If Nursing is in such high demand why is it so hard to keep them?

Question

Why do you still hear of people quiting the proffession or unhappy with there career choice?

Answer 1

It makes great money, it's stable, and unless you're a doctor the training is pretty simple.
Example: my dad, a CRNA (anesthetist), is making over $110,000 a year. Not too bad.

(I should mention that when I mean nurse, I mean a RN, not a LPN.)

However, the hours suck (12 hour shifts), the stress can be incredible, and working call is the worst.
Example: My dad wasn't able to leave our city to go ANYWHERE while he was on call. He often missed birthdays and holidays.

Basically it comes down to this: many nurses NOW are growing into the retirement age (like my dad). If you are interested, you may like it. If you love it, you're going to stay. If you don't, you're going to quit at the first oppurntunity.

Answer 2

Because shift work is involved: you're new on the block, you'll work "graveyard" (midnight to eight in the morning or such) forever. Very hard on the system - and on the social, family life. And that's only part of the deal: dealing with patients, who are not always of the most pleasant disposition (understandably enough), plus all the pressure and job related difficulties (right medication, right chart, whatever) and stress. All this makes for a good deal of burn-outs and/or short careers.

Answer 3

Nursing is a hard profession and it's hard on the body and mind. Some days after I come home from work and have had 12 hours of docs yelling and patients complaining I feel like I just want to call in and never go back. I don't becasue working in surgery you really get that these people's lives depend on you being there. It's a hard job, don't be so hard on those who do burn out, I doubt there's a single nurse who hasn't thought of quitting at least once.

Answer 4

I don't even know where to start to explain to you what nurses do in an 8-hr shift (if there were such a thing). Suffice to say, a nurse is what you are, not what you want to be.....All of the training in the world will not make you a good nurse.

Answer 5

It may not be the result of an (UNHAPPY) or poor career choice. I have known friends that still LOVE the nursing profession, but were very unhappy with their working conditions. Although some nurses are happy with their jobs, the usual norm of working conditions are poor. Ex: hospitals, nsg. homes, private duty, office....etc. I could on & on since there are so many alternative jobs in nrsg. It basically comes down to this. Nurses are EXTREMELY overworked, underpayed, have to pay high malpractice insurance (on their own) because the rate of patients suing them is very high, and not respected by patients and physicians as they once were. Its sad because I know of many nurses who are not working now not because they chose the wrong career, but find because of law suits, overwhelming paper work, and the use of advanced computerized usage untolerable. Because nursing has gone far from bedside or hands-on patient care to not even touching a patient or caring physically (depending on type of nurse..LPN, RN) by your own direct contact. Nurses recently gratuated are educated with book knowledge(which is wonderful) but not enough bedside education and become overwhelmed in a hospital setting. Many leave & go on to other careers. Nurses are VERY much in demand, but with the continuing patient lawsuits and disrespect they receive, many well educated & caring nurses find jobs with their medical background with higher pay and little or no legal issues to worry about. And by the way many Physicians are in the same situations. Many Doctors are sued by patients everyday. These are people who go for years & years of training in order to heal people only to find (SOME, NOT ALL)patients will sue them in order to make money for themselves. In the past 20 years Nurses and Doctors find other career choices for these reasons. Would you want to be a Nurse or Doctor because of these reasons today???

Answer 6

Low pay??? By what comparison? An individual that is a certified RN (AAS-Nursing Degree) makes VERY good money. At least here in the DFW area. I can tell you that I have seen a lot of people go into this field for the $$, but because their hearts are not in it, the stress, hours, and emotional fatigue wear them down and they burnout very quickly. Its not a job to do for the money, its one you do for the desire to help people.

Answer 7

The work can be difficult, and in many areas nurses are not paid as much as they should be. Some hospitals will force nurses to work in a department where they don't want to work in or are not specialized in, because of shortages.

Answer 8

I dated a RN she got payed 36 per hr. add agency fee 58 per hr. she works 12 hr days though not consecutively. Lower payed nurses get much lower pay. They also don't get easiest jobs or the most glamorous.

Answer 9

because the pay is SH!T! And the nurses do all the work, then the dr. comes strolling in for 1 minute, and the dr. gets all the glory AND the money. Would you want that job?

Answer 10

I believe that between the stress and low pay, plus what their field is that they choose. It can get very difficult for them to cope with what they chose as their field.