Opinions for career change

martymoose, BSN, RN · Sep 5, 2013

wow 250 views and no opinions- good or bad? :confused:

RNperdiem, RN · Sep 5, 2013

What exactly about nursing is the issue that is driving you to retrain for another line of work?

There is a lot of overlap in the world of work with issues. For example, if working with the public is the cause of stress, then most other medical jobs are out. Stress, office politics, corporate policy madness, heavy workloads, shift work are found across almost all lines of work.

What are you looking for and what do you seek to escape, and does a job that fits your desires actually exist?

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Sep 5, 2013

I am not sure retraining is the key.... there is pharmaceutical reps....product reps....clinical specialists for glucomter, IV pumps, and other equipment...which usually require at least some clinical experience and a minimum BSN

What ar eyou looking for?

martymoose, BSN, RN · Sep 6, 2013

I think I am looking for no more pt interaction. No more families. No more acute care. No more confused people that are a huge liability to my license.No more MD's that won't do their job( therefore being a huge liability to my license). No more ridiculous documentation I spent more time covering my behind with note after note after note. I do have insurance. That's not the problem. I am so tired of the shift work.I am not new to shift work. I worked evenings in my previous job for 17 years in a factory/union shop.You would think I could get straight eves- no one likes eves, right?yet I still have to rotate.Tired of the cutting of staff, and still being blamed for pt falls( well me and all my coworkers)Tired of the silly Jcaho hoops to jump through. We cant even keep our linen/supply carts on the floor anymore because of them. Totally ridiculous.

Not sure if I am burnt out on people in general, or just hospital people.I know my coworkers are also getting very disgusted with things. That doesnt help either. They are leaving in droves now.But I read here that things are the same everywhere else too, so I know it's the job, not the co workers.

People always say they hate being bored. I would welcome bored. I wouldn't mind being stuck in a little cubicle. That would suit me just fine to have little to no interaction with anyone, at least for a little while.

I have looked for other local work. Seems to be nothing but acute care/LTC available.A lot of the rep jobs want prior marketing and sales experience, of which I have none. My spouse doesnt want to move,and we would never get what we owe on our house anyway.

So that's why I was looking for suggestions. I'd be willing to retrain.

I find out tonight that we are losing a tech each shift too- eves has only two techs for 28 pts. doesnt sound so bad, except that literally,24 of those 28 pts are confused and on bed /chair alarms, mixed with the occasional cath lab pt who could bleed out, or IV drips.It wasn't like this 5 years ago .

Thanks.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Sep 6, 2013

OK - that makes it much clearer.

There are a lot of options that require "nursing" knowledge, but have little or no actual patient contact. There are a lot of them within acute care settings - case management, utilization review, quality/performance improvement, loss prevention/risk management, most infection control jobs,centralized (not unit based) educators, informatics (including new role of documentation specialists that support physicians). . . . that's just off the top of my head.

Outside the hospital environment: Jobs with vendors of informatics systems, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals; call centers for case management & triage; insurance providers - client case management, chart audit, analysis; etc. Just about any vendor who sells to hospitals or health care organizations will employ nurses in various different types of jobs related to educating their sales force & clients on how to use the product. Big informatics companies (Cerner, Meditech, etc) employ nurses as consultants to help with client implementations.

Start looking around - you may be surprised at the value of your nursing expertise when it comes to the non-clinical job market.

martymoose, BSN, RN · Sep 6, 2013

thank you. I am not sure what I have to do to do utilization review( what further training, etc) or care management. I notice a lot of the CM/UR jobs listed in the local ads always want prior certification and experience. I have yet to see an entry level job opening for that. If there was training available that would help me get a job in that setting,I would certainly do it.

Same with IT - they want prior work experience/degrees in IT. I suppose I could go back to school for that.That will take 4 years, but I could start now :)

Have also seen jobs for paralegal RN's but they usually do not hire full time, and are usually on a consultant basis. I carry the mtg and insurance, so it would need to be a FT job.

Just not sure I could hold out for 4 months, much less 4 years doing the current job. I will keep looking.Thanks for any inputs:)

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Sep 9, 2013

I know what you mean. People will often suggest CM and UR as options for those of us who can't or don't want to do patient care anymore, but those jobs just aren't open to us if we don't have experience in the areas they require. I've applied for half a dozen of them, and I never get so much as a nibble because I don't have the necessary education or work history. And I'm not going back to school this late in life and still owing on student loans......not gonna happen.

I totally understand your frustration and burn-out with direct care. I'm right there with you, although probably for different reasons. This is how I've wound up working VERY part-time at an LTC where I do only admissions, recaps, and some QA/QI stuff......I don't trust myself to hold peoples' lives in my hands anymore. I also don't want to deal with families on a daily basis or spend 3/4 of my day doing fingersticks and passing meds (and the other 1/4 on superfluous documentation). But I do fine with my little PRN job, the only problem is it's not enough hours, but then at this point in my life I really can't work a schedule because of my husband's cancer treatments and appointments, as well as my own mental health issues.

The good thing about doing admissions is I get that one-on-one time with the patient that I really enjoy, but I'm not responsible for them OR the family after I assess them and do their paperwork. I do make sure they have something to eat, medicate them for pain, and treat any immediate problems (such as decubitus ulcers) before I turn them over to the charge nurse, but otherwise I move on to the next patient and get their admission process started. Nice work if you can get it. :)