Will I find my "niche" in nursing???

fergus51 · Oct 8, 2004

What about nursing research? Or the operating room? Or PACU (the recovery room)? Those are areas where you aren't as inundated with patients' psychosocial problems, but you do need to be a smarty pants to work there since it can be very technical and you can steep yourself in as much of the science as you like.

I think this could just the newness but even if you continue to feel this way, I don't think that precludes you from enjoying a career in nursing.

talaxandra · Oct 8, 2004

Hi. I test as IITJ, and before I started nursing I was very introverted, kept to myself... I'm still like that in unfamiliar situations (loathe public speaking, hate meeting new people etc) but I have never been as comfortable in my life as I am in nursing.

I think part of it is that I have a defined role - patients and relatives see me as a nurse first, and almost without exception don't ever get to know much about me as a person. So I can't feel rejected or take anything negative personally, which is a start.

But more importantly I'm aware of what my responsibilities are - I'm comfortable standing up for people, being assertive and proactive, in ways that I wouldn't necessarily have been in my life before, and some of those traits spill out into the rest of my life.

I really like science and logic, which is why I'm back at school, but I work on a ward, taking a patient load and interacting with people. Applying to become a nurse is the best decision I have ever made in my life :)

Of course, your experience may be entirely different, but I would consider trying floor work. Fergus's suggestions are good, but they're not going anywhere, and you might find yourself surprised by how nursing changes you.

Good luck!

explorer · Oct 8, 2004

Hello all!
I am currently trying to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. The career path I have chosen thus far has not been the right one, however, I have no clue as to what I was "made" to do. I have taken personality tests, which rank me as introverted, analytical, investigative, critical......pretty much the "smartie-pants loner type". Anyway, what I would like to know from all you experienced nurses is.......do you think that if you don't rank youself as liking people, caring, and social......that you will fail in nursing?
I feel so utterly helpless right now. I am looking at professions for flexibility, pay, benefits...but mostly trying to find something that I will truly like and can get a job ANYWHERE. Frankly, I don't find CNA work appealing. I don't yearn to talk to people and know all their problems and discomforts. I don't want to go so far as to say I am uncaring, it is just that I do not see myself with the typical nurse personality. I read somewhere that the ability to care is a skill you can hone. Would you agree with this?
Personality/ Occupational tests do tell me nursing of some kind....CRNA, or Nursing Administrator, but they say also a profession that allows me to work alone in a scientific field (medical laboratory tech, cardiovascular tech, biologist, chemist, immunologist, neurologist). Sadly, I have found out that I have no interests outside of medicine or health!!!
If you have inferior skills in relating to people, can you improve that? Honestly, as of late I feel like a social leper trying to enter a social profession. I know it is not that bad, but I felt uncomfortable dealing with patients in my recent NA classes. Is this just newness and I will learn to deal. I need to know because I have to apply to school in the next two weeks. This is it. Do or die.
Any advice from anyone with the same personality type who succeeded in nursing? (Meyers-Briggs type was ISTJ, in the room full of people test, I most wanted to be with the ISE, in that order..investigative, social, enterprising with scores of 33,14, and 5, in that order...so extreme investigative. Do I have a chance to succeed in some form of nursing and am I likely to like it if I like science?? Please Help me figure this out once and for all!!!!!
THANK YOU!
Janice

I know very little about it but one field you might consider is Forensic Nursing. You seem like you might be one of those kinds of persons and also their are threads relating to Forensic Nursing on this web site.

:balloons:

zenman · Oct 8, 2004

Hello all!
I am currently trying to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.
THANK YOU!
Janice

I hate to tell you but this burning question can last a lifetime and multiple careers! However, as you get older and on your walker, you'll have less trouble deciding.

Curious1alwys, BSN, RN · Oct 9, 2004

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply to my thread. I really cannot adequately convey to you how much mental and physical energy I have sacrificed lately going back and forth on nursing. I am tired already and I am not even in school yet!!:)

My older sister gave me a few words of wisdom lastnight when she said that maybe this was just the path that God wanted me to follow....maybe it will lead me nowhere in particular, but maybe it is meant to teach me something in the process. Learn something new. Already I have learned quite a bit about myself, just in the NA classes. I am not a quitter (wanted to run out of the LTC facility the first day, but did not), I am much more compassionate and empathetic than I originally thought (cried several times for residents/pts so far), and that I do not give myself enough credit. I think if I start focusing less on the fact that I might fail and the possibility that this is not the right career for me and MORE on the fact that I AM learning something new and gaining a better understanding of others and my own personality. Does that make sense?

I have decided to forget about my concerns and just apply. Do what I have to do to get that application in. Like the last wise poster said...this is something I might end up doing my whole life!!!! Through multiple careers! Whew!

Forensic Nursing sounds awesome. I watch TONS of New Detectives and other crime shows. I really like immunology. Love shows like Diagnosis Unknown!! Ok I digress.

If anyone else has any words of wisdom I would love them!!

Janice