Boredom at work...please help

BadBird, BSN, RN · Aug 22, 2003

I think you will need a lot more exprience than 6 months to qualify for a case management position. I am not sure about the certification, good luck, and if you really want that area keep plugging away.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Aug 22, 2003

WHOA....back up the ponies!! How can you be "bored" after only 6 months in Neuropsych (or any other field for that matter)? There is NO WAY that you could have learned everything there is to know about your field in that amount of time. Granted, this may not be the right fit for you, but flitting around from job to job or field to field only demonstrates a lack of maturity and ability to focus, and it will eventually be held against you. To be honest, it sounds like there could be some attention-deficit issues involved here......have you considered that possibility?

I say this only because you sound so much like some of the people I've worked with in the past, who couldn't stay with any one course of action longer than a bird can stay on one telephone pole. They'd all had some form of ADHD as children and never quite overcame it. Nice people, every one of them, but flighty and inconsistent, and it cost them dearly career-wise because they had reputations for being undependable. I'd hate to see that happen to you. Please, take some time to learn why you've become "bored" so quickly, and look before you leap into the next thing.

YOGI_NAMASTE · Aug 22, 2003

I haven't learned everything yet where I work now. I think boredom is not the correct word to describe how I feel. A few of my collegues quit in a week due to conflict with the manager. It's quite an uncomfortable and unfriendly atmosphere at work. A few more nurses are planning on quitting. I'm the youngest and newest RN in the unit and feeling pressured to work more hours since we're short of RNs. I'm not bored, I'm stressed...

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Aug 22, 2003

Why not put in for a transfer within the facility? Or move to a different shift on the same floor?

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Aug 22, 2003

Well, now why didn't you say that in the first place?:)

My advice, however, is the same: take time to figure out what you want to do BEFORE you start job-hopping. I don't mean for the rest of your career, just the next 2-5 years or so, enough time to establish yourself as a nurse and become competent, as well as confident, in a particular field. You have plenty of time left to try a number of different careers within nursing if you choose.

Good luck in resolving your current difficulties. Keep us posted!

YOGI_NAMASTE · Aug 22, 2003

Thank you for pointing that out. I like what I'm doing now, it's just the politic that stresses me out. I guess I need to do more yoga and exercise more. Just got a part-time job in the Registry so this would help me gain more experience in different settings. I do not plan to quit my current job since I've only been there for 6 months, want to be there for at least a year to be transferred or make a move so it looks better on my resume. I know this for a fact since I've been an executive recruiter before nursing.

I want to get into a New Grad Program by early 2004 and get my ACLS before the year ends.:)

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Aug 22, 2003

Those are admirable goals, Yogi. I'm sorry you're going through such a stressful time, we've all been there and done that, and it's just NO fun whatsoever.

Once again, best wishes for a long and happy career!

Agnus · Aug 22, 2003

When people say, "I don't like med - surg," I can't help but wonder what they mean. Particularly when they are wanting to go into a field closely realated such as ER, Case Management etc.

There is a LOT to med surg. It means a Lot of different things and a lot of different types of nursing. Perhaps you need to look around to find your niche.

Give yourself a chance. Nuro is a very complex field requiring a great deal of inteligence and knowledge. I actually hated nuro but once I found myself working regularly with nuro pts. I started to study it and found it was an extreemly exciting and facinating field. If you are bored I suggest that you imerse yourself in the one you are with at the moment. Odd are it is a field that you are weak in and that is why you feel as you do. (it was in my case) You will move on in time. In the mean time love the one you are with. Doing so will pay off dividends in spades.

By imersing yourself in neuro you can bypass the politics and make yourself one of the most valuable nurses on the unit. Just because you are a new grad does not disqualify you from this.

In fact being a new grad can help propell you forward, because you are accostumed to study and reasearch and every thing you learned in school fresh. Build on that.

At some point your neuro experience will proove very valuable to you in the area where you eventually wind up.

Boredome is an attitude. Noting more. We can controll that. If you are just generally unhappy because of the management etc and it is making you miserable then MOVE. However, if it is something you can deal with knowing no job is perfect then stick it out and use the time to learn where YOu would like to be and to learn that field.

You have a perfect oportunity to lean case management in neuro. You also have the perfect oportunity to learn if you are cut out to handly emergencies. Take advantage of it. You have a chance to take ACLS PALS etc before you apply to a position that require these. You will be more salable to those departments if you took the initiative to get these before you apply. That can get someone with zero experience hired when nothing else will. Get some education in case management that can be documented.