Bored To Death!

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Nov 14, 2007

Oh, and joeld311, I'm pushing 40 and have raised two kids. I want a job that I love. I have no interest in slaving away at some job I hate. Life is far too short for that. But, rest assured, I have no fairy tale illusions about men.....

Diahni · Nov 14, 2007

BPPITT,

Don't see your new post here - I do think you have a healthy attitude about work - we all gotta eat. Even the most glamorous job will get routine. No matter who you are, it's always something! That said, some of us need more novelty in our lives than others. Nursing has a wide range of jobs to offer, and some will work for you better than others.

Diahni

Diahni · Nov 14, 2007

Nancynurse, yep, there's room for us all, isn't there? Nursing has a spot for all personality types. Even better, nursing jobs will never be outsourced - how could they be? Or maybe I'm kidding myself - in the future, you walk into a room and talk to a person half a world away on a computer screen that tells you put on your own bp cuff, etc. Nah, doubt it!

diahni

Gennaver, MSN · Dec 23, 2007

Go ARMY!!!

Ummm,

That might not solve the OP's issue. I went Army and am also stuck on the midnight shift and in ortho.

If the op isn't stimulated by pushing pain meds and assessing tingling, numbness and motor ability...misses using critical thinking or any pathophysiolgic information then Ortho may be the problem.

Gen-trying to keep my hooah but, also stuck on midnight ortho...

Gennaver, MSN · Dec 23, 2007

...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...
.

Hi,

Oh, somehow I doubt that being mind-numbingly bored would be "the" change of pace you are seeking. Sub-acute is no where near Acute. I've worked both as a tech and was hoping for "acute" again as a nurse but apparently I'll have to wait for a few years. Hope I don't loose all my skills in the meanwhile.

Gen

celle507 · Dec 23, 2007

If your interests are in public health, I would look into public health jobs or health eduator-type jobs and remain per diem at the hospital just to keep your hospital skills.

I also went into nursing because I wanted to help people and found that nursing in a hospital overlooked some of the bigger picture issues I wanted to work with (lack of health insurance, lack of primary care, etc.). I ended up working in a homeless clinic for 2 years (which I loved but I still felt like I wasn't doing enough macro-level stuff by just passing out meds, doing wound care, etc. but I liked the environment since you dealt with people who are so directly affected by all these larger issues in healthcare). Now, I am working at a migrant health clinic doing more program planning and program implementation but I'm doing more paperwork than patient interaction. And I miss the patient interaction! I still work per diem at the hospital b/c 1) people give me more respect when I say I still work in a hospital and they see me more as a "nurse" and 2) just in case, I'll always have my hospital skills. Honestly, I HATE working in the hospital. But, one weekend is a month is tolerable.

I would definitely start looking for other jobs that you will like more but stay per diem at the hospital.

jjjoy, LPN · Dec 27, 2007

I didn't like ortho either. I didn't like hospital nursing much at all but post-op ortho did seem particularly dull. It might have been more interesting if I could've met the patients ahead of time, instruct them on what to expect, and get a feel for their baseline status. Instead, they'd almost all admit directly to surgery and be delivered to the floor post-operatively. By the time the patient was all alert and pain under control, they'd be discharged. So an endless cycle of admit, frequent vitals, check for gas, progress from fluids to food, and then bye-bye.

If I had to try hospital nursing again, though, I think I'd try for a medical floor. Patients that they're running tests to determine what's wrong. Or long term rehab where one could get to know the patients and see progress. Hospital stays are so short these days and nurses are so busy getting just the bare minimum done... so still, I usually come back to the same conclusion that I just don't want to work in a hospital.

I, too, enjoy the big picture. And many nursing jobs don't cover that. Some do, but they tend to be odd jobs that people "fall into" or the like, not necessarily the type of job one can expect to easily find.

I was tempted by the idea of travel nursing... but for myself had to realize that it was travel I wanted and not the nursing. And I disliked hospital nursing enough to reconsider the desirability of travel nursing when that meant having to work as a staff nurse. I'm jealous of the folks for whom that works!

Well, just some thoughts on my experience that your descriptions brought to mind.

Good luck!

slevin · Dec 28, 2007

Try travel nursing!! Look for something else. You can do so much with ur Lisence. Dont give up on your self.

GrumpyRN63, ADN, RN · Dec 29, 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( we all feel this way, repetition has away of doing that.) 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( well it'sacommon problem, but it's the nature of the beast,it would be nice to divy up the 'missing' staff into our paychecks,since you are really doing more than one person's job--nice fantasy!). 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.(it's part of the job, psychosocial) i'm tired of asking about same things over and over and charting the same things over and over (numbness? tingling? biceps? triceps?).(sometimes having a prestamped note would be lovely, thenwe could fill in the blanks) 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.( get some experience and travel,)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!

i think anything anyone does in any routine job will become redundant after a while, i think even in public health you may continue to act as the counselor,mother,priest,etc. if you treat the whole person, you can't really pick and choose which parts unless you develop a specific skill subset and just focus on that (even then i don't think it's possible)

maybe trying an aspect of nursing that doesn't deal with people directly, there are many options, good luck

Diahni · Dec 29, 2007

I think anything anyone does in any routine job will become redundant after a while, I think even in public health you may continue to act as the counselor,mother,priest,etc. if you treat the whole person, you can't really pick and choose which parts unless you develop a specific skill subset and just focus on that (even then I don't think it's possible)
maybe trying an aspect of nursing that doesn't deal with people directly, there are many options, Good Luck

Definitely, any job gets routine after a while. I always thought that a job with a lot of traveling would be so exciting, yet every person who does travel for a living that I've talked to says the same thing - airports are a real drag if you spend a lot of time in them. At least with nursing, you can try various jobs to find out which one you would be most happy with. There are certain types of jobs that have more variety than others. Here's another consideration - if you want all your interest and excitement to come from your job, forget it! I have lots of hobbies that keep me interested in life. In fact, I think the same thing applies to relationships - marriages suffer if you expect too much. We get different things from different people - maybe a friend we work out with, a friend that you share an interest in books, cooking, whatever. In any case, I share your pain! Some of us get bored more easily than others. Unfortunately, nobody can "unbore" us but ourselves - maybe the answer isn't in a job, but something else. Maybe you can take a vacation to a place that interests you?

Diahni

Diahni · Dec 29, 2007

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.

If you're looking for adventure, and want to help kids, why not go on a doctors without borders tour of another country? In a way, we are so lucky to have the luxury of asking ourselves if we're bored or not. Nuthin' like tour of the third world to get wildly ecstatic about stuff like the clean water that comes out of our faucets and stuff like that.

Diahni

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Jan 2, 2008

Diahni,

I think that is part of the issue with those of us who are younger and just getting out of NS...My life plan includes part of seeing the world in conjuction with actually using my nursing degree. I think it would be neat to get things settled, get a little exp, then go overseas and nurse in a foreign country either with DWB or some other version of nursing.....

Then there's the other side of us, the one that wants the family, the settling down, the consistency of finding coworkers we like, and a job that does MORE than paying the bills. The nurses I work with make fun of me...like when I mention that as a nurse, the job would more than double my yearly income(just base pay alone, as I work as a tech)....I enjoy the fact of taking care of people and perhaps that is what the problem is.....We want to see the world, but we also want to be connected, to have roots while exploring.....sry that this post went on a tangent.

to the OP.....it's just like school...you have to put in your time in the early stages to get to where you want to go....Personally, I want to be a nursing professor...but I know I have to put in a good 4-5 years of practice minimum, and go to school for my BSN and Masters.....eventually it'll happen, but you have to get there. In the meantime, I second those who are calling for you to find a job that meets your interests...there must be clinics or community centers that could use a good nurse! GL to you!