New Nurse--Need Advice

[aship, BSN]

Ok I'll try to keep this as brief as possible and I'm hoping for some advice.

I recently graduated from an accelerated BSN program and have started working on a medical/surgical floor. I received my first BSN in Kinesiology 10 years ago and worked at a fitness center for a few years but most recently spent 7 years working at an alcohol and drug rehab for teenagers. It took me awhile to decide to go back to school for nursing out of fear that I would make the wrong choice and nursing would not be a good fit for me. I was motivated to do it though because I wanted to learn more about the clinical management of different health conditions so that I ultimately I could be more qualified to teach people how to take care of their health--I have always had a strong interest in health promotion and wellness. I really enjoyed the drug rehab and it was hard for me to leave.

Fast forward to now and I feel really discouraged. I took a job on a medical/surgical floor to gain experience knowing that ultimately I would never want to stay there long-term. I really miss getting to know patients better like I did at the rehab and I just feel like a machine rather than an integral part of helping people change their lives. I searched for public health nursing jobs upon graduation and couldn't find any which is why I settled for the role I'm in now. I feel like I can't go "backwards" and stop being a nurse and go back to my old job but I also don't know where to go from here.

So here are my questions:

1) I have started doing research on the role of a PMHNP and wanting some feedback. Before nursing, I had thought about going to school for social work but the return on investment didn't seem that great (no diss to social workers). Are many PMHNP's doing psychotherapy in addition to medication management? I'd be more interested in the psychotherapy/private practice.

2) Has anyone else experienced these feelings as a second degree nurse? Have you been able to find jobs in a public health setting and what is it like?

I understand that a new job isn't going to feel amazing because there's a huge learning curve and adjusting to new people so I've taken that into consideration. I also know that nothing is permanent and there are often stepping stones to get to where you want to be. I just am hoping for some clarity and while I don't believe it's healthy to "regret" decisions I am feeling the weight of my decision to pursue nursing and feeling pretty discouraged.

[malenurse69, MSN, NP]

What you are going through is the reality of bedside nursing, it sucks. I cannot tell you what to do, however I decided to go back for my FNP and am already in my second semester.

[SaltySarcasticSally, LPN, RN]

I feel like you may enjoy occupational health nursing.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Enter the insurance industry. No further education required and pretty good bucks.

Best wishes.

[aship, BSN]

Thank you guys. I guess I was just hoping to feel like I had more of my groove going at this point in my life. Just need to work on getting my spirits up.