You’ve always wanted to be a nurse. Nursing school felt like boot camp, but you made it. You scored your dream job, but now you are getting close to the end of orientation and never felt more unprepared to care for these sick patients on your own. You are considering leaving nursing already, and you’ve barely started. You are thinking, “what did I get myself into?”
According to the American Nurses’ Association (2023), nearly 18% of new nurses leave nursing within the first year. This is post-pandemic. Yes, the pandemic took its toll on the nursing profession, leaving many nurses scarred and exhausted. But the newest nurses are post-pandemic nurses. Why are they leaving?
The first year is rough for someone entering a new profession. But unlike many others, nurses have a unique position of caring for more patients, making life and death decisions, and working long hours. These demands are not the ideal situation for orienting to a new job, and certainly not one with so much responsibility. Some nurses are being asked to take charge roles before they have a year of experience. Others are entering into high-acuity units straight out of school, with orientations that are whittled down due to staffing needs. In short, our newest nurses are not set up for success.
How can you reinstill your confidence and find joy in nursing?
Speak up. Ensure your manager is aware of how you are feeling. Sometimes the leadership is just as new and stressed as the bedside nurses, as experienced nursing leaders are aging out.
Find a mentor. This can be difficult but is so valuable. That person may not even be a bedside nurse, but maybe an APRN who has been around the block. Sometimes we are overlooked because we aren’t working the floors anymore, but we can give advice and guidance about careers (and just nursing in general.)
Compliment each other. Whenever possible, make sure you are supporting each other. Nurses are busy contending with all the demands of their assignment, but take time look around the unit. Are there others feeling like you? The best way to keep morale is to lift each other up. If your health system has a reward or compliment system, use it.
Don’t forget the team. Nurses are the focus of other nurses, but remember that there are others in the trenches with you. Our nursing assistants or techs, APRNs, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, and physicians are in the same boat. Even the new physicians are feeling much the same way. Teamwork makes the dream work. Depend on each other, as opposed to taking on everything by yourself.
Reach out for help. If you or someone you work with is overwhelmed, please reach out for help. We often see ourselves as the helpers, and not needing the help of others. Nursing can be a great team effort, but many nurses can feel isolated and overwhelmed by the profession at any stage. It’s a fact; nurses have a higher rate of suicide (AACN, 2023). We contend with occupational stress, ethical conflicts, social disruptions and lack of work-life balance, depression, and poor sleep hygiene to name a few risk factors. Most health systems have employee assistance programs (EAPs), but many nurses are reluctant to use them fearing lack of confidentiality. Other resources are available, including 988 which is a crisis lifeline available by phone and text.
We need to take care of each other and remind ourselves what we got ourselves into. Why did we become nurses? Because we care.
References:
- American Association of Critical Care Nurses. (2023). Suicide among nurses: we have to talk about it. Retrieved from https://www.aacn.org/blog/suicide-among-nurses-we-have-to-talk-about-it
- American Nurses’ Association. (2023). Why nurses quit and leave the profession. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/content-hub/resources/nursing-leadership/why-nurses-quit/#:~:text=The%20First%20Year%20Is%20Difficult,profession%20within%20the%20first%20year.
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