Nursing - at my wits end

[Gomoza2018]

Hello fellow mums ... I’m stressed ... I qualified as a Nurse just 3 months ago... as a student I didn’t enjoy most of my placements but I was encouraged to hold on until I qualified as many said my perception would change! However, 3 months in outpatients & I feel depressed having to go to work... I just don’t feel it ... plus the blame culture, gossiping & backbiting amongst colleagues is making me feel more despondent! Anyway my question is what can I do as a newly qualified Nurse with a mere 3 months experience? I’m lost on the way forward ... I enjoy working with figures & used to be a Secretary/Administrator ... please help me ... I’m desperate ... thank you 🙏

Maybe look outside of the NHS? I was a nurse for nearly 20 years admittedly mental health but it can be sole destroying working in some NHS cultures .

Some NNU have adult trained nurses.

Ahh OP, you've not found your nursing mojo yet. You will though.
I'm a nurse and I love my job. But have a wonderful supportive friendly team with a good manager. This obviously makes a big difference to job satisfaction.

What appealed to you about nursing in the first place and what aspects have you enjoyed most during training and post qualification?

How about some agency/bank nursing so that you get to visit a wide variety of settings to see what might click with you?
Are you working in the same trust you trained in? Are there any others locally you could try?

Don't give up quite yet OP, you could still be happy doing it.

In my trust you don’t have to be child trained to work in NICU.

I did 2 months in Outpatients and it was the most soul-destroying period in my 30 year career - I hated it!
Please don’t give up just yet without trying something else, you worked so hard to get your registration.

We’re constantly recruiting at the moment and you could walk into another job in nursing and see if something else suits you better.

Ah sorry I got it wrong about NICU. I thought it was just children's nurses and midwives. You learn something new every day! (They definitely wouldn't give me a job with my MH training!)

I would say get out of outpatients fast! I’ve never worked there as a qualified nurse but I did have a placement there as a student. Mind numbingly boring. The nurses there had been totally deskilled. All they did was chaperone. I suppose it’s ok for lazy nurses who get paid a good wage to do pretty much nothing.
There are so many different paths to take in nursing. I’m a community nurse and have been since I qualified 12 years ago. It used to be you couldn’t get in to community without ward experience, but this is no longer the case. It’s changed a lot over the years, more and more responsibilities, more end of life care etc. I’m looking into health visiting now as I need a change.

Paediatric's is the best job ever. I'd be loosing the will to live if I worked in our patients.

We have occasionally taken adult nurses and they've done a conversion course.

Thank you all very much for the encouragement... sometimes a fresh perspective helps you to calm down & refocus! I enjoyed my Gynaecology placement & would not mind doing sexual health or maybe community ... I wanted to become a Nurse because I am passionate about caring for others & helping to ease their pain & bring a smile to their faces ... to be honest I adore my patients & I always go over & above to make a difference for them but sometimes this is frowned upon by people in the team who just see patients as a number that must be knocked off the conveyor belt as quickly as possible - I may as well be working in a bakery! Sometimes I leave a shift & just cry .... this is not what I signed up for especially with a bunch of lazy, indifferent, gossip mongering nurses who only care about having an easy shift ... I’m done with this team to be honest & thinking it through now with all your comments I think it’s the team more than the job - make believe nurses who can’t even do anything except for observations, completing forms & backbiting 🤣🤣 I feel like a glorified administrator there fighting to survive amongst people with no ambition in nursing whatsoever ... I feel this paints me with the same brush as we are not respected ... maybe a challenge like A&E or ICU is just the medicine I need as I feel like I’m at a standstill in a dead end job! I took OP because I left the application process too late & it was the only local position available with an immediate start - big mistake ....I only have myself to blame ....

Don’t be so hard on yourself. You will find something that you like.
I did the sexual health post grad certificate and it was brilliant. Did placement too, really interesting.

Try looking at the private sector hospitals local to you, they all advertise on their own website. Ie Bupa , spire.

I have just looked at NHS jobs and there are a number of band 5 sexual health jobs. I'd stick with what you're doing and keep applying in for jobs in the areas you want until one comes up. In the meantime make sure you read up on the areas you're interested in.

I have a friend who works in sexual health and she loves it. It seems to attract a really dedicated and eccentric bunch.

You need to move to something more dynamic and patient centred. It sounds like it's outpatients that is getting you down.

Even in mental health, there are loads of posts advertised every week for band 5's so moving should be easy enough.

You will find a your niche.

Are you able to say what part of the country you’d be looking to work in?

Community would probably suit you.
Or try bank work to assess which types of nursing excite you. Outpatients can be dull.

Yes - Guildford, Woking & surrounds ....

Very happy sexual health nurse here. Where I work all qualified nurses do GUM, microscopy, implants, contraception (to varying degrees). Not everywhere is the same, so check any potential clinics carefully for what the role involves where you are.

There was no preceptorship when I qualified and the first six months were pretty rubbish. I would ask about a change of department, where you are now doesn't sound conducive to a flying start in nursing.

There’s a couple of community posts in Guildford currently being advertised on NHS jobs that say suitable for newly-qualified.

Also check out the website for your local NHS trust, I’ll eat my hat if they not recruiting for RNs.

The good thing about nursing is there are so many areas to try. I'm sure you will find something you enjoy more. Bank work to find out a bit more about other areas is a great idea.

It's good to see that you have realised that it is not nursing that you have a problem with but the place where you work. Definitely apply for new jobs now in areas that you are interested in. What is the preceptorship/ other support for newly qualified nurses like where you are? In my Trust NQNs have been supported to move wards when they have realised that they hate their first job, we have had people come to our ward for ITU and oncology. I don't know if that is an option everywhere or if it is just that my Trust wanted to keep nurses in the Trust rather than lose them completely. You also definitely need a good, strong team around you to survive nursing, so fingers crossed you get somewhere with one. I say that as a nurse with nearly 15 years experience, one of the most experienced nurses on my ward, but I still couldn't do it without the team I have with me. Good luck.

Finish you preceptorship first and see how you feel. I remember my first 8 months after qualifying being awful, but it did get better as I got more confident.

Change jobs to a nicer team if you can.

When I first qualified, I joined the hospital bank and was able to try so many different areas before deciding where I preferred.
Outpatients is a bit conveyer belt like.

Community nurse, continuing health care assessor ?

What do Community Health Assessors do? Is there experience required - I’m only 3 months post qualifying .... 😪