I don't fit in anywhere!!!

Nurses General Nursing

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hi

i feel the need to vent!!:cry:...i don't fit in anywhere!! maybe someone may have felt this way at one point of their career or another and may advice me on what steps to take.

i am a fairly new grad, about a year and a half since my 1st job as an rn. i currently do rehabilitation nursing, i was very challenging in the beginning, but now i seem to have gotten the hang of it. all the usual floor politics that befalls the newbie i have gone through...the backstabbing, the picking on, given hard assignments, gaining doctors trust, getting good at my job, gaining confidence etc. now that the challenges (the big ones anyway) are over, i feel empty and bored. i thought about switching, but it's really hard to switch to another specialty at the moment because of the economy, even in facility transfers are scarce. even still, if i had a choice to switch , i don't know what i would do, er?, telemety?i have even thought about just going on to be a nurse practitioner of some sort. i have shadowed a few nurses and even an md to see if maybe i should do medicine instead, i just don't feel like i fit in anywhere, i'm pretty sure i want a career in healthcare, but i just don't know what. sometimes i feel like i'm not smart enough, sometimes i wish i had like 10 years of experience under my belt. i am just lost. i hope i make sense. maybe i just need a break all together?!? someone help!!! :crying2::crying2:

Specializes in rehab.

Trixie333,

Thankyou very much for the valuable advice. I think you may have solved, or at least given me some dirrection with my problem. Its funny how you said i should float...floating to another unit was what sparked my curiosity and restlessness in the first place LOL:D, and now I'm depressed because now I know there is more out there, but I lack direction. I think its a good idea to get my ACLS, or PALS, just to increase my options, and not to jump into an advanced degree that will really lock me in one particular area, when i have not fully explored what is out there. Another thing that might be holding me back is my type of experience (or lack of) that I have. They don't normally float rehab nurses to ER, or ICU, would you recommend a perdiem job for a new nurse?

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I know ow you feel. im a rn 14 months on a rebah unit with very adl dependant pt. we now have changed to acute elderly medical ward and im learning again.

given more iv meds mainly ivpb abx but im learning how to manage conditions from more able pts.

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Specializes in Emergency, critical care.

So webmansx: many nurse administrations have a way for you to be PRN or fulltime "float" status..... the more facilities you can commute to, the more opportunities you can avail yourself of....

Get both ACLS and PALS ( a few months apart). You don't have to master this knowledge, you need to be PREPARED for new experiences....mastery comes with the experience you are preparing for...for the last 10 yrs., I have been getting my CERTS. through private nurse businesses that offer the courses, and not relying on the facilities I work for to provide them. All kinds of courses are available at these businesses around the country.... I've been to them in Virginia, Arizona, California, New Hampshire, etc., etc....Also,as an example, if you wanted to be prepared for a possible OB experience, some of these places offer those kinds of courses. Also, CCRN prep courses and CEN prep courses are available privately or on CD (you don't have to test unless your ready, but the prep. would give you confidence to float)

With these CERTS, you are in a negotiating position w/ a nurse recruiter for what shifts or needs are out there... I told you the story about the young nurse who signed on fulltime as a float at a large teaching hospital... at a small hospital, maybe they need someone part-time for a shift or two on the weekend...I've worked with many a nurse doing just that (for the extra $ or for the change or for the new experiences)....point is, you have to negotiate it with the people who do the hiring...if you have energy and few family obligations, you could keep your fulltime rehab job, get your certs on personal days off, then do 3-6 mos. on a Saturday night here and there, at one of your local hospitals....believe me, if you are serious and prepared with the papers, they will eventually call you to "fill in" for someone who called in....ICU, telemetry, ER, neuro., peds., something.....OR they might offer a regular schedule like every other Sat/Sun nite....whatever....these are details....there are many ways to skin a cat other than just applying blind to a hospital for a new job....one year, I worked 3 different hospitals in 3 months per diem in a major southern city....found out real quick which hospitals had a culture I liked...you may not be ready for per diem through an agency yet, but a PRN person at a specific facility is its baby brother....the point is you have to make a plan....you might also pick up some locally specific pointers from other nurses who are at the courses you take...(network) (I found my current travel recruiter by word of mouth, from another nurse I admired) And please stop discounting your rehab. experience....I did not know what I did not know about rehab. till I went to a lengthy course, and I was impressed....I use a lot of that knowledge in the ER setting, and of course, whenever I do a med/surg. assignment....if nothing else, let it be your gateway to a holistic nursing perspective as you define your practice through the years...I have mostly worked ER my 35 years, and many is the shift one of my prn coworkers was from a med/surg background, or an ICU background, or a neuro background, or a peds. background....Worked w/ a great peds. nurse in the ER, could start a baby IV w/ one eye closed, but she came and got me for every adult IV...but it was fun and she learned after six months that she wanted to go back to peds.; the point is, you have to put some legs on your dreams, and create some opportunity for yourself....many ways to do it...you will find what you're looking for...

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To the above poster: Thankyou for understanding. I know someone said I was complaining and I should be greatful I have a job, and I am. I just have this empty feeling at work. If the nusre is not happy, the patients won't get the maximam care they deserve. I want a challenge, change, I want to use my brain and my skills. In rehab, half the time is spent taking patients to the bathroom and half of that is passing trays. Whenever I shadow other nurses in other units I feel like I have been cheated and robbed of real nursing. I have put like one N-g tube in almost 2 years :(

Thanks again for your understanding.

Hmm,I think it is convient for a new grad to start on a rehab unit,it is a nice slow introduction to the "real" nursing and a decent transition from being a new novice grad to a full-blown nurse..so I think so far you have been lucky I shall say but I guess you feel it is time to climb up the ladder,I say right on,go for it..now that you learned the basics of nursing I think you will find it less stressful to start on a more chalenging floor,I might be wrong but that is just my opinion,but I definitely understand your position,I too breathe and live for a chalenge!! I'm sure somewhere down the line you will find your dream units,I'm using plural word because there might more than one of them as nursing is a very broad profession!!

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Specializes in Critcal Care.

I commend you for giving your feelings a voice. Too many of us spend too much of our lives doing what we think we 'should', what we think we 'should be grateful for', blah blah blah...... Follow your inner voices. This does not mean that you shouldn't make a plan, but struggling to make yourself fit in when you feel that you are forcing yourself to do so makes for a very unhappy career. Shadow a few other professionals. Take your time and develop plan B. YOU ARE NOT COMPLAINING - YOU ARE JUST LISTENING TO YOUR INNER VOICES! It is never too late to be what you might have been. (Elliott) I know. This is my second career; I speak from experience. Good luck.

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Specializes in rehab.

Trixie333, blackheartednurse, Bonnie Nurse,

Thankyou very much for taking the time to advise a new nurse. I like the idea of a stedy per diem job, that way I can work in a controlled enviroment rather than angency nursing. Like trixie333 says, put some legs on your dreams !! I like that! :)

First step, get the certificates, my first target is acls (hope I can do it, thoes ekg strips look all the same to me :D

then I will network, @ job fairs, classes, anywhere. Thanks agai nurses, i feel like i have direction now :) :)

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

31 years ago when I graduated I did med surg for a year and learned everything I was going to learn. I went to the ICU and spend about two years there, again, feeling so bored after 2 years but then I found the ED at a large county hospital and I was IN LOVE. And I never looked back. Best job I ever had. I learned something new every single day and I could not wait to get to work every day. It was the best job I ever had in my life. You just gotta keep going until you find your place and you will know it when you find it.

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