[greentea]

I really do! I'm on a rehab unit now at my hospital and ever since I transferred to it about one month ago, I've been really happy at work. I had a rough start in nursing. I graduated in September '05 and started at a big city hospital which was an excellent hospital but my floor was a bit crazy. After two months there I came to my current hospital where I was on a general med-surg unit. I don't know how to explain it other than that feeling that it really wasn't my thing....again. I was thinking that maybe nursing in general wasn't my thing but one of my good friends suggested that I try the rehab unit at my hospital rather than throw in the towel on being a nurse. I'm so happy that I gave it a try because I love it. I really feel like I'm making a difference to my patients.
Last week I was just making a routine type of call to the primary doc for rehab about a pt's vitals being tachy and a little off and that pretty much set off a whole chain of events that lead to a PE being discovered. (I did an EKG which wasn't the best looking EKG ever, then called up some more docs, got more orders, so by the time the pt started c/o symptoms later in the night when my shift was done, all the docs knew him and he was whisked off to telemetry immediately.) I did insulin teaching today! It was great. I kind of picked up where my coworkers had left off and figured out that my poor pt couldn't physically see the tick marks on the syringes so he couldn't draw up the proper amount of insulin. He hadn't had his eyes checked in over 5 years! I made the phone calls and such to have that remedied. I feel like a detective sometimes but I like it. I also actually like being charge nurse. It's crazy but I rather enjoy helping solve the various problems that come up during the shift. There are so many resources within the hospital and people who can help out. It's just a matter of contacting the right people and it usually comes together! Every once in a while I have a patient who says that they can tell I like my job. I'm happy that my patients know that really care about them. Since I've been on my new floor I just feel like I've a nursing epiphany of some kind. Sure not every shift is perfect, like today was a little hard but I'm cool with that. At the end of the day, I am so proud of my work. It's almost like how an artist would be proud of a painting. But there I go getting all mushy about it. I just really have to love what I do, and now that I have that, everything is coming together!

[VickyRN]

Congratulations on persevering until you found a job that was a "good fit" for you (your "niche" in nursing). You are to be commended for your excellent patient advocacy

[anniev]

great for you It is so wonderful to get to do your job to your own satisfaction, I think we would all be as happy as you if we could too!!! kudos to you for finding the dream job!!

[HARRN2b]

I am so happy to read a positive post on nursing. As a student, it can be really depressing to read some of the posts on this site. Thank you for writing about your positive experience!

[Gompers]

Congrats on finding your niche!

I love going to work. Of course, there are certain shifts I don't feel like doing sometimes (like weekends when friends are getting together, holidays, times when I miss my husband, etc.) but I never dread the actual job. I love taking care of my babies, even when they're sicker than dogs. I love my coworkers on evening and night shifts. Assignments are almost always pretty good - fair and safe. I really can't complain too much.

[mom and nurse]

Originally Posted by greentea

I really do! I'm on a rehab unit now at my hospital and ever since I transferred to it about one month ago, I've been really happy at work. I had a rough start in nursing. I graduated in September '05 and started at a big city hospital which was an excellent hospital but my floor was a bit crazy. After two months there I came to my current hospital where I was on a general med-surg unit. I don't know how to explain it other than that feeling that it really wasn't my thing....again. I was thinking that maybe nursing in general wasn't my thing but one of my good friends suggested that I try the rehab unit at my hospital rather than throw in the towel on being a nurse. I'm so happy that I gave it a try because I love it. I really feel like I'm making a difference to my patients.

Good for you! I've been a registered nurse at a rehabilitation hospital since graduating in 2004 and I have enjoyed the teaching aspect of being a rehab nurse. People are always thinking that we are a LTC facility but rehabilitation nursing is different since we are more of a middle point between their first hospital and going home (or to a subacute facility to continue their rehab). We help them to learn new ways to do their ADLs. Also working at a rehab hospital involves a team approach between the nurse, doctor (called a physiatrist...yes that is a real word...it's a doctor of physical medicine), Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, Speech Therapist, etc. I enjoy this. I think we have a good working relationship with most of our doctors since they work on-site. We didn't talk about this type of nursing in college, i found out about it second hand. Basically, acute rehab facilities admit patients after they have gone through their hospitalization after experiencing a stroke, motor vehicle accident, gunshot wounds, spinal cord injuries, amputations, etc. etc. Most are newly disabled and are dealing with the emotional stress of finding themselves needing to mobilize with a wheelchair or learning to speak again. Though things can be "wild and crazy" in rehab nursing too (especially in dealing with family members who are stressed out....sometimes it seems more than the patients themselves....over time they usually settle down to..). I would not trade it for another nursing profession (Unless I went into Community Health Nursing which also involves teaching....). We really get to know our patients and their families and many come back after being discharged (after anywhere from a week to around three months) to show us that they can walk again, talk again, etc

There's an organization called the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses. They have a definition on their website which tells about rehab nursing http://www.rehabnurse.org/about/definition

also there is a Rehabilitation Nursing Forum here at allnurses. Congratulations again on finding a job you enjoy!

[HARRN2b]

mom and nurse.

I am familiar with these type of facilities. My son's baseball coach was in a horrible accident. They thought he would most certainly not live. He went to Atlanta Medical Center. I saw him months later at a baseball game. He looked fabulous and raved about the nurses at that facility. Yes, you do perform miracles at these facilities and thank God that you do!