Nurse Kaycee Here

In my 8 years of being a registered nurse, I’ve had four different jobs with three different roles. I was a floor nurse for two years. In those two years, I found bedside nursing to be anxiety inducting and stressful. To be completely honest, I didn’t truly enjoy it. After two years of forcing myself to stay in this job, I realized I had to make a career change. Here’s some reasons I learned that it may be time for a new job.

1. You’re not happy. It’s that simple.

One of the biggest indicators that told me that I was ready to leave floor nursing was that I was simply not happy. I dreaded going to work most of the time. I would spend my lunch breaks searching for other jobs. If you feel like this, it may be time to go.

2. You’re burnt out.

If you’re burnt out at your job- this can include physical fatigue, compassion/empathy fatigue, or mental fatigue- this can be another sign it’s time for a change in your career.

3. Toxic work environment/Bullying

You should never have to tolerate a toxic work environment. Try not to stay at these jobs for long. It will wear on you in the long run.

Bullying in healthcare is a real problem. I have heard too many stories of nurses telling me about how they’ve been bullied. There are a few things you can do if you’re being bullied, and I may touch on that in a separate blog as I’ve unfortunately experienced it. If you’ve done everything you can to try to resolve bullying, you may just need to leave for your peace of mind.

4. You aren’t getting paid enough.

Some health systems pay better than others. If you feel that your pay is not fair, you can go to your manager or HR and try to negotiate. Most of the time this is not feasible in a hospital as they generally have set pay rates depending on how long you’ve been a nurse, but it never hurts to possibly interview at other health systems to see if the pay is better.

5. Unsafe staffing

Unsafe staffing continues to be a huge problem in nursing. If you are working for a health system that does not have safe staffing, you should leave immediately. Don’t put your health or license at risk for a health system.

6. You want to try something new.

One of the beautiful things about nursing is that you can change floors, specialties, or locations. There’s so many opportunities and it’s okay to try something new.

7. Lack of educational opportunities, advancements, or support.

It can be frustrating working somewhere where you can’t advance professionally. Larger health systems offer plenty of opportunities to advance. Lack of educational support is an issue- especially if your job isn’t covering basic things such as BLS or CEUs. The health system I work for allows us business days for conferences, paid conference time if approved, free CEU opportunities, and pays for BLS/ACLS and reimburses for certification fees.

If you choose to leave your nursing job it may be the best thing you’ve ever done. You never know what experiences await you.