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Original poster

Is this burnout or am I just not cut out for nursing?

114 replies

Fullforcegale · 11/02/2020 06:22

I’ve been working as a nurse for 2.5 years and sometimes I feel like I hate it with a passion. I find the lack of control over my day depressing as I am constantly on edge anticipating the next admission or time consuming emergency. Many of the patients are perfectly pleasant but it only takes one very anxious/rude/demanding patient to upset my day. I hate how some senior staff and doctors speak to us. I detest being made to feel incompetent because I don’t know something minor or they are in a bad mood.

I work in haematology/oncology and the patients often die but I rarely feel anything. A death in my shift is an inconvenience because I will have to wash the body and transport it down to the morgue. I wish patient’s wouldn’t cry when I’m there because I have nothing to offer them.

I really don’t know if I’m completely unsuited to the job or whether I’m just burned out or depressed. For all the negatives, the majority of the team are great and we look after one another. I just can’t seem to shake this feeling that I am wasting my life here.

OP posts:
AlexaAmbidextra · 13/02/2020 12:59

Letsallscream. Well of course I appreciate that you weren’t just talking about me. But if I had posted something along the lines of young nurses these days have no resilience I would have been jumped upon and rightly so. You have made a generalisation based on your experience. That doesn’t make it fact. I have seen a number of posts on this thread in addition to mine that are understanding of OP and it is clear that these posters are ‘older’ too. However, there are several judgemental posters that appear to be from the younger end of the scale judging by the years of experience they have quoted. So imo, your assertion that this thread demonstrates a negative attitude in older nurses is not the case.

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 13/02/2020 13:20

Its certainly the case where I work

foodtoorder · 13/02/2020 13:40

Just from your original post, you absolutely need a change in work environment. Different ward/ use transferable skills to a community role.
You cannot remain in a role where you feel nothing when people cry or die.
Yes, you have to manage your emotional health but if you feel like that you simply cannot perform at your best.
Definitely look for another role, a change is as good as a rest.

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AlexaAmbidextra · 13/02/2020 15:40

Its certainly the case where I work

Well that’s a shame. Some of my nursing colleagues in their sixties are still working and they don’t have a negative attitude towards younger nurses. In fact they support and encourage them. I suppose not all workplaces are like this though.

drina27 · 13/02/2020 15:56

Sorry but in decades of nursing I have never heard a nurse speak with such a lack of feeling about a death being an inconvenience and not wanting relatives to cry.

I too find this staggering. In answer to your question, no, I don’t think you are at all suited to this very important job. What in earth led you to it in the first place?

Did you imagine yourself as a sort of Florence Nightingale figure, gliding along, only stopping to touch a hand here or there?

I l

drina27 · 13/02/2020 15:57

@ jaffacake2

jaffacake2 · 13/02/2020 17:08

@drina27 sorry are you questioning my statement or agreeing with me ?

HelgaHere1 · 13/02/2020 17:11

I wonder if the posters so shocked at the OP's comments are nurses themselves?
Did no one watch Getting On, the comedy starring Jo Brand and others set in a geriatric ward??

1FootInTheRave · 13/02/2020 18:04

I know how you feel.

I was a nurse, now work only as a midwife, but experienced similar when I stepped into management. I took a sidestep to a more clinical role that suited me far more and really don't regret it one bit. It was hard at first but I was well supported by my new colleagues and matron.

AlexaAmbidextra · 13/02/2020 18:53

I wonder if the posters so shocked at the OP's comments are nurses themselves?

I would hope that nurses would have more intelligence and humanity than to judge someone who is in a bad place. However, there are a couple of posters on this thread who claim to be HCPs who have been very unpleasant. Ironically they probably tell themselves that they’re better than OP, when in my opinion they are both judgemental and totally lacking in empathy.

drina27 · 13/02/2020 18:56

jaffacake2

@drina27 sorry are you questioning my statement or agreeing with me ?

Agreeing. Forgot to add an @ to my response.

drina27 · 13/02/2020 18:57

No. Not a nurse.

jaffacake2 · 13/02/2020 19:10

@drina27 thank you. I was shocked by the ops statement and feel strongly that she needs urgent counselling and advice about a change of work environment .

TheHagOnTheHill · 13/02/2020 22:05

A lot of the nurses in our department are older,I'll be 60 this year.If it was generational who do you think is teaching,assessing trainees and supervising junior assessees.
We are especially useful with mature students as some juniors find dealing their life experiences challenging often due to not understanding.
There are a lot of us nearing retirement(and no inducement from the government to keep us in post longer)This will have a massive effect on numbers in the work forcewhich is why we need to encourage compassionate nurses like the OP to find their way and stay in nursing.
40 years experience and still learning.

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