Really sad :(

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

Hey Everyone,

I just graduated from nursing school in May and I am super excited to be a new nurse. Throughout nursing school, I saw myself as either a L&D nurse or a NICU nurse. I precepted in the NICU during my last semester and I absolutely loved it. I kept telling myself that I would not just take "any job" and that I would wait for one that I really loved. Well...the job market is pretty tight and I felt stressed about taking a job to help support my family, so I took a med-surg type job and I hate it!! For the first few weeks I cried after every shift because it's just not my passion. While my co-workers are super friendly and helpful, and the patients have been great, I just can't see myself doing this long-term. I feel like I have lost my passion for nursing because this is not what I really want to do. At my facility, I have the option to transfer after 6 months if a position becomes available. It seems like forever because I miss my mommas and my babies!! Anyone else start in a different field and then switch? Any advice for making myself more marketable for L&D/NICU? I hate the idea of leaving my unit after such a short time, but I don't want to get burnt out so early in my career. Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading!!

Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

Suck it up. You have to start somewhere. You arent just always handed the golden oppurtunity from the beginning. You have a job and your coworkers are great. That goes a long way. If you are really that unhappy with it quit and try for somewhere else. Otherwise, put your time in and then move around. No one became a CEO right out of school*

*ok maybe a very very select few but is not typical for normal people

Specializes in nursing education.
Just wanted to highlight what you said about "co-workers are super friendly and helpful". You probably don't realize it, but that is not what we hear very often from new nurses. I just wanted to point that out. I hope you show them the appreciation they deserve for treating you that way as a newbie. Yay for the staff on your unit!

Love it! nursel56, you are so right. Even if it's not a "dream job", there is a lot to be said for great co-workers, good mentoring, and the learning and growth that this kind of unit can facilitate.

May the OP bring this along with her when she does find her dream job.

Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.

I know it's distressing, but it is indeed real life. You don't think that BA educated English major got that manager job at a local shoe store chain right out of school because that's her dream job, do you?

I won't beat a dead horse on learning that good things come to those who wait, but it hasn't been suggested yet, so I'd say get your PALS cert.

At least you have a job. Be thankful for what you have and learn what you can. When a new job opens, apply for it. You aren't going to love any job if you can't learn to deal with the crappy side too.

Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.
I can relate. I went into Med/Surge by choice. I was listening to the advice given to me by an instructor who believed everyone should have at least one year of M/S. Going straight to ICU/OR/ER/L+D right out of school was "cheapening the profesion" in her eyes. Me, I wanted to be "a great nurse" and not just a warm body, so I followed the advice.

I regreted it. I ended up spending close to five years on M/S type units and hated every minute of it. There is a very specific personality that likes M/S and I don't have it. I was so burnt out on nursing becaue of it, I went into travel nursing (M/S units only) just to feel like I was doing something different.

I've escaped the M/S setting and will never go back. I'd be homeless before I did.........no kidding. But, I did survive it for five years so its not impossible. Things that will help make it better while you seek/await a more ideal position: 1. Avoid OT, its plentiful on mot M/S units and poisonous, 2. Get into a committee that requires you to be active within it, you'll find yourself appreciating the break from bedside care, 3. Continue your education, even if its just one class at a time (might help you land that more ideal situation and keeps you feeling like you are moving forward) and 4. Humble yourself.

What I mean by #4 is: Don't give off an air that "this is just temporary for me" while on the unit, give your best everyday (as much because it is what your patient needs as because not doing so will only sabotage future opportunities) and remember, these days, even if its not your ideal position, you are working and don't have to worry about where your next meal will come from.

You must not have children. I would work in the dept from hell in order to keep food in their bellies and a roof over their head.

Specializes in Emergency.

I'd use this time to take all those classes that you will need to work in L and D. NRP, the class for fetal monitoring, etc. You may also transfer and cry every single day because your co-workers are nasty.

Just try to remember also it is a JOB. You get paid to do what you do, passionate or not. It is not the patients or your co-workers fault that you don't want to do M/S.

And you do know I am sure that learning to take care of all those wierd co-morbidities may be helpful when you come up with the Mom with MS (Yes my cousin with MS had 3 babies...) The Mom with severe Asthma, The Mom with Chrons etc.

You really must be young if you think doing something for possibly 6 months as long term. You have probably 40 years to be a nurse. 1 or even 2 in Med Surg will not kill you. It might even make you better. (I probably should add that I am a Nurse who has never worked M/S, so I don't really have any attachment to MS)

Specializes in Peds Medical Floor.

At least you got M/S right away. I had to put in an extra year and a half working at LTC just to get my foot in the door because I wanted hospital experience. Just try to apprieciate your awesome coworkers and all the learning you've been doing. You are certainly getting closer to your dream by having all this nursing experience than you would if you were just sitting at home or working a retail job. I'm bummed that I've had to put my dream of being in L&D on hold, but that's life and there's not much I can do about it. Think of what you were doing 6 months ago. Doesn't seem that long ago does it? The next 6 months will seem the same. And the job will get easier the more you work at it.

Should people be happy to have a job? Yes. Should people pay their dues? I suppose so.

But to do it at the extent of being miserable? I don't know that this builds character or makes someone a better nurse. Maybe it just makes them angry and bitter. I am so tired of the notion that people need to pay their dues in med surg or any other unit, meanwhile they are miserable and depressed. What benefit is an angry nurse counting down the days until she gets to another unit? You don't have to LOVE med surg, but if you are crying at night and hating your life, cursing the day nursing was born (I'm being dramatic)- walk away. You are not doing anyone a favor. Yourself or patients. Leave.

Look for another job away from med surg. I wouldn't quit without a job lined up, but I'd definately be looking for a new job.

Explore other things until your "dream job" opens up. Med surg has been real. It's been fun. But clearly not real fun for you. Maybe you will never LOVE anything but NICU, but maybe other areas are more tolerable until that comes along. You dont have to love your job, but you should be able to tolerate it.

Specializes in LTC and School Health.

I always wanted to do Mother Baby and that has always been my dream job. However, I got offered a ICU job and I love it. Is it my passion? No, but I'm learning a ton, so that after I get my year experience I can either stay or have other options.

I graduated in January and have yet to find a job except for a camp nurse job for a few weeks this summer. My dream is also to work in L&D and eventually become a midwife but I would kill for ANY job as a nurse right now. Be thankful, you are only at the beginning of your career.

Specializes in Forensic Psych.

I'm sorry you're struggling :/. It's hard to find a passion for something and then end up going a totally different direction, for sure.

Just remember, you went to school to become a nurse, to get a job as a nurse, to pay your bills as a nurse. Notice there wasn't any mention of "L&D Nurse" in that sentence. No one ever guaranteed that. But you ARE accomplishing embarking on your career path! Congrats. :)

You're going to have to keep the fire lit from within. Remind yourself what you're working for on your own time. If you wanted to be a film actress, you'd probably have to deal with bit roles, walk on parts, etc. Basically HOURS of work to make other people look good, and that's about it. I'm sure some people get lost in the grind and give up because they lost sight of what they were working for. But people who succeed kept on trucking. So keep on trucking, my friend.

Any mom/baby manager is more likely to hire a nurse with some med-surg experience than a new grad with no experience. You are learning skills you will use your whole career. Also, being in a hospital gives you an advantage because they are more likely to hire from internal applicants than outside applicants.

No nursing job is forever. Very few nurses stay in the same specialty their whole career. So, my advice is to keep doing what you are doing, networking within your hospital and making a good impression with managers and coworkers. Get your ceritfications or whatever, continue your educaiton. When an opening comes up in the department you want to work in, you will be ready, with an advantage over other applicants.

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