients to see already and those visits lasted some time. I got to my last patient and OF COURSE my coworker said she has a migraine and apparently her vision is blurred. She said she’s making phone visits to her other 2 patients but she has one patient who HAS to have a home visit. The part time nurse only works M-W so guess who has to see them? Me.

I got to the home at 3:30. As previously stated I was thrown out so I haven’t seen MUCH AT ALL. This patient is declining and had a drain and the family wanted me to drain it. They were already frustrated because I felt it was best the patient stay in bed because they were exhausted but they INSISTED on her on getting up to pee. I was frustrated because it took 45-50 min to get to the bedside commode (not the patients fault so of course my frustration isn’t with them. It’s with the family). But the family mentioned the patient needed the drain to be emptied (the drain that releases fluid from her abdomen). I HAD NO idea how to do this. I apologized and said I’ll step out and call the nurse this patient belongs to and get instructions. The husband said to me “don’t worry I’ll do it. I’m better than any nurse in this company” and I said “im sure you are. You go ahead and show me. I’m frustrated also, sadly I was trained for a few days and pushed out so yes. I have to call for help. It’s frustrating for us all” … I guess he felt bad and started instructing me on something a nurse SHOULD’VE been trained for. Another family member in the home said to me “your management failed you, it’s not your fault” and I completely agree. I apologized to the family after I left and fast forward I called their nurse.

She says to me “I’m going to be honest, I’m usually there for a while as well” and now is the time to tell me? When I’ve worked 45 more min over the time I’m off the clock? Then she says “if you ever need ANY CALL DAY then I’ll do it” and I said “mm kayyy” and she said “no seriously I’ll take one for you”.

On today I asked if she can take my call for Saturday. As previously stated I was placed on call prematurely … and yes I mentioned this on Friday as well to the DON and she said to me “i can back you up on Friday and Sunday but not Saturday”. So I asked the other nurse if she’s able to take my call Saturday since I don’t have backup. She suddenly can’t take call anymore this month because of track meets with her kids.

And this is my final straw. I feel I’ve been pushed over and thrown the short end of the stick this entire orientation process. But I said all that to say I’m placing a 30 day notice in on tomorrow. The only reason I’m giving 30 days is because I don’t have anything lined up. They’ve literally pushed me out the door.

To sum it all up. I was offered a job position of $31 from a hospital that I previously left (2 mo ago). Prior to my resignation, I had a base of $31, shift diff of $6, plus the hospital monopolized and $4 more were added prior to me leaving. I made $41/hr!

HR at this other job position said to me and I quote… “because you’re a rehire with 3 years of experience we’ll have to drop your rate back down to $31/hr. Are there any questions?”. I immediately said “yes, I’d like to negotiate my offer. I am currently salaried but if I were to take that into an hourly it’s $36. Could we aim for this?” … they said to me “I will reach out to the director and see what they think”. Well needless to say it’s been about a week now and no response from them and honestly I’m okay with that.

The least they could’ve done is matched my current pay. I even excluded the shift diff! That’s ridiculous. Especially since I’m not new grad. The sad thing is I’ve had 2 years prior of vascular surgery, general surgery and this is Endo. No way.

I’ve been on orientation for literally ONE MONTH!! I started and trained for only FIVE DAYS!! One week!! I’ve never had experience with hospice and by week 2, I had my full caseload, with 9 IDG notes to complete by that Friday, AND declining patient… NO HOSPICE EXPERIENCE BTW!!

On week 3 I had to take the increase on my caseload because one nurse (the other full time) was on vacation and the other (part time) called in for the week. This week I was told “I’m placing you on August call schedule” I said WOAH and responded with “I haven’t had experience with deaths or admissions and what happens if they occur??” And I was told “well clearly you’ll be primary and have a backup call”. I left it alone. 2 weeks away of being on call. I constantly fall THROUGHOUT THE DAY with questions so imagine being alone at night.

By week 4 I was STILL taking the PT nurses patients because she was gone that week as well.

It’s week 5 now and I’m on call. Night one (yesterday) a patient was sent to the ER for sepsis. I had to go alone (no backup call present) and I had to literally call her to walk me through everything. I’m otp with her and talking to the ER nurses. Imagine the frustration. Night 2 (tonight).. another patient sent to the ER for DKA. He’s declining and patients family wants to go home. The doc calls and asks how I want to go about it. I literally had to say “that’s a great question, I am new to hospice and being on call so I’ll have to call you back when I gain more information” BECAUSE I WASNT TRAINED!!! It pisses me off. Anyways… I’ll be calling in Monday to job shadow Endo. Their call is 3-4 days but the training is better and I’d rather take that risk. Im mentally tired!! Also sending my manager a message to let her know she’s prematurely placed me on call.

I had a bath aide go to a patients home to do their job. In the process the family told (the aide) that the patient was experiencing an episode of a loose stool and it smelled. The bath aide immediately told the family that it could possibly be cdiff. I’m immediately annoyed.
The family calls the office, the aide calls me and left a message “hey, the family is suspecting cdiff, I’m wearing PPE just in case”. She’s describing the situation and I’m immediately annoyed because from the sound of it it’s CLEARLY not that and the ONLY reason they suspect c diff is because SHE (the aide told them that).
I added a prn to my schedule to see the family just because they’re now in a frenzy. Worried that it may now spread to everyone else in the home. I collected data and the family placed a laxative into the patients drink this morning and the patient had a different diet over the last few days.

And this ladies and gentlemen is why we’re told to WORK WITHIN OUR SCOPE OF PRACTICE!! UGH!!

I have an interview coming up soon. I’ve had so many stressful jobs.

How’s the stress?
How’s a typical day?
Do you guys enjoy it?
Is there on call?
Hospital vs outpatient?

And any other things you can think of please 🥰

Long story short, I’ve been a nurse for about 3 years now. I was excited at first but it seems every job I’ve had is a MESS! Micromanaging, racists coworkers, no help, terrible orientation, Etc…. On top of this I’m completely burned out on direct patient care. I left the OR (x2), went to observation (basically step down), and now hospice. I thought hospice would be so much better but this is the worst thing I could’ve done to myself. I wish I could’ve just stayed on nights in obs.

It been 3 weeks now (including 5 days of hospice training with a nurse). I’m so burned out. I know absolutely nothing about a specialty that has a completely different shift in thinking. I want so badly to give this position to someone who ACTUALLY wants it. That’s how bad it is. I’m not passionate about it. Why should I keep it?! But unfortunately I have to wait until another job lines up in the economy!

I’ve applied to several remote (CVS rejected), Humana… and even clinical documentation, informatics specialists, and utilization management jobs at my local hospital and it seems like no one wants to take a chance on me! I learn fairly quickly. I just wish that someone would take a chance on me. Any other recommendations? Has anyone successfully gotten a remote position such as the ones mentioned? I’ve tweaked my resume as well!

Mine?

Me: okay, so I have all of your night time meds here (names all of them for confirmation)
Patient: yes, sounds good
Me: scans them in and places meds into the pill cup
Patient: what’s this white pill here

I DONT KNOW!!! You have 6 different pills and we’ve literally gone through ALL OF THEM before I scanned and placed them into the cup. I can’t stand this!!

I’ve been working full time 3 weeks now. They’ve trained me for 5 days prior to that. On day 6 (the second week, they gave me a patient declining FAST!!! I had no idea what was going on. Also, I had 10 IDG notes to be completed by that Friday. First time doing IDG notes and it’s a lot.
This week there’s 2 nurses off. One is on vacation and the other called out for the WEEK and it’s just me. JUST ME! Something tells me they’re going to try and shove every single thing on ME! On top of this I have 10 IDG notes to finish by Friday. Ive been planning on resigning anyways because of how they treated my orientation process. They completely misled me.

-They allowed me PRN for 2 weeks and said that it was because “we want you out as soon as we can get you out” … red flag that I didn’t realize! I was on nights so I assumed this would’ve been a better position. I heard comfort care and assumed that meant just that. I didn’t realize it had more to it!

-They told me I’d have 6-8 weeks of orientation. I had 5 days and was told “well it’s TYPICAL for nurses to be out in the field at this time but if more time is needed then I understand”. I truly felt I should’ve probably just been out with the way it was said. So I said could I have at least one more day. The director rode with me that next day, by the end of the day I was alone. And that’s when I got the full case load the next day (that Monday)

-They told me I’d experience death visits and admissions before being able to take on a patient declining AND before being on call. I’m starting call in the next week or so. No idea what to do. No idea what to say if either event happens.

-I was told I’d start off with 2-3 patients and slowly progress. I started with 4-5 my first week! Unsure of my documentation. Unsure of how to order things. The families aren’t receiving supplies or medications so they’re constantly calling.

-I also have families calling me and texting me over the weekend when I’ve emphasized to CALL THE OFFICE!!

I’ve applied to 6 different jobs, 3 pending, and the other 3 have been received. All of which are not patient care and tbh I’m hoping a call comes in soon! I don’t plan on staying at all. I’ll finish that week out but I’m DONE!

Has anyone ever left the hospital and returned as soon as you realized outpatient wasn’t for you?! Did HR hire you back? How did you go about it?

Has anyone ever quit a nursing job effective immediately? 🥲

What’s the best way to quit a nurse position during orientation? I started PRN for a month to complete in boarding tasks and became full time maybe 3 weeks ago with actual training and honestly… hospice is NOT for me.