Slower paced nursing for RN with 2.5 years of experience?

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Hi All!

I am an RN, but have mostly been an LPN for the 2.5 years I have worked. I have been to 3 different LTC centers and I'm just too slow. I always leave a half hour to an hour later or more. Clearly, I can't get everything done on time and I don't take unsafe shortcuts. A new DNS is at my new job (been there since mid December) and has fired 2 nurses in this time for being too slow and not taking breaks. This boss and an old one tried to help me time manage, but I'm still slow. He has moved me from eve to noc shift and I only get 4 hours of work per night starting next month (used to be on an 8 hour shift). This will be 4-5 nights per week. I am thinking I need to leave before he fires me too. I can't go to another LTC obviously. I have thought about the clinic setting (hard to get a job in clinics nowadays; got an interview, but not the job), home health (no gauranteed hours), hospice (didn't get an interview). Are there any Nursing Jobs I could get with my experience that is slower paced and that I can live off of? I'm at a loss for what to do. I will get my BSN next May. Should I quit nursing all together or is there any way I can be a non-clinical nurse with my experience?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Regina

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Wow, you really are in a pickle. I gather - due to the level of disclosure in your post - that you have attempted to speed up your work without success. So - just a stab in the dark here.... have you ever been tested for ADHD? Is your 'slowness' due to the fact that you have trouble making decisions or get distracted easily?

Frankly, the chances of finding a 'slow' environment with any type of decent salary is just not happening these days. Health care reimbursement is decreasing dramatically & the only way to make up for the loss is to do more with less resources. So pretty much all employers are trying to increase productivity targets these days.

I know of an LVN who worked for many years (recently retired) in a MHMR group home environment. She was physically disabled herself, and the slow pace was perfect for her. But her retirement was actually triggered by the fact that some nurses were being replaced by MAs due to budget cuts.

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i would say i have trouble prioritizing (i answer a lot of call lights and have trouble telling patients to wait for a cna since they have little time to get things done also) and i get distracted easily. i am also forgetful and have to write everything down that i need to remember to do. i had the same problem of being slow (probably aprioritizing issue again) when i was an aide.

i have never been tested for adhd, but one of my coworkers stated i get distracted easily. i have wondered if i have adhd since i daydream a lot outside of work, but my family keeps saying it’s stupid to think that and i’m fine. i also feel a lot of anxiety when i get overwhelmed at work and sometimes at home. i mull over things overand over in my head. i also frequently find myself saying i have no time for things outside of work.

thank you for taking the time to answer and read my post.

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What has happened in your career since your post in Feb. 2012? I find myself in the same pickle you describe above. It seems that success in nursing is all about being able to keep up the "fast pace." Is it really all about the money? I think we are expected to complete the job in 32 hours that used to take 40. (Consider it a privilege to run yourself ragged and ignore your patients for fewer hours and much less pay.) For me, as a relatively new nurse, it is dangerous. I start making mistakes, forgetting things, and then dwelling on the things I forgot -- all leading to stress and worry, which only compounds the problem. Maybe I'm ADHD, too. Orientation and training is a joke. If it's meant to weed out the tortoise in favor of the hare, it is working! And that lesson obviously has no relevance for nursing. (Sorry to be so negative.) I wonder if I'll ever find the nursing job where I can be successful and happy. I am close to giving up, too. Sure wish I'd known all this before I invested huge time and money in becoming an RN.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
What has happened in your career since your post in Feb. 2012? I find myself in the same pickle you describe above. It seems that success in nursing is all about speed and time management. What I've observed is the discrepancy between the way nursing is supposed to be practiced, according to state regulations, and the way it is actually practiced, "when state is not here." If you can get those meds passed and treatments done, paperwork and charting completed, etc., it really doesn't matter that the call lights are ringing off the wall and the bed/chair alarms are going off constantly. Let someone else handle it, is the attitude. There are people who see to thrive on this "fast pace." For me it is dangerous. I start making mistakes, forgetting things, and then dwelling on the things I forgot -- all leading to stress and worry, which only compounds the problem. I wonder if I'll ever find the nursing job I can be successful at and even enjoy. I am close to giving up, too.

We may never know as the OP has not returned since posting this thread 3 years ago...

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Flatlander, you could give psych nursing a try. It tends to be slower paced than medical.

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