any experienced nurses who can give me career advice?

Nurses Career Support

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I could really use some urgent career advice.

I graduated winter 2011 from nursing school. My first nursing job was inpatient psych (I loved mental health and still do). I worked there for a year before deciding to look for something in the medical field (I wanted to branch out and develop my medical skills).

After interviewing and obtaining position on med-surg unit in hospital I gave notice to employer and thought how much happier I would be working med surg acute care and developing more critical thinking/acute medical skills.

I have been working on busy med surg floor (what med surg floor isn't busy?) and yesterday was my 15th day training on the unit. I have been struggling with prioritization, and time management and also development of skills (I am terrible at starting ivs..) Yesterday i worked 12 and half hours straight with no break at all-im really trying..theres just so much charting and soo much to do and keep up with. I dont want to quit and want to keep trying BUT

My manager talked to me 2weeks ago and warned me I wasn't making enough progress and that I needed to be able to care for 4 patients + to get me up to speed. This past week I have been trying my hardest but I struggle still with more than 3 patients. Yesterday I had 4 plus an admission which put me behind and required my preceptor to jump in to provide the cares to my other pts.

Anyways...this morning I went in and after getting report my manager told me this wasn't the right fit for me and that I wasn't making enough progress to keep me on unit-she sent me home and told me she would assist me in finding another position within organization.

The problem I am having is this: If med surg isn't for me, what is? What would be a step down from med surg? I am basically interested in ALL areas of nursing (I love interacting with my patients). There are some positions open: ENT clinic (what would I be doing?), urgent care clinic, family practice clinic, GI clinic, Internal Medicine clinic, Procedural derm clinic, pain mgmt clinic....IDK what one would be the best fit and if im struggling with more than 3 patients on med surg with multiple things going on and admits which one of these areas would suit me...any nurses in these areas or with prior experience please advise me...I don't want to make the wrong career choice.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Biffbradford

1,097 Posts

Specializes in ICU.

If you want to stay in the hospital, you might like the cath lab, GI lab, radiology, etc. Then you're focused on one patient at a time, crank out the case, next!

Specializes in Peds, Float, Ambulatory, Telemetry (new).

Yeah you may be better working in a department where you see one patient at a time or take a position where you have to only handle 2-3 patients. So maybe a clinic position? Just keep your head up and continue looking.

slc1984

81 Posts

Wound care? Many of the wound care nurses I talk to tell me that the best part about it is that you finish with one before you move on to the next. The ones that work in outpatient even get to see the same people for weeks or months as they have their wound treated and enjoy seeing the progress they are able to make. If you can handle it, it might be a good idea :)

megank5183

154 Posts

you said that you loved psych, so why not go back and commit to psych nursing and make a career out of it? My first job was as an ICU RN in the biggest hospital in the city. Holy ****, was I scared. I became ok at it, but I knew that it wasn't something that I wanted to do forever. I then started a peds psych outpatient job and I love it. I am now going to school to become a Mental Health NP (which is one of the higher paying NP specialties). I say go with what you know you liked. People go on a and on about developing their acute care skills, but I call bull. If you know you like psych, then you don't really need to have those skills. GL with whatever you decide.

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