Any nurses out there who can keep me motivated?

[NigellaTheOriginal]

I actually like being a nurse. I like my job and the patients.
I am however having a major problem coping with shit conditions, staffing levels, management crap.
the day to day rubbish i have to deal with is making me reconsider why i am doing this.
I worked bloody hard to get where i am and am so pissed off with it all i think i may have to jack it all in.
what i'd do about paying the mortgage i don't know.
any nurses out there with a majic way ofkeeping enthusiastic and motivated?

Can't help! Am a nurse also,and only work 10 hrs a week over 3 days a fortnight but really disliking it at the moment,despite most of my job being 'easier'than ever!
I do paeds,and at the moment 2 of my 3 shifts tend to be pre operative assessment which I really enjoy.
The other shift is usually a day case list,again fine,but if I end up at t he medical end of the unit I hate it,despite having done it for 20 years nearly!
I now do no weekends,fewer hours than ever,no nights,very infrequent lates,and I am still not happy!
I don't know if you are the same buyt it is a case of the less you work,the less you want to. Are you going through a lot of changes at your workplace?(we are-all management and service issues and it upsets everyone and everything.
Always changing shifts is another bugbear for alot of people.
Could you reduce your hours?Don't think anyone really appreciates the pressure nurses work under tbh.
I t is physically and mentally destroying.
Having moaned,can i just say that I still,after 20 years,feel a surge of pride when I tell people what I do.
sORRY TO GO ON,NOT MUCH HELP,BUT i DO UNDERSTAND!

Go part-time?

Consider a different job within nursing?

Job in a new Trust?

All difficult I know...

I love my job!

I love that I can make a huge difference to so many lives. I love working as part of a team and being able to have a voice in that team.

I love getting to know so many patients and recognising their needs and striving to meet them.

I love going home and feeling I've done well although I have to admit that I don't generally always feel that way.

I love it when I have just done a really neat dressing and it looks all fresh and nice.

I can often say what the patient is going to say before the patient can say it.

the advances made in the techniques and procedures now are remarkable and are improving continuously.

Running around all day every day (almost!) means I burn one heck of a lot of calories!!

the seven weeks holiday a year!!

On the downside I do 29hrs in 2 days and nearly die at the end of it. This does mean however that I get 5 or even 6 days home with my lovely DC. Not many jobs where you can work 22 hr weeks and still get this bonus.

The pension is reasonable - although I must confess to not having read about the changes they are making to it...

Discharging a terminally ill patient home and knowing they will be well looked after where they want/need to be.

Sending cancer patients home 'cured'.

Discharging home fit the patient who has been on the ward for x amount of months and has had every nurse on the ward tearing their hair out with frustration at some point but has now discovered their motivation and lust for life...

I need to go to bed now though as I still haven't caught up with my sleep from last weeks shifts!!!

Wish I could help.Have just taken career break due to family issues with illness.
Love the direct patient care but also hate all the beauracratic bolleaux,the constantly shifting goalposts,always a new directive/target to accomplish etc etc.

Hope you find a way to get the magic back,do share if you do!!

Could you reduce your hours???

Was a mental health nurse before children and toy with the idea of returning when third child is in school...

it just IS a really worthwhile profession, when you look at all the crappy, useless, meaningless jobs there are out there. You make a huge difference to people's lives, whether or not they have the grace to let you know that.

I miss it.

I'm running my own business now but still miss being a nurse.

BUt you also need to feel looked after yourself, in order to look after others effectively

Burn-out a huge risk

I lost the magic too, Agenda for Change ruined it all for me. I left last year and don't intend to go back.
I still get so upset thinking about it, I feel I left under a cloud.

I think not now bernard is right, if any of these things are an option. DP is a nurse, and I also work for the NHS. We have both had jobs with the bad stuff you describe, and other jobs which have been great. DP has a job he loves now. The key is often having a good immediate line manager, IME. There will still be times when there are staffing problems etc. but if I feel my manager is doing the best they can I find that makes a huge difference.

Oh, and it's such a useful job and patients generally really appreciate you?

Just worked an early shift today and despite my earlier post I enjoyed it!
I was walking back from theatre after taking a child,and the child's mum turned to me and said(with tears in her eyes)'thankyou so much for all you have done,you have made a difficult situation much easier.I couldn't have coped without you' I felt on top of the world!

I was thinking of leaving nursing but it is true what flossish said. I work 18 hrs over 1,5 days and get 5.5 days off a week for a decent amount of money that some ppl working full time don't get. I am having serious second thoughts about not leaving.

The grass is not always greener on the other side

We make a difference!

will post later..... but am a nurse too, and dealing with lots of rubbish at the moment, but right now,, its my favourinte time of day......bedtime!!!!!!!!!

Like I said - I do apreciate the good bits. the holidays, sick pay, pension, job security, making a difference etc etc etc.
What I can't be dealing with is the constant crappness.
For example every single shift we are expected to cope with less staff than we should. That means every shift is dangerous, I am at risk of making mistakes, patients are not looked after properly and no one who should be sorting it out cares.
No matter how many near misses, falls, accidents and incidents there are nothing changes. Every day I fill out incident reports. Every day I have to contact senior management to ask for more staff and nothing changes.
We are expected to work harder and harder under worse conditions and not shout about it. Management types are now getting arsy with me because I have a big gob and shout about our staffing issues.
Patents and families expect more and more from us and have no understanding of what we have to fit into a days work. Which is only right - they don't need to know about all the crap bits, all they are concerned about is what is happening to them and why things that should be done aren't.
Am considering contacting union reps to find out where we go from here.
The fact is I can so easily see some awful accident happening. Me hurting or killing someone because I have too much to do, am too stressed and not supported and Then that will be my career over. My registration and Still no one will care.

i have said this before but you only see senior management at our hospital when there is a bed crisis and they want ppl discharged immediately when they are ready or not, OR if a relative has complained.