Finding your niche?

[Simply Complicated]

For those of you that are in a position that you have found you love, you've found your niche... how did you come to that? Did you always know what you wanted to do, did you move through a few different positions before finding your home? I'm having some difficulty deciding my path, and am curious about others journey with their career and how they got to where they are now.

I'm not sure what it is I want to do. I'm currently working in the ICU at a small community hospital, which I started at in December 2009. I'm not really loving ICU. I have 5 years total nursing experience, and have come to the conclusion that floor nursing just isn't where I want to be. I took the position for the experience, although I don't seem to be getting much, as we float more than we work in our department.

I've always thought I wanted to do ER. But I've also been very interested in psych. One of my instructors in nursing school put in my evaluation she highly recommended I go into some sort of psych position, as I did very well in that clinical rotation. She said I was very good at it, and I was the sort of person the patients seemed to be able to relate to and open up to. So I've on and off debated about trying a psych/addiction nursing type position.

We are moving to a new state in a little less than a year. I will stay where I am until we move, but I'm just not sure what I want to do from here. I don't want to keep jumping around. I did travel nursing for 2 years, so now I'm ready to just find my place and settle. I'm tired of always being the new one, and definitely tired of not loving going to work. I just don't know how to decide which route to take.

Any advice, personal experiences, anything appreciated!

[bltfam]

May just want to wait until u move. I was in Home care for 17 yrs

and we moved and home care isnt a big population I moved from the east cost where population was large to the mid west where its not. Wait to u move and find the need

[llg, PhD, RN]

I think you are smart to stay where you are for now and make "the change" after you move. So, that changes the question a little. It's not "Where should I work after I move?" ... but rather ... "How can I use this time wisely to help me find my niche so that I will be well-prepared to find a good job after I move?"

Maybe posters here could help you brainstorm a list of things you could do to help you use this time wisely. I'll start.

1. Spend some time browsing nursing journals in different specialties. You could do that for free at a local health care library if you don't have good online access to the leading journals. Do the topics interest you?

2. Visit the websites of the nursing organizations for the different specialties. Look at their conference brochures, etc. Get a sense of the "flavor" of their organization ... the issues that are big in that specialty ... etc.

3. See if you can find some reasonably-priced continuing education opportunities in your area in a couple of specialties that might interst you. It would be a reasonable investment as it would "get you in the door" of those specialties for a day or two. You would have a chance to see how the specialty "feels" to you and you would meet some people who might share their perspectives with you (during lunch for example). If you decide to seek a job in that field after your move, the continuing education would help you stand out among the other job applicants and might help you get the job you want. I think it would be worth the investment to "try on" 2 or 3 specialties this way.

4. Talk to people in different specialites. Ask them what they like about their jobs -- and find out where the difficulties and/or stress lies. What issues are big in those specialties, etc.?

I summary, I think you should use this time to explore -- not to try to find an answer right away. You have the luxury of not needing to find a new job immediately. Use the time to "try on" several different specialties with a really open mind. Even consider roles that are dramatically different from "in patient staff nurse" ... perhaps even ones that might require some additional education or certification. Perhaps your next job will be an intermediate stepping stone to something totally different from what you ever expected to do in nursing.

Keep an open mind and explore for a while. Be OK with that. It's an exciting prospect. You know you will be leaving your current job and moving elsewhere. So, think of it as a positive adventure -- an opportunity to explore options outside your usual thinking. Maybe psych is for you after all ... maybe it is something else.

In a way, I envy you. Nearing the end of my career, unlikely to ever find employment outside my current field of expertise because of my age and health status, living in a condo that would be hard to sell in this market, etc., I realize that it would be very foolish for me to explore new things at this time of my life. Sometimes, I wish to be young again and have career opportunities ahead of me to explore. Make the most of this great opportunity.

Good luck!

[Simply Complicated]

I think you are smart to stay where you are for now and make "the change" after you move. So, that changes the question a little. It's not "Where should I work after I move?" ... but rather ... "How can I use this time wisely to help me find my niche so that I will be well-prepared to find a good job after I move?"

Maybe posters here could help you brainstorm a list of things you could do to help you use this time wisely. I'll start.

1. Spend some time browsing nursing journals in different specialties. You could do that for free at a local health care library if you don't have good online access to the leading journals. Do the topics interest you?

2. Visit the websites of the nursing organizations for the different specialties. Look at their conference brochures, etc. Get a sense of the "flavor" of their organization ... the issues that are big in that specialty ... etc.

3. See if you can find some reasonably-priced continuing education opportunities in your area in a couple of specialties that might interst you. It would be a reasonable investment as it would "get you in the door" of those specialties for a day or two. You would have a chance to see how the specialty "feels" to you and you would meet some people who might share their perspectives with you (during lunch for example). If you decide to seek a job in that field after your move, the continuing education would help you stand out among the other job applicants and might help you get the job you want. I think it would be worth the investment to "try on" 2 or 3 specialties this way.

4. Talk to people in different specialites. Ask them what they like about their jobs -- and find out where the difficulties and/or stress lies. What issues are big in those specialties, etc.?

I summary, I think you should use this time to explore -- not to try to find an answer right away. You have the luxury of not needing to find a new job immediately. Use the time to "try on" several different specialties with a really open mind. Even consider roles that are dramatically different from "in patient staff nurse" ... perhaps even ones that might require some additional education or certification. Perhaps your next job will be an intermediate stepping stone to something totally different from what you ever expected to do in nursing.

Keep an open mind and explore for a while. Be OK with that. It's an exciting prospect. You know you will be leaving your current job and moving elsewhere. So, think of it as a positive adventure -- an opportunity to explore options outside your usual thinking. Maybe psych is for you after all ... maybe it is something else.

In a way, I envy you. Nearing the end of my career, unlikely to ever find employment outside my current field of expertise because of my age and health status, living in a condo that would be hard to sell in this market, etc., I realize that it would be very foolish for me to explore new things at this time of my life. Sometimes, I wish to be young again and have career opportunities ahead of me to explore. Make the most of this great opportunity.

Good luck!

Thank you for the suggestions. You have some great ideas there, that I am going to look into. I've been working this week as a "superuser" for my hospital system for our barcode medication system. Which entails me just being around at a different hospital within my system to help out as they spend their first week using the system. It just so happened I was scheduled to work the psych units. So I'm getting a feel for what being a psych nurse entails. I have to say so far I'm liking what I see. I've always had an interest, and it is being piqued even more. I'm keeping my eyes open for a per diem job in psych that will let me work a day a week or something so I can see if it's for me without actually switching fields.

Otherwise I just need to do some soul searching and decide what I really want out of a job, as I'm stuck between ER and Psych.

[llg, PhD, RN]

The "superuser" opportunity is a great one for you at this time. I'm happy to read that you can take full advantage of that chance to see other specialties. (... and if you really like teaching people about the new technology, maybe you would like nursing informatics or nursing staff development ...)