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When you were in nursing school were there any areas of nursing that you knew ahead of time that you did NOT want to get into. And did you have you mind set on one area?
What were those areas?
LOL I like peds....at one time I hated it and embraced my distaste...when PALS came about and we learned how to best deal with those little people I found I LOVED it....even if incredibility sad at times.I swear you wrote my post for me. The only thing missing is peds. I don't like peds either.
When I first started school I swore up and down that I didn't want anything in Peds, LTC and Oncology. L&D wasn't my top choice, but would be tolerable. I wanted ED, Psych or OR. Then during my second semester of NS my mom was diagnosed with Stage IV Non Hodgkins. I spent my summer sitting with her through Chemo, Radiation and IT chemo. I asked a lot of questions and did a lot of research, and ultimately fell in love with Oncology. I did my senior Practicum on a leukemia floor and enjoyed every min with the patients. Unfortunately I could not get a job in oncology after graduating, so I took a position on a sub acute rehab unit. Definitely not my cup of tea but it was experience. After being there a month I was contacted by a Nurse Recruiter who was given my name along with a glowing recommendation. Interviewed with this person and was offered a position on a inpatient oncology floor. I start this Monday and I am beyond excited!
Oh no management positions either
^That's probably the one thing I will not do.
I went into nursing school with an open mind; I was already a tech in the ER and in Tele; so high acuity was something I was comfortable with, along with those dynamics and the unusualness that goes along in those territories; ironically I am returning to the ER next month, but combining it with my mainstay, Peds, which was something I NEVER thought I would do while I was in school.
One thing I probably will never find myself entering is the OR...PACU perhaps, but spending long hours in the OR, particularly Ortho cases, I have found myself nauseated with the drilling involved. at least in PACU the monitoring and the stabilization of the variable cases interested me when I spent the day there as a senior observation.
You & I must be twins! I knew before I entered nursing school I wanted nothing to do with adults. They are big, whiny babies!
YES! Recently, a patient's (school aged child with cancer) nanny was telling me something about how it must be so hard to do what I do and how sad it must be to work with sick kids, blah blah etc. And when I said I'd rather deal with kids than adults any day because adults are big babies, the kid was like "They are?" And then I asked her "Do you think your Dad would be as brave as you with all this stuff?" And she was like "good point."
I am saddened to see such negative things posted about doing home care. Yes am a home health nurse and I like it so far. My patients are more comfortable in their own homes. They are more receptive to pt education. Some cases the family is very involved, some cases not so much. Some homes are cleaner than others. I have the ability to go in, make a positive impact on their day, and when I leave, no one comes on shift behind me and undoes the good I have accomplished. I am a cross between home health and Hospice as my company does both. This far into the job, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I firmly believe that each job, and each day are what you make of them. That being said, I don't think I would ever want to be a Peds nurse. I want my patients to know when they're going to puke, not wait until the last minute and then puke all over me. Lol.
Psych - too unpredictable (but you get some AWESOME stories)
LTC - too sad I think
Hospice - also too sad
Oncology - another too sad and too many crazy chemo meds
In school I hated home health also but have now been there 3 years. I surprised myself at how much I enjoy it (except for the bugs as some have pointed out. Thankfully those aren't the usual)
In school I always thought I'd do peds or labor and delivery. Well I wound up on a cardiac step down floor then moved to home health. Yeah. Not sure how that happened (but at least I enjoy it)
I am saddened to see such negative things posted about doing home care. Yes am a home health nurse and I like it so far. My patients are more comfortable in their own homes. They are more receptive to pt education. Some cases the family is very involved, some cases not so much. Some homes are cleaner than others. I have the ability to go in, make a positive impact on their day, and when I leave, no one comes on shift behind me and undoes the good I have accomplished. I am a cross between home health and Hospice as my company does both. This far into the job, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I firmly believe that each job, and each day are what you make of them. That being said, I don't think I would ever want to be a Peds nurse. I want my patients to know when they're going to puke, not wait until the last minute and then puke all over me. Lol.
I do home health and enjoy it also. I never thought I'd be there though. I think those who haven't done it don't quite understand that we don't just go in and check a BP and avoid roaches. Not that EVERY nurse thinks that way but I sure didn't understand it before I did it so I can't blame them.
Just like I may enjoy some of the areas I listed if I tried them. But I don't have the interest in trying them lol.
Anyway I don't think it's that they truly don't like home health. I think thy just haven't experienced how awesome it can be. (As hospice, oncology, etc. nurses may say about their areas)
I do home health and enjoy it also. I never thought I'd be there though. I think those who haven't done it don't quite understand that we don't just go in and check a BP and avoid roaches. Not that EVERY nurse thinks that way but I sure didn't understand it before I did it so I can't blame them.Just like I may enjoy some of the areas I listed if I tried them. But I don't have the interest in trying them lol.
Anyway I don't think it's that they truly don't like home health. I think thy just haven't experienced how awesome it can be. (As hospice, oncology, etc. nurses may say about their areas)
Home health was also not on my short list when I graduated from nursing school. I got what I considered to be my "dream job" straight out of school, working in a pediatric hospital and thought I'd stay there for a long, long time. (Both of my parents have basically spent their entire careers with the same employer.) 5 years turned out to be long enough. I LOVE doing home visits. You understand a completely different side of the picture when you see a patient at home in his own environment. I feel like I know my patients and understand them better than I did when I was a hospital nurse. I also feel like, for the most part, I make their lives easier- parent doesn't have to take their kid on 3 buses to get to the oncology clinic just to have blood drawn or a central line dressing changed because I come to do it. There are parts of it I don't like- like when parents take me for granted and don't have the courtesy to tell their teenager "you can't go to your friend's house after school because the nurse is coming" and then I wait for 20 minutes while the kid is chased down or how I often have to double as a Social Worker (in pediatrics, most insurances will not pay for a social worker through a home nursing agency) but it's not the horror story most nurses (who've never worked in home health) believe it to be.
K+MgSO4, BSN
1,753 Posts
Neuro either strokes or chronic neuro conditions
Neuro surg our neuro surgeons are treated like gods by the nurses on the ward, today I had one of my gen surg consultant assist me putting a pt on a pan. Ive had 2 neuro surgeons climb over a pt that was being coded on the floor nuff said.
Renal chronic pts drive me to distraction.
Trauma plastics had this reinforced today with a pt who was boarding on the ward today massive facial lacs, the opthal issues she had that required her coming to my ward were resolved by her loss of eye, now they need to fix her nose and cheek.
BMT
Psych even though the psych NP that consults on pts is constantly trying to convince me
Peads parents either the hyper vigilant ones or the abusive ones, plus the children ward I did my placement on was really nasty to students