When does a nurse recognize it's time to be put out to pasture.

3 When can I tell I'm too old to do my job? Am I forgetting to write orders, sign off the MAR, or losing my "brains", because my memory is failing? Or is it because there simply is too much to do? I'm expected to remember an enormous amt of information, and I'm finding myself dropping the ball at least once a shift. Am I too hard on myself? I still remember more than the newer nurses do, simply because some things have just become automatic. We are caring for more pts with less staff. EMR takes longer I don't care what anybody says. Computers go down, they slow down, and the program is not efficient.

I'm just finding myself coming home more and more often stewing about what didn't get done correctly. Wondering if the mistakes I KNOW about are only the tip of the iceberg.

Do I need to find a slower paced job? Or just cut myself some slack. Last edit by Joe V on Sep 27, '12
Only you can truly answer what you believe you can handle. There are other things you can do as a nurse other than bedside or direct care. You can work at an insurance co as a medical review nurse, teach or chart auditing. I am sure there are many places that would love your knowledge & experience to utilize at their advantage.

Takes 6 months forstaff to learn EMR and work the bugs out... cut yourself some slack. May be time for day off breather.

The fact that you care about your mistakes is a good quality! I think you have to sit back and analyze your mistakes. Are they actually endangering the lives of your patients, to the point that management has spoken to you sternly? Or are they small mistakes, like forgetting to sign MARS (yes, yes, still important, but not quite the same as giving someone a quadruple dose of medication, sending the wrong patient to the OR, etc... things I have seen!). If they are small mistakes, everyone makes them. It sounds like you have been a nurse for a bit now, I'm sure you've seen others make a few. Did your hospital just switch to electronic medical records? It's always a bit sketchy with computer changes at first. It's really about the stress level, and what you feel you can handle. With experience, which it sounds like you have, there are always other possibilities if you are unhappy.

I know this is an old post, but I know how you feel. I am 51 and now have plantar facsciitis and a nagging backache. From my past working experiences and now in LTAC, I am looking for something to do from home (fat chance, LOL). I am going to start home health which is quite different from when I was a LVN. Now working HH as RN means running all over the city vs as LVN keeping the same patients for skilled visits. I'm smart enough to know to only work HH per visit. Hopefully working HH will make me more employable with a managed care company where there will be no direct patient care. I tried at least 6 times to no avail. So I am almost out to pasture LOL, but have to find something else in nursing.

Although I'm sure cries of ageism will be heard I appreciate the OPs thoughtfulness especially because this is an uncomfortable topic. While I agree 100% that experience brings some perks are also absolute deficits due to physical limitations and delayed response time. Unfortunately I have worked with more than a few who were unwilling or unable to recognize the signs that it was time to find a different position or, gasp, retire. If we all soul search and plan ahead now hopefully the inevitable won't be painful transition for us.

Well, imintrouble is still here and active, so I guess the question was answered!

Older nurses shouldn't have to even THINK about when it's time to retire: nursing students and new grads will have no problem telling them!