Bored To Death!

Tweety, BSN, RN · Nov 11, 2007

Get a year experience, see how you feel, and re-evaluate your goals. By then you should be ready to move on, but unless it's totally unbearable I would try to hang in there a bit longer.

ErNrsLynzzie · Nov 11, 2007

Hang in there - i just graduated with my BSN this may and had been working steady nights as well in the ER. I was just offered the opportunity to switch shifts. See if you can rotate to another shift - midnights are completely different than other shifts. I know as a newbie we often get stuck on nights but you never know if they'll let you try out a day shift or shadow someone. Talk to your manager or educator. I'm already enjoying my job far more on afternoon shift. It's a different staff, a different kind of routine. You may also want to consider transferring to another unit after a year. See if your hospital offers opportunities to float to another unit to shadow. We had 3 off-unit experiences and I loved them all - gave me great perspective. Best of luck!!

Pianoforte · Nov 11, 2007

Thanks for your input! I don't mind working steady nights. I make more money and it's not nearly as hectic as day shift. This may sound odd coming from a nurse, but I don't want to work with sick people. My interests are primary prevention and wellness. Ideally, I'd like to work with public health campaigns that are aimed at keeping children healthy. That's why I thought working in pediatrics would be great experience. I'm not sure I see the value in staying more than six months. Several nurse son my unit have told me that my talents (I was a professional actor/singer at one point in my life) were being wasted on our unit and that I'd be ideal for pediatrics.

Mulan · Nov 11, 2007

If your life goal is to see the world, maybe you can get a job on a cruise ship after you get some experience.

psalm, RN · Nov 12, 2007

Go ARMY!!!

Dreamer74 · Nov 12, 2007

If your life goal is to see the world, maybe you can get a job on a cruise ship after you get some experience.

I needed to hear that! Made me laught so hard.

THANKS

Tweety, BSN, RN · Nov 12, 2007

My interests are primary prevention and wellness. Ideally, I'd like to work with public health campaigns that are aimed at keeping children healthy.

This goal above is a bit different that your goal of "seeing the world" which is a bit vague. Perhaps then peds would be a better starting place if your ulitimate goal is to help children.

Remember though what your friends say, in peds you're dealing with the sick kids and their often sick and dysfunctional parents/families.

The reason I suggested waiting is because some of the frustrations you described, might be normal new grad angst that you're going to feel wherever you go, and getting a year under your belt will help you work through that, and it looks better on the resume. But if it doesn't fit in with your goals, perhaps moving on, isn't a bad idea.

Good luck in whatever you do.

nursemike, ASN, RN · Nov 13, 2007

Go ARMY!!!

It has been a long night. I was thinking football cheers were pretty seriously off-topic. Then I figured out what you meant. I'm going to bed.

Diahni · Nov 13, 2007

I graduated from nursing school in June (I'm working on my BSN now) and I passed my boards in early August. I have been working steady nights on an ortho unit for the last three months and I am bored out of my gourd. I had the concept of critical thinking crammed down my throat in nursing school and I feel like I'm simply going through the motions on my unit. I am considering switching to pediatrics, but I have two friends who left pediatrics because the families were awful. I have been feeling very disappointed in myself because, after working so hard and accumulating student loan debt, I don't like nursing. I'm tired of working short and being paid the same amount when we're adequately staffed. I'm tired of being (informally) asked by patients to not only be their nurse, but also, at times, their mother, their father, their psychiatrist, their psychologist, and their priest. I'm tired of asking about same things over and over and charting the same things over and over (Numbness? Tingling? Biceps? Triceps?). My life goal is to see the world. I am considering starting an MPH program sooner rather later. I REALLY want to help people, but I want to do it while seeing the world. Heck, I abandoned a comfortable life to serve in the Peace Corps a few years ago and then went through the hell they call nursing school. UGH! I just needed to vent! Thank you for listening!

After a year, you can try being a travel nurse - Australia, Dubai, check it out! I know what you mean about both boredom and nutty families. Here's a thought - get a job traveling with an elderly person as a private nurse. Hey, you got skills! Don't settle for boredom - do lits of research and you'll find something that sounds appealing.

Diahni

joeld311 · Nov 14, 2007

I just want to make a living. The sooner you realize that we work so we can live (not live so we can work) the better off you'll be. I've never liked any job or career that I've had. It's just a way to pay the bills. The idea that you should love your job is as much of a fantasy as girls having their rich handsome husbands, living in mansions and driving Porches. Loving things like that are called HOBBIES. Get with it.

PS Sorry girls... I'm just tired of meeting those of you who think you are going to get anything but just plain ol' me out of the deal. Gag! Find your green grass somewhere else!

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Nov 14, 2007

I have the opposite problem. I have no interest in working with well people or in primary prevention. Talk about boring! My friends try to tell me I should become an NP and do holistic stuff....I *like* acute care! I like working with sick people! And I am definitely NOT bored. No time!!!!! Hah! I would love to have one shift where I can actually say I'm bored. It would be a nice change of pace.

Anyway.

I'm not sure that ortho is a great place to get the kind of experience that might be helpful to you in your primary prevention career. Have you considered a general medical floor? You'd get lots of experience with all kinds of illnesses, which would give you a good foundation in primary prevention, because you could actually see for yourself what it is you're trying to help people avoid.