there's got to be a place for me...?

Nurses General Nursing

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I've been out of school for two years and I love nursing but I'm having a really hard time keeping up on a med-surg floor. I thought I loved OB and tried it and that didnt work out well for me. Its hard for me to keep up with the fast pace and more often than not i go home very frustrated about the little things that went wrong during my shift. The hospital I work at has a lot of turnover and people are generally unhappy there too. I like what I get to do but I'm afraid that the problem is that I'm not cut out for it. The people who are unhappy too are able to keep up well enough and not get as frustrated as I do. I know that I dont want to do nursing home work, and that a clinic might be too boring. What have other people done who are uncomfortable working in a hospital? Is home health a better option, and is that generally a harder area to get in to? I could really use some advice, I feel so discouraged about my career and I used to be very excited about it.

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Try The Operating Room

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Specializes in Med/Surge, ER.

Home health may be a good choice for you. You can work at your own pace, and you only have to be concerned about one patient at a time. I did it PRN for a while, and enjoyed every aspect of it, except the driving. You should give it a try, that may be your niche.

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Have you considered mental health nursing?

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Try mental health!:balloons:

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

]I'm sure I'm going to get some really nasty responses to this,..but hear me out.

]Have you considered ER?,...I know what you are thinking,..but I recently transfered to ER after almost 8 years on a tele/stepdown unit. I sooo understand your frustration,..too many pt's, too much to do,.too much to chart,..not enough time,...I often felt frustrated to tears because there was NO way I could give my pt's the care I was expected to give, the care they deserved, the care I was trained to give,....I love the ER,...let me try to explain, one frustrated floor nurse to another,...

]The ER is very busy,.always busy,.but it is a much different type of busy. It is very c/o focused,..if you come in c/o L arm pain after falling on the ice,.I am going to treat you for L arm pain,..I will treat your pain,.send you for an Xray, apply whatever type splint the DR orders, if needed the tech will page an ortho Dr who will then talk the the ER DR and send you home or admit you,..move to the next pt,..I don't have to make sure your 5 HTN meds, your diabetic meds, your breathing treatments, or your antibiotics are given on time....I don't check MARS,...99% of our meds are kept in the Accu dose in the ER,.no calling pharmacy for 2 hours for meds that were due 3 hours ago,..the charting is very minimal compared to floor nursing,.I don't have to turn anyone Q 2 hours,..no baths, no feeding people,.no checking through 12 hrs of orders to make sure everything was done,..no talking to 6 different family members "calling to see if Mom ate any of her dinner tonight?",...there is always a DR right there,...

]It is very task oriented,..go start an IV in RM3,..give RM 4 some pain meds and send her to Xray,...get a UA from RM 2,...we have a unit secretary 24/7 who does all our orders,..there is alot of "waiting time",.wait for CT results on RM2,.if it's neg send her home,...discharges are straight forward and to the point,..again only addressing the c/o.

]There really isn't any "getting behind" in ER,..you see your pt's send them out, then go to the next one,..when your shift is over you give short et sweet report on what is done, what still needs to be done and go home to start over the next shift with a whole new set of pt's,...now obviously things don't always go smoothly,..there is always someone in the waiting room to bring back,..but the staff works well together,..we do what we can do durring our shift and leave.

]Just something to think about,...very busy,.not much sitting around doing crossword puzzles,..but in my oppinion way more support and a more tolerable busy

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Specializes in Orthopaedics, ITU and Critical Care Outr.

There are SO many options for you! Enjoy looking at them all and finding the right one for you. It's no bad thing to have tried a few areas of nursing before finding your niche!

Good luck.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, MNICU.
The hospital I work at has a lot of turnover and people are generally unhappy there too. I like what I get to do but I'm afraid that the problem is that I'm not cut out for it. The people who are unhappy too are able to keep up well enough and not get as frustrated as I do. I know that I dont want to do nursing home work, and that a clinic might be too boring. What have other people done who are uncomfortable working in a hospital? Is home health a better option, and is that generally a harder area to get in to? I could really use some advice, I feel so discouraged about my career and I used to be very excited about it.

Do you have the opportunity to shadow another nurse for a while? I've done this before in an ER setting and I am currently arranging this for a friend who is considering a move from NICU to an adult ICU. I chose this adult ICU because it has a good reputation throughout the hospital for being a place with great teamwork and support, and it has turned out to be a wonderful place. I really enjoy my job, even though I'd never planned on working with adults;)

So you never really know what might suit you. I know that I don't like to have multiple patients, so I never tried med-surg. If you enjoy a challenge with fewer patients who are sicker, then a step-down unit or ICU might be a way to go. In our hospital, step-down units typically have 3 patients and ICU has 1-2 depending on acuity.

Good luck! I am sure there is a place for you!

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It sounds like you are not staying anywhere long enough to give them a fair chance. Any new job is tough at first and that first year out of nursing is priceless. Personally I think you need to stay where you are for at least one year (in order to learn nursing and organizational skills and learn to put the whole picture together now that you have all the pieces.) Then think about what you would like to go into from there. It takes a good year to go into any unit and even feel comfortable doing the job correctly and yes it does get frustrating at times...welcome to nursing.

Dorothy, you are in Kansas.

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Specializes in PACU, Surgery, Acute Medicine.
]I'm sure I'm going to get some really nasty responses to this,..but hear me out.

]Have you considered ER?,...I know what you are thinking,..but I recently transfered to ER after almost 8 years on a tele/stepdown unit. I sooo understand your frustration,..too many pt's, too much to do,.too much to chart,..not enough time,...I often felt frustrated to tears because there was NO way I could give my pt's the care I was expected to give, the care they deserved, the care I was trained to give,....I love the ER,...let me try to explain, one frustrated floor nurse to another,...

]The ER is very busy,.always busy,.but it is a much different type of busy. It is very c/o focused,..if you come in c/o L arm pain after falling on the ice,.I am going to treat you for L arm pain,..I will treat your pain,.send you for an Xray, apply whatever type splint the DR orders, if needed the tech will page an ortho Dr who will then talk the the ER DR and send you home or admit you,..move to the next pt,..I don't have to make sure your 5 HTN meds, your diabetic meds, your breathing treatments, or your antibiotics are given on time....I don't check MARS,...99% of our meds are kept in the Accu dose in the ER,.no calling pharmacy for 2 hours for meds that were due 3 hours ago,..the charting is very minimal compared to floor nursing,.I don't have to turn anyone Q 2 hours,..no baths, no feeding people,.no checking through 12 hrs of orders to make sure everything was done,..no talking to 6 different family members "calling to see if Mom ate any of her dinner tonight?",...there is always a DR right there,...

]It is very task oriented,..go start an IV in RM3,..give RM 4 some pain meds and send her to Xray,...get a UA from RM 2,...we have a unit secretary 24/7 who does all our orders,..there is alot of "waiting time",.wait for CT results on RM2,.if it's neg send her home,...discharges are straight forward and to the point,..again only addressing the c/o.

]There really isn't any "getting behind" in ER,..you see your pt's send them out, then go to the next one,..when your shift is over you give short et sweet report on what is done, what still needs to be done and go home to start over the next shift with a whole new set of pt's,...now obviously things don't always go smoothly,..there is always someone in the waiting room to bring back,..but the staff works well together,..we do what we can do durring our shift and leave.

]Just something to think about,...very busy,.not much sitting around doing crossword puzzles,..but in my oppinion way more support and a more tolerable busy

WOW!!! What a *fantastic* perspective! Thank you so much for posting this! I would never in a million years before have considered a career in the ER but this totally makes me rethink my position, seriously. I'm a student right now and am also feeling really lost about where I should work. I will definitely consider ER from this posting because it sounds exactly like me! Truly, thank you for taking the time to write this.

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