Are you happy with your job?

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i'm a new nurse for almost 6 months now. i work on a very busy med-surg floor at night. i'm just not happy with my job or my life at this time. i thought i would love nursing, and i do sometimes, but i just haven't found my niche.

does any body have any advice on an area of nursing i may like? i know that's a hard question for somebody that doesn't know me. what is an area of nursing that produces overall job satisfaction, or is there one? i orginally wanted to work hospice but i need 1-2 yrs of nursing experience. i want a job that i enjoy, that i don't cringe inside while getting ready for work. any advice is much appreciated. thank you.

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

There are aspects of my job that I like very much, and aspects that I dislike. At this point, I'm feeling like the latter outweighs the former, so I've decided to explore my options, in hopes of finding my niche. Med/Surge is NOT one of the options.

I think I would really love OR, but in my locality, they only hire experienced OR nurses, and if nobody will hire you, how do you get experience? The ol' Catch 22. Maybe in a few years when I can relocate, I'll reexamine the OR.

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Specializes in L&D, PACU.

I started in L&D and found out it wasn't right for me. I'm working PACU now and am very satisfied with my job. I actually like it! But what works for one person doesn't work for the next.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Ortho.
I started in L&D and found out it wasn't right for me. I'm working PACU now and am very satisfied with my job. I actually like it! But what works for one person doesn't work for the next.

I considered PACU and when I looked at the job requirements for an internal transfer position, it said one year of med surg and three years of psych experience was necessary. Why in the world we need psych???

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Specializes in Med Surg/Ortho.
I remember doing some research and coming across a nurse satisfaction study that showed L&D nurses had the highest rate of job satisfaction. Med-surg nurses had the lowest.

Good luck in finding something that fits. It says a lot to a potential employer if you can stick with something for a year. Something about that year, impresses them.

That is very interesting. I guess I can see why many nurses would enjoy L&D...patients aren't sick, most days have pleasant outcomes, cute little babies. But I am not interested in working L&D at all. The time I spent having my own kids was enough.

I would be interested in that study. Do you still have it, or remember where you found it?

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Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.

I work in PICU and I am very happy. There is nothing else at this point I would want to do. We have age ranges from days old babies to teenagers and see every diagnosis under the sun, every day is never ever the same. We also float down to the NICU on occasion, which isn't my thing but it can be fun once in awhile.

I DO get tired of working in the hospital and the stress involved (I'm a new RN so that might be part of it). But like I said there is no place else I would want to do at this point. I plan to apply to FNP or PNP programs next year and go from there.

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Specializes in ER, Peds ER.

Well just from personal experience if you've only been at it 6 months stick with it. The first year of actually working as a nurse was the hardest for me.

That being said I went straight into ER out of school and despite my first job only lasting 3 months I loved it and still do though I find I get more satisfaction working in a Peds ER position now. I did work on a med surg/telementry/oncology floor and absolutely hated it. I've read that med surg has the lowest job satisfaction and I can understand why. My best advice is stick with it and research different areas of nursing to see what you may like best. And if you want to do hospice start applying places as soon as you have a full year under your belt.

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I like my job. I left med/surg a year ago for infusion nursing at a rheumatology clinic. Med/surg was filled with nurses "lynching" nurses, class stratification, and peer oppression. I liked the constant practice of skills and miss it now. But I don't regret leaving md/surg at all!!!!

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Specializes in Critical care.
I considered PACU and when I looked at the job requirements for an internal transfer position, it said one year of med surg and three years of psych experience was necessary. Why in the world we need psych???

That's unusual that ICU experience was not listed. I don't think I've seen a job posting for PACU that did not list ICU or OR experience. But psych can help dealing with those drug seekers in PACU. I swear some of them think they have found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Like "I just had surgery, there is NO way they can deny me all the narcotics I want! All I have to do is say 10 out of 10!" Umm, no! Some of these drug seekers can be very manipulative so I guess psych can help.

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Specializes in private duty/home health, med/surg.

I work med/surg. I've been doing this for almost 4 years now. I enjoy the variety in our patient population, the unusual cases we get, the teamwork. Our staffing is very decent for a M/S floor (usually 1:5 nights) and for the cost of living in my area of the state, the pay is very good. There are many frustruations, such as upper management that is clueless to what bedside nursing is about, the frequent flyers, unprofessional MDs.

I can say I like nursing because in my case, the good outweighs the bad and I focus on the positive aspects of my job.

I think med/surg has such a high rate of dissatisfied nurses because so many new nurses are told that they *have* to put in a year or so. If M/S isn't your thing, find something else. Your patients deserve to have a nurse that likes what they do.

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Specializes in OR Nurse.

I actually really have grown to love my job. I am originally from a big city but I moved down to the southern part of the state to go to a cheaper school. I had my heart SET on working back up in the big city with all the teaching hospitals and where my family was etc etc. I had bills and loans and I NEEDED a job quick and a lot of places were not investing in hiring new grads. I was SO devastated that I wasn't hearing back from any of the big hospitals so I had to take a job offer from the ONLY job that called me back quickly. It is on a PCU/cardiac floor (which I LOVE) in a smaller community hospital where I had clinical (not on the floor I work) and I hated the hospital. The big city hospitals ended up calling me back with offers but it was much too late for my needs. Most of my friends who never left the city got jobs up there and they all had 2-3 patients on a shift and got paid a ridiculous amount of money. So I was upset at first that I wasn't making the best salary and I had 5-6 patients on days (on a busy cardiac unit that runs drips/does their own codes, etc) and I just didn't think I was going to be happy. I actually love it because it has taught me incredible time management skills and there is so much to learn. I have a very supportive staff which is great and most of all I LOVE my patients they are just so appreciative and interesting! Of COURSE there are days I come home and wonder if I can go back the next day and do it all over because it was SO stressful and I felt like crying, but you know what thats with every profession, every nursing job, and life in general. What I find helps me is on those days I will vent to my SO who listens, call my friends who are all nurses and we will talk about our similar experiences, and now I go on this forum for a form of therapy! Most days are wonderful at my job, but when the sheep hits the fan, I come on here and see 20 other nurses who have had the same kind of day or experience as me and I know I am not alone. I think we are extremely special people for what we do and we have to be resilient and take the good days with the bad and use other great things we have in our lives as an outlet to enjoy ourselves and forget about the bad day we just had! However, if you notice that your bday days outnumber your good days, it might be time to move on and find something you will love.

: ) - KAYG119RN :redbeathe

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Specializes in Telemetry.

i work tele and i like my job. i wished that the pay was better!

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i feel for ya... first of all you have to determine what it is you dont like (the hours, pt population, hospital in general, beaurocracy, stress etc) and really figure out who you are and where you would fit. i hated er and just the hospital in general so i quit... right now i am trying to figure out where i fit. ive quit 4 jobs in the past month that ive been looking!! (er, home health, doc office, and clinic) sounds awful but i believe in quality of life and not settling, and they were not for me :) anyways, im very interested in public health nursing because it is more focused on prevention and health education... i think this would be much more rewarding. good luck!

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