what made you choose GI?

I worked on the med-surg floor for 4 1/2 years, then made the switch to GI seven months ago. I also put in considerable time on the OB floor. I am so happy in my new job for the following reasons:

One patient at a time! I may be busy and stressed at times, but I only have one patient I need to be thinking about. On the floor, I may have a patient vomiting, another in severe pain, another lying in her own stool who needs to be changed, a dementia patient who keeps climbing out of bed and is a high fall risk, and two call bells going off. Who do I care for first? In the procedure room there is none of this impossible prioritizing.

Somewhat predictable day: I get my daily schedule in the morning and can guess howe my day will go. Of course, there are always hiccups, sometimes large ones, but it's not like med-surg where you have no idea what could happen in the course of a shift. This would bore some people, but I like knowing what to expect.

Schedule: I work 7:00 - 3:30, no evenings, no nights, no weekends, no holidays, no call. 'Nuff said.

Relatively young, healthy patients. Working on med-surg was getting very depressing, seeing so many people in hopeless situations.

What I don't like so much: the patient contact is limited. I enjoyed getting to know patients over the course of 8 hours or a few days or multiple admissions. Patients on the floor were sometimes so grateful and some told me I was their favorite nurse; I sometimes left work feeling that I had made a huge difference for a patient. GI sometimes feels like an assembly line, and I don't have much time with patients while they are unsedated. Of course, this goes both ways; there are plenty of patients and families I do NOT want to be spending time with!


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I chose it solely for the hours. I've done 12 hour shifts for 10 years. All of my children are in school now and I work 830 to 4, m-f. I do have to take call, but it's rare to get called in.

I love it! I never dreamt that I would like Endo, but it is very interesting.

I transferred to GI because the hours are compatible with family life. It's actually very gratifying to be saving patients if they are diagnosed early and they become flequent flyers. You really build a relationship with you patients.It's a M-F 7-3:30. We do have calls for emergencies. The staff rotates to cover 24/7 call schedule. We have a great relationship with our physicians and they make sure that it is truly an emergency. I've done trauma/head injury, CCU stepdown, pediatrics, telemetry CCU/ICU. Although I miss working ICU/CCU, I find that when you have patients who are bleeding that some leftover skills from previous gigs always come in handy.

I loved the insides of the human body but HATED blood, just liked dealing with the guts.

You could still work in oncology. I worked in an oncology hospital on the GI unit. Patients had diagnoses' such as colon, rectal, pancreatic, gastric cancer.

Same here. THe highs- very rewarding to work with such sweet (mostly) pt's and their families -it's a very life altering time for them. The lows- LOTS of drains and tubes and pouches oh my.