Advice/ opinions

[missladyrn]

I am not a big fan of bedside nursing. My personality does not suit the chaos that ensues on each shift. There is a Clinical Research Associate position open at my facility, and someone mentioned that the things I do not care for would make me perfect for this role so I was hoping some of you could tell me if that is accurate! I suspect nursing in general is probably not well suited for me. I have 3 years experience, 2 in med surg, one in chronic dialysis

let me just put it out there.:

I enjoy the paperwork aspect of nursing.

I like checking the charts with a fine tooth comb.

I like charting. I am a bit of a perfectionist with charting.

I have always been a rule follower, I like to read policies. The lack of policy following makes me cringe in bedside nursing, but some of our policies are a bit out of date.

I am type A, I like to have my list of things done at the end of the shift. I do not like leaving things for the next person, I know everyone says nursing is 24 hours, but it kills me to leave something undone.

I love patient education and teaching

I worked in dialysis and loved getting to know all about my patients, I really knew their histories , and got to know them pretty well.

I am curious, I want to hear how they broke their leg or crashed the car

Things I dislike about bedside:

rushing in, toss meds at them, rush to the next one

chaos, all the time

short staff but same high expectations

No time to hear the story, like how the patient broke all their bones

No time to speak with patient really, aside from here you go here is call light

No time to pee, eat, breathe

Inconsistency of standards, some people don't seem to do any work

Getting kicked, spit on, dealing with the dt's in general

coming home sore and ready to fall over and die

always leaving feeling like I didn't have time to take GOOD care of the patients

Do you think I would be a good fit? Or will the same things that drive me bonkers in bedside nursing make me bonkers with research? Any advice?

[klone, MSN, RN]

I LOVE research nursing (my role is the equivalent of a CRC, although my job title is not called that). It was so nice to get away from the chaos and hustle and bustle of bedside nursing. I like that I still have patient contact. I also like that I can still keep some of my skills up, like phlebotomy and IV starts. I like the paperwork aspect of the job, as well (there's a lot of it).

I think that it might be a good fit for you, based on what you wrote.

[Joslin Reserach]

good luck!