Are there any nurses who actually enjoy their jobs?

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Ok I'm a relatively new nurse. Graduated last May and have worked in a LTAC for going on 3 months. I worked med surg last yr and failed miserably. I then went to LTC which in reality compared to my now job wasn't too bad but wanted more experience in acute care. LTAC are facilities that take care of patients with multiple medical issues. They can be very sick at times. I thought I was doing well working 12 hrs nights until recently. Last night was absolutely terrible. I usually get 8 to 9 patients who can be quite unstable. I hit the floor at 730p after report and didn't even have time to assess and medicate my patients. Told I have a admission that is being admitted with multiple wounds and cardiac issues. This can be a long process with verifying physican orders and also staging and photographing wounds, etc. I work in a non computerized charting system and so I am buried in a sea of paperwork which is overwhelming. 24 chart checks, head to toe assessments, Mar checks, lab draws, and never mind you catching up on new admits. Daylight has no idea how bad it gets at night. If a patient goes bad like my last night you better forget about getting out on time. I feel like I suck as a nurse in this facility. Several people have trained and left quickly-wonder why? I'm about to cut out the 12 hrs night shifts to save my sanity or just to leave. Believe me those 12 hrs nights can become 13 or 14 hr. nights if you don't catch up.:(:( I want this to work but I feel I put myself at risk for losing my license. Does it really get any better? I want to be a good nurse who enjoys going to work but environments like this make this so impossible. I want so much to succeed as a nurse. Is the grass greener on the other side? Is there any such thing as nursing utopia? I don't want to be a job hopper but I can only handle so much. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

Specializes in Geriatrics and emergency medicine.

i, too, also work in ltac and absolutely love it. i, at the moment, am responsible for 8 vents, full time respiratory therapy on the floor with me, 1 fresh quad, serious copders, most all feeding tubes. i worked for 9 years as agency before coming to this facility, and just love the challenge, the fast pace, and the opportunity to actually get into some serious medical challenges.

you have to be cut out for this for sure. i too have some nights from h***, but goes along with the job.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

I love my job. Yeah, it get's overwhelming at times but I've wanted to be in SICU and I jumped at the chance to work there when I got it. Everyday has it's ups and downs. I had a GSW patient who was vented and sedated with a liver laceration and had to have an exploratory lap. He made it out of SICU just fine. I ran into his mom yesterday as she was coming back to the hospital to fill prescriptions and she said he is doing great and thanked me. Moments like that make me feel very fulfilled.

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Specializes in trauma, ortho, burns, plastic surgery.

Just my opinion, never ever start to burn out. As much as you keep your calm will be ok. Don't think negative! Take one by one the assignments, remember "the much better is the enemy of the good", too good fro the first time, not try to hit the impossible, think, be logical, prioritize, 20 wounds could enter in 20 pictures or just in 4.

Be smart, not scarried, ask for help.

I love my work, badly I could tell you, and yes sometimes is not easy at all, but is WOANDERFULL! At soon as you will feel the nursing issues taste, you will become addicted! Give yourself time and stay positive, stay UP and happy this is the secret! Muaaaaaaah Zuzi!

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Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

I have been a nurse for 27 years and Love my career and job on more days that I do not. I am a hospital Infusion nurse and PICC nurse and also do home infusion nursing. This job sounds like a nightmare. I certainly could not keep up this pace and feel I could deliver the kind of care I want to. My happiness in my career has always come from ability to perform a job that I am proud of and my patients thank me for it. You need to search your heart and soul and figure out what kind of nursing will make you happy. What do you have a passion for? What did you enjoy studying the most in nursing? Do you prefer working with adults or children? There are so many jobs out there and you deserve more than to just surviving your shift!!!!! Think about it and get back to us and start looking at job listing or better yet find a health care jobs fair

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I have been doing this for many years, and I still love it. I have worked several different areas, worked w/some really difficult staff AND patients, but all things considered, I love what I do & I know I do it well. No other career would have the variety that nursing has provided for me! Don't be afraid to make a change- it is the key to growth & new opportunities. Good luck.

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Specializes in Behavioral Health, Show Biz.
Ok I'm a relatively new nurse. Graduated last May and have worked in a LTAC for going on 3 months. I worked med surg last yr and failed miserably. I then went to LTC which in reality compared to my now job wasn't too bad but wanted more experience in acute care. LTAC are facilities that take care of patients with multiple medical issues. They can be very sick at times. I thought I was doing well working 12 hrs nights until recently. Last night was absolutely terrible. I usually get 8 to 9 patients who can be quite unstable. I hit the floor at 730p after report and didn't even have time to assess and medicate my patients. Told I have a admission that is being admitted with multiple wounds and cardiac issues. This can be a long process with verifying physican orders and also staging and photographing wounds, etc. I work in a non computerized charting system and so I am buried in a sea of paperwork which is overwhelming. 24 chart checks, head to toe assessments, Mar checks, lab draws, and never mind you catching up on new admits. Daylight has no idea how bad it gets at night. If a patient goes bad like my last night you better forget about getting out on time. I feel like I suck as a nurse in this facility. QUOTE]

***************************************************

You don't SUCK as a nurse

You haven't found

your niche in nursing.

I've read your post---THOSE JOBS SUCK!!!:down:

Really.

I wouldn't have lasted a shift

let alone several months---NOT THIS NURSE!!!

Investigate other areas in nursing

This website offers info

in other specialties

Explore other options.

:nuke: Honey,

It ain't you

It's them sorry-behind jobs you worked.

GET OUT and ENJOY THE PLEASURES NURSING HAS TO OFFER!!

Do I love my job?

I love my job

I love my pay

Wouldn't trade it in

No chance no way!!!!

MANY BLESSINGS AND MUCH SUCCESS TO YOU!!!

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Specializes in A myriad of specialties.

Well, hollyjolly, I, too, am sorry this new job of yours is so stressful--please don't stay if there is a feeling that you're jeopardizing your nsg license...that's why I left LTC in my state. Listen to that heart and gut of yours!

I'm frankly tired of nursing but enjoy the nice change of minimal responsibility in my current position--so much less stressful than my charge nurse job in LTC.

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Specializes in LTAC,LTC, Med Surg.

Drifternurse may I ask what kind of nursing job you have with minimal responsibility?

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

I love being a nurse and i love the ER. i may change specialties down the road eventually but for right now i am content.

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After what I've put up with over the last month or so...no, I'm not enjoying my job all that much.

:rolleyes:

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Work in home health and LOVE it!!! Love the one-on-one, love the teaching I get to do, love not being pulled 20 different places at once, love still being able to practice my skills but not being a "machine", love really having time to get to know my patients, love the respect that most of the docs give me, love the autonomy, love the flexibility in my schedule, love not working weekends. Of course, there is the paperwork....but what I don't finish in the patient's home....I can finish at home on my couch in my sweats and get to see my kid get off the bus!

Absolutely! I LOVE nursing, and always have since my first day in nursing school, some decades ago...But once I got out of the "hospital rat race" and went into Home Health, I finally felt as if I'd found home.

For all the reasons you mention, and many more, I'll never leave Home Health. :redbeathe

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It's a love-hate thing, sometimes good, sometimes not.

Keep looking until you find what you enjoy. Life's too short to be unhappy in a job where you spend so much time.

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