I’ve been an atheist my entire life. I hate the standard Republican version of Christianity that is presented to me. But I want to believe in something. I work pediatric cardiac ICU and I have to see how horrible and unfair things can be. High schoolers about to start their senior year only to collapse on the field and die a slow death on ECMO. Babies go through open heart surgery after open heart surgery. Some live, and a lot die. It’s beautiful either way in a sense. But I struggle to find rhyme or reason for it in a way that can be religious. But I WANT to be. But why do some people’s children get to make it and others don’t? They’re all innocent. I think it would help me in my personal and professional life to have more of religious meaning but I struggle exactly because of what I do. So how do you, as a healthcare professional, find God?

EDIT: I guess I was so stressed I realized I didn’t type anything??

I have two options:

1. Attend American Career College Associates in Nursing for $92,472. I can potentially knock out 10-15k with FAFSA & prerequisites that I have already taken. It's a 20 month program. I'd absolutely have to take out student loans. However, when I am done with my program, I can direct 90% of my pay towards paying down my debt.

2. LVN program $10,000 for 13 months. I have the funds to pay this off (school doesn't accept FAFSA).
   Going through the second option, I would then move forward with applying for bridge programs at my local community college.

My dilemma is: do I want to get into all this debt for the 20 months ACC program? Or do I want to take my chances and wait until I am approved for an LVN-RN program at a community college?

BTW, I Will not be working during this time. My husband will be responsibly for our bills.
I would appreciate anybody who has done either to share their experiences. 🙏

I'm a new grad RN and tonight is my first ever night shift. I recently moved to a new state, so everything is new to me.

All of my clinicals, PCNA experience, and preceptorship were at Cleveland Clinic, the VA, University Hospitals, and Metro. Compared to those hospitals, this place feels completely different.
The unit seems very underfunded. My preceptor told me to copy and paste assessments if I had the same patient from the night before. There isn't really a rapid response team—just one nurse covering that role. The ED doesn't do nurse-to-nurse handoff report, we're expected to read the H&P and notes ourselves.

As a new grad, I feel like I'm getting very little guidance. The floor is mostly travelers, resources seem limited, and I honestly feel overwhelmed and kind of panicked.
I know it's only been one shift, but are these normal new-grad jitters and culture shock, or are these actual red flags? I'd love to hear others' experiences.

Burned out after 1.6 years of nursing — considering leaving bedside. Advice?

I’m currently a bedside nurse and have been in the profession for about 1.6 years. I graduated in 2025 and started my career in a Pediatric Cardiac ICU. I recently moved to a different state and am now working in a pediatric float pool.
I’m starting to realize that I really don’t enjoy bedside nursing. I’m exhausted, burnt out, and honestly questioning whether I want to stay in the profession long-term. I also have a pretty long commute right now, which definitely contributes to how drained I feel.
I feel a little guilty saying that because I’ve only been a nurse for 1.6 years, and part of me wonders if I’m giving up too soon. At the same time, I don’t want to force myself to stay at the bedside for years if I already know it’s not making me happy.
I’ve been considering going back to school for my BSN, but I’m honestly not sure if I even want to continue on the traditional nursing path.
I recently got an interview for a Clinical Research Nurse position, which I think could be a really good opportunity to get away from bedside while still using my nursing background. The recruiter mentioned the salary would be around $69,000/year (~$33/hour).
I’m also currently under review for a pediatric outpatient position, which could potentially give me a better work-life balance while allowing me to stay in pediatrics.
The biggest thing I’m struggling with is the salary difference. Obviously, everything is getting more expensive, and taking a lower salary is a little intimidating. However, at this point, I honestly think I’d be willing to take a pay cut if it meant having my sanity back and being happier at work.
What I want to know is whether $69K is a reasonable starting point for clinical research nursing and whether there’s good potential to grow from there. I’d also love to eventually go back to school, so tuition assistance and career advancement are important to me.
For those who left bedside early in their careers:
Did you regret leaving? Did it help your burnout? And what career paths did you end up taking afterward?
I’d especially love to hear from nurses who transitioned into clinical research, outpatient pediatrics, informatics, or other non-bedside roles.
I’m trying to figure out whether I’m just burned out from my current job or whether I genuinely need to take my career in a different direction.

ANY ADVICE WELCOME !!!

hi everyone, i am doing a research on current ethical issues in healthcare that affect nursing practice, and i was wondering if you can share any examples of issues that you have experienced or are experiencing that could be studied (or are being studied already)? I will also look in the ANA, but thought that maybe this could be a good place to learn directly from Nurses as well.

thank you so much in advance!

---

*EDIT*

Just to clarify my question - and thank you to everyone who has shared

I wanted to clarify my original post because I realize I could have provided more context about why I was asking.

Yes, I am a nursing student, and this question is related to a research assignment. I probably should have mentioned that from the beginning. However, my intention was not and is still not, to ask nurses to do my homework for me, nor was I looking for anyone to expose confidential information or put themselves in an uncomfortable position.

I'm genuinely interested in understanding the ethical issues nurses are facing in healthcare today. I'm going to be researching the literature, ANA resources, and other professional sources, but I also thought there was value in asking nurses what issues they are actually seeing in practice. There is a difference between reading about an ethical issue in a textbook/google and hearing from people who are experiencing the realities of nursing firsthand.

I'm interested in this because I want to become a good nurse. I'm trying to understand the challenges that exist in the profession so that I can recognize them, think critically about them, and hopefully contribute to better care rather than unintentionally contributing to the problems.

To the nurses who have taken the time to share thoughtful examples, especially those who have shared while being mindful of how sensitive some of these topics can be : thank you. I genuinely appreciate it.

Thank you again to everyone who has contributed.

Hey r/Nursing. Two years ago I applied for a part time position on night shift as a nurse educator. It seemed too good to be true. 20 hrs a week, flexible shifts, and self scheduled time. I had at the time a 2 year old and knew at some point I'd have another baby on the way. Fast forward to now and my now 3 year old is in day care part time, and me and my wife watch the baby on alternating days. Due to family constraints and now a reduced pay, I work only Monday and Tuesdays. It just works right now with family life. However, my manager for the last year has been nagging me to vary my shifts during the week but I can't. Now she wants this in writing for some reason that I need to work fixed shifts and I'm not even sure why?

When I interviewed I made sure to ask what shift times were expected, what days, etc and the response was always whatever you want as long as it is over night. So, what happened to that? I've asked why it's so important that I vary my shifts and I'm told for greater exposure to the overnight nurses. My argument is 1. Family takes precedence to a part time job, 2. How does me working Thursday one week really increase my exposure to other nurses? I.e nurses work varying shifts themselves.

I've been stressing about this for around the last year and it doesn't seem to be a topic that will be dropped. Not even sure if posting this here is appropriate but I'm kind of at a what the fuck stage of work life atm.

Curious to see how old everyone was when they started their nursing journey!

I know this question was asked a bunch of times, but i'm still unsure..

I, as a male nurse, graduated last year, worked 1 year in ped ER, then switched to SCBU/NICU after getting an job offer on linkedin cuz an agent saw my experience in ped ER. I had a chance to do a 1 day internship, taking a look at NICU + adult ER because of my ped ER experience.

Even tho neonatology is not really my thing, i gladly accepted the offer, just because its a big occasion working at a much bigger hospital with many opportunities – also adult ER had a full staff so i either had to bite a bullett or staying at a hospital I'm unhappy with.

I'm thinking about learning as much as i can in NICU, then switching to ER next year if they have staff room.

Now to my main question: has any ped nurse ever switched to adults? Many ped nurses say that working with children is much better than with adults, because you have much less physical work and dont get verbally abused in to abyss. Tbh i kinda miss it😂 all my friends are in adult area, i want to tell them about my shift w/o knowing they won't understand shit cuz its a totally different field.

My main worry is that even with my experience in ped ER and future knowledge in NICU (stress management, communication skills, microdosing etc.) I will have hard time to work there because of totally different diagnoses, therapy, routine and common adult care knowledge. My country allows to work in any field we want after school, i still have the very basic theoretical knowledge, but I'm still unsure, even though i really wish it would work. What would you say?

Hello I am an international graduate who applied for license by examination. Will CA BRN send an email for a Biometrics notice or should i go and submit biometrics? It’s been 2 weeks and i still haven’t received any update!

Thank you!

I got a job offer at a hospital that is an hour away from where I live, and I was initially told that I do not qualify because they changed their mileage requirements from 50+ miles to 60+ miles for their program in whicb RNs can stay in a hotel for free. It’s float pool nights.

Then, I got a job offer for a med-surg position, nights as well, and it’s just 5 minutes. But I kept hearing bad reviews, or a mix, about that hospital which made me skeptical. I’m sad because the hospital that is an hour away told me that they still allow to those who live 50+ miles away (I live about 51 miles away). This hospital organization has good reviews and has a really good residency program according to my classmates. Not many of them picked the other one, so idk… I already accepted the offer and I’m almost done with the pre-employment process.

However, the HR at the other hospital told me that she can still hold my position if I decided to come back to it. I’m somewhat conflicted on what to do now, yikes.

I’m lucky enough to get accepted into a residency program. My hospital is a small one and it doesn’t even have a pediatric floor so any big cases would be sent to the big hospital. Anything I should consider or watch out before starting?

Am I thinking about this wrong. I had a nursing student tell me that leaving a fall risk patient on the toilet unattended isn't negligence because no harm happened. I find that to be 💩. In my opinion it is like saying, it is not cheating unless you get caught. Am I wrong in thinking that negligence is simply a duty to act and failing to do what is standard practice. Malpractice is stricter where you have to prove the elements of duty, breach, causation, and damages.

Per the student, malpractice is done by someone with a license but negligence is done by the anyone/unlicensed. The student showed me their book and study materials that explained it in this way. While I agree with this, I feel it does not convey the full picture.

What do you think?

I’m 7 months in on a med surg floor and I’m just exhausted. My orientation was kind of a mess. 10 weeks, many of which were with the extremely busy charge nurse. Like leaving me in the middle of a new skill to tend to the floor and coming back to ask why I didn’t just finish up. Then, I was on nights working every other night and it destroyed my sleep and mental health. I was constantly tired.

I recently switched to days and it’s better for my sleep, but incredibly busy and overwhelming of course. My coworkers and nurse educator are helpful and supportive, so I do get help on days when I need it. The ratio is okay, 1:4/5, but the floor is a lot. Notorious for aggressive patients. I was dodging a lot of violence on night shift and a sexually inappropriate patient (a&ox4) that management did nothing about. They told me and another new grad that this is just "part of the job". I felt so violated.
My mental health is horrible. I’m so tired all of the time. I’m in a constant state of anxiety and dread. I have nightmares about work and some of the situations I’ve found myself in. I have turned into someone that my partner and family constantly worry about. I feel like I need to move on.
I also recently lost someone (not in healthcare), to suicide largely related to work stress and it has me thinking about my own deteriorating mental health and how hopeless I often feel.

I’m putting my resume in for non-clinical roles and community clinics. To anyone who left the bedside this early, did it hinder your career? Where did you go next? I love nursing and patient care, but bedside nursing is not as sustainable as I thought it would be and I’m struggling.

Had to have a meeting with my nurse manager and clinical instructor this morning because the ICU nurse I was shadowing didn't want me back. That's a story for another day.

A lot took place and was said during this meeting and I have no intention of writing a lengthy post.

So that said, some of the key takeaways is that my manager has made clear that every move I make going forward is going to be watched and scrutinized. My preceptor and/or I have to check-in multiple times during the week to see how I'm doing.

I didn't feel supported. My job was threatened and someone spread a lie about me applying to a rival hopsital, which I'm not. And though the nurse manager "apologized" for their source being misinformed. They didn't seem convinced that I was telling the truth.

I was essentially told that I now have 4-months to get my act together or else. To be clear those exact words weren't used, but the message was clear.

That all being said, I could just use some positivity as I feel very defeated at the moment as well as unsupported. My shift starts in 5-hours at this point and I can't sleep either because of this. Just feel like a failure and that nursing was a huge mistake, but don't want to go back to fianance, customer service and the business world etc.

Thank you in advance

I don’t work here anymore but I had a coworker that was genuinely a creep. I’m talking a 37 year old man that would rub the shoulders of the 22 year old MA and ask her to go on dates. Now, every time this man had anything to do with a woman patient, it would make me uneasy and make me feel like I had to step in and do whatever he was going to do (small outpatient physicians office). This one time in particular he did his first pap smear on a woman who was in her early 20s and came out after and said it was “so hot, the best experience ever, she had the nicest anatomically perfect vagina he had ever seen, he can’t wait to do more pap smears”. From that point forward I would genuinely feel like throwing up when I saw him. Our nurse manager gave him a small slap on the wrist but otherwise nothing came of it. And he is in school to become an NP! Not all men, but always a man.

Hey guys! I recently graduated, and I’m starting residency in the next few weeks. I’m a HUGE daytime girlie, but my dream job/unit only had night-shift positions open. I took it without a doubt because it was already good enough that I got a job there as a new grad!

Buuuut I can’t lie, I’m kind of terrified of working nights 😭 . I’m already a very sleepy person in general, so I genuinely don’t know how I’m going to stay awake all night lol.

What time window should I be sleeping before a shift, and for how many hours? Especially on the first day back after days off, should I not sleep the night before at all?

I’m also afraid of the work-life balance, since I’ll be sleeping during the day when I’m not working (?). Like, I guess going back and forth between a regular cycle and a work cycle is not very healthy…? How do night-shifters do the transition?

I’m also worried about work-life balance. Do you guys switch back to a “normal” sleep schedule on your days off, or do you stay somewhat nocturnal? I’ve heard constantly flipping back and forth isn’t great for you, so I’m curious what actually works in real life. 🥲

I’ve also heard that it’s sooo easy to gain weight since you're messing with your metabolism/body’s natural cycle. What do you guys do to stay healthy in general? When do you guys eat your actual meals? Do you eat a full meal in the middle of the night, snack throughout the shift, eat before work, etc.?

I’ll appreciate any helpppp <3

Any nurses work for ensemble and was just in that meeting?

What are your thoughts about the hour and base pay changes ??

Hello I have a concerns for completing my accelerated nursing program I’m currently enrolled in , my clinicals start in 80 days and I was told by my DON that I need a letter from the BON before clinicals start or I will be dropped from the program , I did my fingerprints the first week of classes and received this letter this week no blue card stating I need a completed petition for declaratory order and 150$ investigation fee and from research I have seen online it takes the board a minimum 90 days to do investigation some cases take 5-12 months what is my best course of action here should I un enroll before I am dropped to negate costs or does anyone have experience with how long the board takes for replying to a DO ,I am really just depressed because of hearing this news I want nothing more than to be a nurse but this is just another hoop I’m having to jump through .

I just spend 90 minutes squatting with my 32 inch monitor to try and satisfy the PSI proctor for the CCRN test After 200 undergrad credits and 94 graduate credits in college and taking a LOT of online proctored exams, this was my first time with PSI. What a complete and utter joke these people are. DO NOT take a proctored test from home with them. Go to the testing center no matter what. I was trying to avoid driving from a remote location in the intermountain west, but I would have been much better off if I just scheduled this at a testing center.

Background: I think it’s pretty common knowledge that orientation takes place over a matter of weeks to a few months in many places. There is at least one preceptor training the individual for the job. Feedback from the preceptor is given to the nurse manager. Successfully completing orientation comes with a permanent job offer.

The Questions: what processes or procedures are used for establishing the successful or unsuccessful completion of orientation in your unit/hospital? Are there shift completion reports? Is the preceptor evaluated alongside the new hire? How transparent is the process? Are formal and informal measures of success emphasized during the process? How objective is the process versus the subjectivity of the process in your hospital/unit? Anything else people wanna share about the process that they would want to see, changed or improved for the new hire, the preceptor(s), and/or nurse manager?

I’m 28F. Pre-existing ADHD/anxiety/depression. I have been an RN in Canada for over 3 years. I’ve worked in healthcare (all hospital setting) since I was 18. It was my childhood dream to become a nurse.

I’ve spent the last 2.5 years on an ICU step-down surgical ward. Following numerous traumatic incidents (violence, constant short staffing with HIGH acuity patients, toxic unit culture, horrific patient deaths/suffering), I have been diagnosed with PTSD and have missed ~6 months of work in the last year. I relive the events on that unit every day. Currently off work on stress leave. I will not be returning to my old unit. I am in therapy and receiving treatment.

Fortunately I’m in school again (master’s level program) to upgrade my education and enter a specialized area that I’m most passionate about. I still feel great despair. I despair that I really had no business working in this profession in the first place due to my pre-existing mental health conditions and general lack of resiliency. I fear that these issues will continue to haunt me no matter where I go within this profession. I fear hurting the very people that I am sworn to protect and care for.

For those of you who have found yourselves in similar situations: did it ever get better? How did you cope with shame and embarrassment of being off work? How did you protect your reputation? How did you get better? How did you get over feeling weak and non-resilient?

Thank you for reading.

A few shift ago I took a patient to a floor with just an antibiotic running. I work for a critical care transport ambulance as an RN and am with 2 medics. We took this stable pt and confirmed the room with the unit secretary. There were no other staff around. When we were walking back from transferring the pt to the bed, we all got lost in conversation and I ultimately forgot to wait for a nurse and give report. The antibiotic was taken off the pt due to the receiving hospital usually having us throw it away.

We get back to the ambulance and I was cleaning the cot and completely forgot to change the narrative. We get back to the station and all go to bed.

The hospital calls our dispatcher 4 hours later asking where the pt is. We tell them they’re there and they report us to the EMS director. I take full responsibility to my manager for not giving report.

Fast forward a week and we get called into the office for it. We get a final warning and told if it happens again we’ll get fired since the EMS director feels I purposely falsified documentation.

I feel awful for getting my two coworkers in trouble for not giving report. Even though our manager said it was because we all signed the document and could all give report. I just feel like it’s totally my fault since I’m the nurse and wrote the narrative and forgetting to change it.

Has this happened to anyone else?

I need some advice. I’ve been an RN for 3 years, all in psych. I recently started a local travel assignment making $55 an hour, but the hospital is extremely high acuity, and I’m already feeling burnt out. Going to work is starting to make me really anxious.
I recently looked into going back to staff nursing, but I was only offered $37 an hour, even with my experience. I have a lot of bills and I am still paying off credit card debt that I accumulated during nursing school, so that would be a big pay cut for me.
I’m open to switching specialties, but since my experience is entirely in psych, I would need training. I’m worried that switching would mean starting over financially, and I don’t want to take a big pay cut just to end up equally overwhelmed somewhere else.
Would you suggest looking for a different psych contract with better staffing or trying another specialty? Are there any nursing roles you’ve found more manageable that would be realistic to transition into with my background? I know no job is completely stress-free, but I need something more sustainable without taking such a huge financial hit. Any advice or experiences would help.

a few months ago my hospital announced a $5 shift differential for nurses who work med/surg/tele…ICU,ER, and OB don’t get it, apparently it’s a thank you from admin for working on the hardest units, but it seems too good to be true, i feel like something is fishy about it. anyone else heard of this?

Had a wtf moment in class today. (I’m in a DNP program, been RN x 8 years). There are some fresh nurses with 2-3 years experience (some who became NPs fast and are back for DNP or some who are in a BSN to DNP program). Some of the NPs just graduated and haven’t even found a job yet which is fine but like come on

prof asked what are some organizational issues that cause domino effect of problems

Ok first of all…. Let’s think THE MILLIONS OF PROBLEMS that happen as a result of organizational policies that kinda cause more problems than good (overtime rules, staffing ratio, budget, contracts, turnover, blah blah the list goes ON AND ON AND ON AND ON FOR ETERNITY). There was someone who is a nursing director and she mentioned issues with retention because obviously it cost a lot of money to train new staff, especially new grads. The freshly new grads then said the ROOT CAAUSE of unit turnover was bc new grads are burdensome bc they don’t know policies or unit norms yet. Mind you they were new grads a couple years ago!! 4/15 students said it separately and were being serious haha (maybe if they’re annoying they need better training and mentorship or if there’s too many new grads vs experienced nurses it’s a staffing issue and turnover issue or needing a better onboarding process which sucks bc burden still falls on the nurses) if new grads were the root cause of my hospitals issues we’d have some curable problems in my opinion. Anyway I’m sick of the blame the new grads or act better bc you’re barely older than them mindset also what kind of an answer is that