Finding the right patient population

[pht15]

I am a second year ADN nursing student, and work part-time at an assisted living facility for people with dementia. The biggest obstacle to success in my job is that my patients are very, very dependent and also, adult size. XD The other obstacle I face is that I am alone with 14-16 residents for 12 hours per NOC shift and also have cleaning and laundry responsibilities on top of patient care. It is a lot of work, and I almost never complete all of it.

I have managed to become quite good at transferring, ambulating, and even physically picking up patients who are bigger than I am. (I know I shouldn't, but I'm alone in the building.) However, it's hard to get cares completed because these residents are so dependent and take a longer time to cognitively process the task at hand. I have two residents who wander and won't go to bed until well after my shift has begun, one of which is ambulatory and wreaks all kinds of havoc if I do not shadow him until he falls asleep. This often means I lose 3-4 hours worth of work because I am waiting for this person to fall asleep so that he does not do something dangerous (mainly to himself) or create some kind of mess that will set me back even further in getting my other work done. SERIOUSLY can't even go the bathroom without this guy doing something.

I don't enjoy my job, and it has me concerned that I won't be a good nurse because my motivation is low. However, I have experience with children in a day-care setting and I enjoyed that work and was motivated by it. Lately, my attention has shifted to trying out PEDS or NICU nursing as an option. I am also curious about PSYCH, because I do enjoy dealing with behavioral problems.

Has anyone else experienced these kinds of doubts and then found a position or patient population they enjoy serving, and then been successful?