Nurse with Disdain

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DoeRN

941 Posts

Have you thought about a research position until you graduate? It's still helping people but you don't have to put up with he nuances of bedside care. Or even the OR. There are other non clinical positions that people have posted. If there are other non clinical positions in your area I say apply for them.

I can relate to where you are coming from. If you have no other choice but the bedside then look at it this way. And I said this earlier to someone else. For me working towards my career goals helps me to get through my day. I say to myself I'm one day closer to leaving the bedside and I can get through this. It is tough and I'm a float nurse so I usually get a tough assignment and have to put up with more crap. But I know I won't have to endure this for too much longer.

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TheCommuter, BSN, RN

102 Articles; 27,612 Posts

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I need to find other work for now though. I am absolutely on the edge, dread going to work, and even more so I hate actually doing the work. The neediness of patients infuriates me. I can't go back to where I was, and I hate myself for thinking I could feign an interest in this field.

I think I understand your issue. I think I do. . .

I believe you dislike the amount of time you must spend with patients in a bedside setting, kissing up to them, pandering to them, spending godawful amounts of time on needy patients who can be ill-tempered or outright rude. In addition, you are stuck with the same group of needy, demanding patients for 8 to 12 hours, or however long your shift may be.

Do I understand your issue?

If I have correctly pinned your issue with bedside nursing, you may wish to consider areas such as clinic nursing, the ER, or same day surgery because these specialties all have something in common: patient turnover! You will not be stuck with that same needy patient until they discharge from the hospital. You treat them and they leave.

Some nurses admit to loving the ICU because their patients are sedated. One nurse said, "Once my patients start riding the hell out of the call light, they're stable enough for me to kick them off the unit and send them to the med/surg floors!"

I truly wish you the best of luck. I have the same issue with overly needy patients and belligerent family members, so my method of survival involved going PRN and working only two shifts a week. Also, the demands for high patient satisfaction scores are making things almost unbearable on the floors.

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Sorry - gotta agree with GrnTea on this one. I think the OP is doomed to disappointment & dissatisfaction (misery?) with a career in nursing. Nursing care is based upon our acknowledgement and understanding of the mind-body-spirit connection. There's no way to separate them. Illness affects all aspects of a human being and we have to understand and deal with it all. My background is ICU - with lots of Neuro-trauma (patients, not me). Even completely decerebrate patients have families/SOs that we need to deal with. And these days, reimbursement is tied inexorably to patient (or whoever fills out the survey) satisfaction -- so you can treat them like widgets, but your livelihood will suffer.

Maybe 'pure research' would be a better fit. Dealing with tissue samples and molecular interactions rather than people.

Thank you, Doe. Your thoughts are similar to mine, and that's how I've managed to make it this far. I took a recent vacation, came back to work, and was immediately flooded by how much I can't stand it. Having it off of my responsibility list for a while was a Godsend. Now, that I'm back at it though instead of being rejuvenated I feel even more soured. But each day is another day of pay and a step closer to this chapter of my life.

Have you thought about a research position until you graduate? It's still helping people but you don't have to put up with he nuances of bedside care. Or even the OR. There are other non clinical positions that people have posted. If there are other non clinical positions in your area I say apply for them.

I can relate to where you are coming from. If you have no other choice but the bedside then look at it this way. And I said this earlier to someone else. For me working towards my career goals helps me to get through my day. I say to myself I'm one day closer to leaving the bedside and I can get through this. It is tough and I'm a float nurse so I usually get a tough assignment and have to put up with more crap. But I know I won't have to endure this for too much longer.

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allnurses Guide

Nurse SMS, MSN, RN

6,843 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

You sound goal oriented, low emotion, high yield. I don't think NP is going to be a good fit. MD maybe. OR perhaps. ER. Informatics. Research. Places with little patient interaction and more goal oriented tasks. As an NP you are going to get ten times the complaints, me-centered interactions and lengthy self-oriented speeches from patients than you do as a bedside nurse.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN

102 Articles; 27,612 Posts

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

To the OP: since you thanked my previous post on the matter, I think I correctly pinned down the issue you're having with bedside nursing.

So here are other areas/specialties that involve patient turnover to the point where you will not need to spend the entire shift with needy, demanding patients. The PACU (patient anesthesia recovery unit), radiology suites, Coumadin clinics, developmental disabilities nursing, case management, workers' compensation nursing, the OR, home health nursing, and occupational health all involve relatively limited time spent with the patient.

In the case of the OR, you might be spending 8+ hours with the patient, but at least they'll be out cold during most of that time and unable to bother you.

To a T!

You sound goal oriented, low emotion, high yield.

NurseDirtyBird

425 Posts

Maybe paramedic would have been a better choice.

monkeybug

716 Posts

Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.

Have you ever considered flight nursing? Lots of the patients are tubed, so no conversations. High adrenaline, short amount of time spent with the patient, and in some organizations the RN is the chief person on the aircraft. You would have to have trauma experience. As for something you could do right this minute that would fit your needs, how about OR? Your patients are asleep.

BrandonLPN, LPN

3,358 Posts

Well, I'd stay away from LTC. Your list of dislikes reads like a job description for LTC nurses.

It's good thing you have your BSN. This opens many more doors. There's so many different areas you can work as a BSN, I'm confident you could find a speciality more fitting your personality. Like The Commuter said, PACU or OR nursing might be a good fit. The pt is sedated. It's more goal oriented, so you won't feel so much like a babysitter. Best of all, family isn't allowed. (at least, I *think* family isn't allowed in the PACU.)

Caffeine_IV

1,198 Posts

Specializes in LTC, med/surg, hospice.

You would probably like a busy PACU. Medicate the patient and get them stable for transfer then on to the next. Minimal family interaction besides maybe a quick update.

I think a lot of people like going to an NP for the better bedside manner so might not be a good fit but too late now.

Sorry you are unhappy..not sure what you thought bedside nursing was about but it is a lot of dirty work. I don't love it but I manage.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to sign off now and probably delete the account if I can figure out how. I'd like to expound on some of my statements and answer some of your questions, but....OpSec.

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