If You Have Left Nursing ...

[IfOnlyOurEyesSawSouls]

Hello
If you have left nursing do you feel better for it ?

Yes! 100%! It has taken me a while to ‘find myself ‘, as nursing really is a part of who you are. I still miss aspects of it, and I miss saying ‘I’m a nurse’ but I feel so much better in myself.

Depends what you are going to do instead? Working in such an environment, you are protected from the real world to a certain degree

@oldsewandsew do you mind me asking what you do now?

It is digging me an early grave. I need a better quality of life, to spend time with my DC and family.

Im just a shadow of what I used to be like.

Yes @oldsewandsew , it is so tied up with our identity isnt it ? Iv been doing it 20 years and i just cant keep coming home so traumatised by it all .

I need to leave.

I’m actually very lucky and don’t work at the moment. I do a bit of volunteering and help out with DH’s business, but other than that, we decided it wasn’t worth the stress. Sorry, not very helpful!
However, I have previously worked in retail and would happily go back to that rather than nursing! Less money (although not much!) but it was a job I was genuinely happy in. There are so many elements of nursing I loved, but it had just become an impossible, soul-destroying job.

@IfOnlyOurEyesSawSouls hit the nail on the head for me. After only 5 years in nursing I felt like that everyday.

I do an admin job in the NHS now and earn the same amount of money without a PIN to be threatened with. There are bad days but nothing like when I was an RGN

Yes. I now work as a TA in a pre prep school. It’s still bloody hard work and tiring but not stressful, and I can go home and forget it. Plus I have school holidays off!

Obviously I’m paid a lot less though

[quote njg575]@IfOnlyOurEyesSawSouls hit the nail on the head for me. After only 5 years in nursing I felt like that everyday.

I do an admin job in the NHS now and earn the same amount of money without a PIN to be threatened with. There are bad days but nothing like when I was an RGN[/quote]
I managed 7 years. I'm now in NHS admin, which was fine for the first 15 years, but these days is as stressful as nursing used to be.

I took early retirement due to back problems caused at work and due to stress and anxiety caused by a difficult colleague. I am currently recovering from cancer that was found a few weeks after my retirement (just crap luck at the end of 2020). I plan to go back to college to get a qualification in silversmithing as I have had a small jewellery business on the side for years, a hobby that sort of got out of hand . A totally different direction and completely unrelated to my 23 year nursing career. I am soooo happy!

I want to leave. I’m 10 years in, 8 in icu and I’m fucked off. I just don’t know what to do instead and I’m very aware my computer skills are lacking compared to friends my age- I didn’t even know what slack and zoom were till the pandemic! I could go into teaching or research I suppose but something keeps making me hang on and hope for it to get better.
I hate to say it but I’m waiting for the nhs to get privatised, I think certain standards of care and nursing ratios will be much better when it’s a more competitive market.

I retired early for health reasons, after suffering High blood Pressure that resulted in Retinopathy. I miss the 18years that l worked as a Nurse, in a lot of ways l really enjoyed them. However, the NHS was very different when l trained, no 12 hour shifts, no Cost cutting resulting in shortages of basic equipment, and not the disrespect shown to staff that many have to put up with today that often results in violent assaults against them from the very people they are trying to help.
A substantial part of my Career was spent working out in the community, and l loved it at the time, but would not feel safe working in strangers houses and on my own late at night in areas notorious for high crime and drug dealing, Mugging, and Assults.

Yes
And I would never go back
Love my current job

I left because I had a mental breakdown and was very depressed. I've since lapsed my pin and don't intend to return. I was in nursing for 30 years. I do miss it and still have dreams about being late with the drug round 😱 being a nurse was a big part of my identity, but I just couldn't get well enough to continue. The first year was the hardest. Once I'd lapsed my pin I felt like I'd drawn a line under that part of my life and could then move on.

My mental health is vastly improved though and I'm glad I left.

Don't be afraid to leave if it's adversely affecting your health. Your mental health is valuable and sometimes your brain knows what's best for you and it needs to be listened to.

It is quite scary leaving nursing especially if its all you've known but if you have a back up plan you'll be fine.

@IfOnlyOurEyesSawSouls

Hello If you have left nursing do you feel better for it ?

100%

I have 3 weeks until I go and I cant bloody wait. Taking early retirement its going to be a pinch financially but I can always do a bit of nhsp if I need too.
I initially intended to stay another 5 years but the last year+ in ICU and the way the government treats us has been the nail in the coffin.

@MaryTaylor

Depends what you are going to do instead? Working in such an environment, you are protected from the real world to a certain degree

Ha! You think nursing isn’t working in the real world?!

I am so desperate to leave after 13 years! But as a single parent I’m stuck as can’t find anything remotely at the same wage level for the hour I work 😭