Burned Out & Bummed Out - Can't find my nursing "niche"

[Guest957596]

Have you thought about what would excite you as a nurse? Or do you not want to be a nurse. You said, "I am worried that I have spent so much time in a career that I just don't like."

[pleb]

I'm much like you, five years into my nursing career, and increasingly dissatisfied. The whole of my experience has been in med surg, and the thing that I have come to liken it to is a game of whack-a-mole, where the "mole" is pain and/or nausea medication primarily, although popsicle and other similarly mundane requests are certainly part of that equation. The point is that when you are perpetually spread too thin, needing to—and trying to—be in two places at the same time, it feels like you are just scrambling to whack the next "mole" that pops up, and not spending enough time interacting with your patients in a more meaningful way. That, for the same reasons, you have to spend 2 hours catching up on your charting at the end of the day, only adds insult to injury. As a result, I find myself wondering if nursing is where I want to be at all. For that reason, I've been reluctant to return for my BSN, although that might open some doors to other opportunities. Not ruling out PA school as an alternative to the RN-BSN option. All I know is I am not happy, that "burnout" is part and parcel of the nursing experience, and life is too short. So, something is going to change.

[Lilypad15]

Hi.

I've felt the same way. I do home care and you do actually get to see how you have helped people. Hospital/rehab is like putting a band aid on someone and sending them on their way. You would be surprised how confused and vulnerable ppl are when they get home from hospital/rehab and all the teaching they need.

[Lpn Lisa]

I just started my career with about 1 year as LPN but in my humble opinion it is more about the employer than it is about the career.. I worked mental health hospital for a while where we constantly had very limited resources. Providing care for people until their insurance run out, just to see them back at a later time, was not that satisfying.

Now I work in a SNF memory care and absolutely love it I work with caring coworkers and a caring management team that is looking to work within the resources that we have to make the best improving the life of our residents. Most of our residents can not articulate what their needs are. So getting to know them to detect a potential problem early and then act on it, can be very gratifying.

You as a BSN, depending on your position, interact with many other people. Maybe your focus should be improving the knowledge and the work moral of your co worker. If you can make any positive impact on them, you made a positive impact on patients. It is all in the perception.

[meg5]

I have only been a nurse for 2 1/2 years but I realized after a year or so that I HATE floor nursing. It is like a prison sentence and all I looked forward to were my days off. I do home care now and it is a much better fit. It is still nursing and it still sucks some days but I get to see lots of people getting better. I also like that I don't work weekends or holidays except if I have to take call and I am still home for the most part.

[starmickey03, MSN, RN]

I'm much like you. Been a nurse for four years and have certainly done my share of job hopping. I won't go into all the jobs I've had but I would suggest trying out home health visits since you stated that you felt you weren't making a difference. In HH, you actually have a chance to build relationships with the patients and watch them progressively get better. In addition to that, there is a ton of flexibility and a very good work-life balance. You could try it out on a per diem basis to see if it's what may be right for you.

[PHorvath]

I so understand how you feel. I started out working on an SCI unit, then NICU, then Med-Surg, case management, UR, Peds and now school nursing. The common thread with all these specialties is that I have always worked with vent patients in some capacity. I truly find working with children rewarding and the patients are adorable! Also, I think I didn't enjoy previous jobs due to the 12 hr shifts; I missed preparing dinner for my family, going over homework, soccer practice etc and started to resent my job (wherever I'm working at that moment).

Try Peds, I can't think of one negative thing about this specialty. Good luck! :)

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

It wasn't until I was almost done with my BSN 2 years ago, that I found my niche' in nursing. It was during my Community Health Nursing course when my eyebrows began to raise. I had done home health shift work and visiting nurses assignments years before. But during this CHN course, I had a project to do out in the community itself. That's when the lights from above shined down on my nursing career. I started to scour community health websites for my state and found a great job on the regulatory side, one that had me out in the community talking to people and sharing my know-how instead of sitting behind a desk or having me stuck at the bedside.:)

I think that working my way up from an LPN-RN-BSN has put me at so much more of an advantage than those who go directly from zero to BSN. I say this because I've had the chance to experience a lot in each step of my nursing career, and can really appreciate the jobs that others may take for granted. Nurses today (new or newer ones) are pretty much forced to take a crash course in whatever paid experience will accept them, whether it's an area they like or not (often times, they don't)...kinda like a let's-skip-to-the-chase experience from the time they pass the NCLEX until the completion of the infamous first year as a nurse. Demanding (or strongly requiring) this first year of experience, in my opinion, is hurting more than it helps. By the time the "at least one year of nursing experience required" had become a common denominator with employers, I already had many years of experience to claim. (Trends...gotta love 'em!) The nurses really aren't learning anything more than just tasks during that year; going with the flow just to make it through the next twelve months so that they can move on to the next step. In the meantime, there's the missed opportunity to really appreciate what job #1 offered since it was accepted only-because...

Anyway, I've had time to dabble in different areas (of course, with 30 years under my belt:sarcastic:), but my advice to Bummed Out is to review some of those areas that have already been experienced to see if there is an attractive ladder in one of them, or look for something new entirely. There's lots out there; and although 5 years seems like a long time to not have 'found' yourself in nursing yet, some of us can say that professionally, you still have your whole life ahead of you. Keep looking...it's there.

Ok. That's my ramble (and my opinion) for today.

[jbudrick, MSN]

Dear Burned Out and Bummed Out,

One of the things they don't teach in nursing school is that after you graduate you get a job” that has all the requirements and disadvantages of any job. You are expected to show up to work, do your job to a high standard, get along with people obnoxious or not, navigate through politics, etc. After all of the learning about how to be professional sometimes you get treated like you work at a fast food joint. All jobs” have some elements in common. The difference is that in nursing you sometimes have the opportunity to truly help people. Nurses usually make a decent salary with benefits, and can advance their career. At times you help people just by doing the job you were hired to do. Other times, you simply cannot help those who won't accept your help. People have the right to make bad decisions. What makes it all worthwhile is when there is a patient that you can truly help manage their illness and live the best life they can. The chance to truly help someone isn't an everyday event. Even in home care, most patients won't change their lifestyle even if it is killing them. In psychiatric nursing home care I would see the same patients for years and help them remain in the community as long as I could until another exacerbation landed them in the hospital.

Best wishes in your search for meaningful career.

JBudrick

[jbudrick, MSN]

Dear Burned Out and Bummed Out,

One more thing, you do not have to remain a nurse if it doesn't feel right. You can go back to college for another career, or see what other jobs you can get with your nursing degree. Just a thought ....

JBudrick

[CHESSIE]

Beth is absolutely correct. Nursing offers so many options other than in clinical areas.

I, too, felt burned out and had the opportunity to parley my knowledge into the area of patient education. I worked in the pre-operative education area, for the adult and pediatric populations for the last fifteen years of an over thirty year career. This included calls to follow up patients, and often multiple calls in the, more fragile, pediatric population.

In my area the demographics changed after a large manufacturing corporation left, and the population base was left trying to exist with two and three jobs per person. These jobs had no benefits and lower salaries than one full time manufacturing positions had been paying.

[2BS Nurse, BSN]

I work in urgent care and like my job 90% of the time. I think we sometimes tend to dwell on the negative things that happen to us and as nurses we take responsibility for situations that are out of our control. When we get busy toward closing time, the Drs. get crabby because they want to go home. We are rushed and the patient care is not as good. I have to let this go, as it is out of my control.

One of the best things about nursing is that you can try working in different areas to find your niche! When I get tired of urgent care, I want to try home hospice!