Career Change after Nursing

MobileNurseSara · Jan 26, 2010

What is it exactly about nursing that you don't like? What area are you working in?Maybe trying new area(s) would be a good option before leaving the nursing profession?

Otherwise, you could do 1 year of teachers college and work as a teacher. Comparable pay, but I believe it is difficult to find a job in most areas. What about management positions?

Good luck in whatever path you choose!

Fiona59 · Jan 26, 2010

What is it exactly about nursing that you don't like? What area are you working in?Maybe trying new area(s) would be a good option before leaving the nursing profession?
. . What about management positions?
Good luck in whatever path you choose!

If the OP is stressed working in the hospital situation, a management position is NOT the way to go. Not enough experience for a start.

Before walking away from nursing have a thought about working for one of the private homecare agencies? The nurses on staff there can take on staff management roles (training homesupport workers, doing staffing). Hardly the stuff requiring a university education but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

The OP could also think about a career as a pharmaceuticals rep. You need a degree for that one.

dishes, BSN, RN · Jan 27, 2010

Not every nurse needs to work in a hospital or longterm care facility. Nurses can work in a wide variety of areas; WSIB, walk-in clinics, occupational health, and telehealth are just a few examples. For more ideas about career options, check the career forum in allnurses. Also, check the nursing career advice at http://www.dcardillo.com/articles.html

Best wishes in your career plans, I hope you find your passion soon.

regards

dishes

Fiona59 · Jan 28, 2010

True but most of the list you posted are looking for nurses with experience and it's usually hospital experience. Telehealth, walk-in clinics, occupational health all require some acute care experience in my province.

Walk-ins are private (in Alberta) and are usually staffed by LPNs.

Telehealth falls under AHS and the jobs use seniority as a selection basis. Can't see many "new" nurses being able to land one with a short seniority date and limited "life" experience.

The OP states they've been wanting out since "university days". It sounds like there is no desire to remain in nursing in any area

dishes, BSN, RN · Jan 29, 2010

unhappy 101

I guess your job prospects will depend on which province your living in. For example, in Ontario, telehealth jobs are not based on union seniority as they are in Alberta. If you are unhappy in your current job, you can take steps to change your career direction. For example, if you want to change from staff nurse to occupational health nurse, you can join your employer's Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee, also you can complete the courses required to obtain a certificate in occupational health and safety. This is just one suggestion as to how you can take control of your career, there many more ideas on nursing career websites. It is common for nurses to feel disillusioned in the beginning of their careers but many feel rejuvinated once they find their niche, I hope you this is what happens to you.

dishes

mpringle · Apr 30, 2010

If you really don't like nursing now, I would say finding another clinical setting is not going to do you any good. While nursing may offer many career possibilities it is not for everyone and the work does become let's say difficult over time. In any event, the best advise I think anyone can give you is to think about what you like to do. What are the things you love doing and try and find an area of employment that matches what you like to do. If you find something you like you will do well at it and be happier in your work. Best of luck.

tarahope · May 4, 2010

How about RT?

Albqrabbit · Nov 7, 2010

Dear Unhappy 101-

Get out now while you can, because nursing only gets worse as you get older and further into it, and it becomes harder to get out as you become further and further demoralized, and possibly physically disabled, or contract a disease on the job, EG: Hep C, HIV, MRSA, etc.

The expectations of hospitals and nursing administration are out of line with what is reasonable. As nurses in hospital settings we are set up to fail.

All the responsibility and none of the authority, coupled with no way to change your environment and make it work for you. Half-assed medical equipment, inadequate supply of B/P cuff sizes, thermometers that take 4 precious minutes to get a reading, supplies stored in no apparent order all over the unit, linen carts not centralized, dirty utility that no one knows the code to get into. Paperwork designed by those who have no idea what it's really like to work on a short-staffed floor. Daily nursing assessment flowhseets at one hospital I worked at were 12 *** twelve *** pages per patient!!! You might have 5 patients on that floor!!! Come on folks! 12 pages NOT INCLUDING the VS, MAR, and I and O sheets.....Paperwork designed to 1- Reduced hospital liabilty in event of lawsuit, and 2- To make things more convenient for Docs.... MAR separate from Flowsheet separate from Vital Sign/ I and O sheet, all other necessary forms guarded by a surly health clerk. Admit/Discharge paperwork that takes a minimum of 20 minutes to fill in if the patients are not chatty, etc. Nurses are just supposed to suck it up and get it all done. Have the bladder capacity of a horse, never get to have a sip of coffee in the AM, punch that clock and get to GD work, slave. If you complain--- you will be out. For sure.

I know this, never ignore your inner voice, if it says 'no job should feel like a prison sentence' then your inner voice is right-on.

losernurse · Jan 26, 2011

You summed it up perfectly rabbit. The world of nursing is vicious and demoralizing. The only types of nurses that love it are martyrs, battered women, and gluttons for punishment devoid of hope. Once you are a nurse, you are only capable of being a nurse. You are at the top of your career immediately upon entering the job market. Pay will increase, but that is it. As for finding a new "area", all nursing is essentially the same, and unfortunately our skill set does not translate into any other career setting. We can ONLY be nurses. If we want to do something else, we need a new degree. An RN degree is perhaps one of the most worthless degrees on the planet. Philosophy majors are more marketable in the current job market than BSN's. We can ONLY be nurses. I cannot stress that enough. In order to get out, start looking at fresh degrees. It's expensive. It's insulting. It's exhausting. It's reality.

bedbug68 · Feb 5, 2011

I absolutely agree with Albqrabbit and losernurse...Nursing is the most stressful job I've ever had. Most nurses are just plain mean & they "eat their young". All they want to do is talk about how stupid you are and how crappy of a job you do rather than help you. For some reason they think you should know everything when you get out of school when the truth of the matter is you know just enough to be dangerous when you get out of school. Nursing school is a good starting point but that's it. For example, you do a few weeks rotation in ICU when you're in nursing school but you don't really get to do anything but give a bath and spend endless hours on some *(&^% care plan. What exactly do you truly learn about ICU...NOTHING!!!!!! Then, you graduate and get a job in ICU and all you hear is - OMG they hired you for ICU when you have no experience. Well, how exactly are you supposed to get that experience until you get a job in that field??? You so desperately want to do a good job but you're so stressed out that your brain just shuts down and all you want to do is cry. Doctors talk to you like you're worhtless & stupid. Family members bite your head off because something wasn't done yesterday (when yesterday was your day off) so you spend an endless amount of precious time trying to figure out what in the *(*& is going on. Patients think you're their personal employees. The paperwork you have to do is beyond rediculous...because remember, it's all about the paperwork, not patient care. You have 20 hours worth of work to do in a 12 hour time frame. Day shift gripes about night shift not doing anything and night shift gripes about day shift not doing anything. Every part of your body hurts and you work so hard most of the time that by the time you get off and get home you're hungry but you're too tired to chew. And to top it all off - what you make per hour sounds good on paper, but you're just as broke as you were a few years ago when you made $8 an hour. I've been a nurse since 2004 and I'm just about worn out with it. It's easy for this profession to make you feel very defeated.

Thank you to all those men & women out there that still love nursing and thank you for all the hard work you do.

ruralgirl08 · Feb 5, 2011

Unfortunately, the reality of nursing is not as most perceive it to be. Most people get into it for the right reasons, but sometimes the environment we work in "politics/red-tape/business agenda/entitlement" prevent us from being the nurse we want to be. That's why we grow a "thick skin". I choose to do the best job I can, with what I have to work with on the job, and get the most fulfillment out of my personal life. You have to adapt, if you want to stay in nursing, otherwise there are many other jobs out there if nursing is not for you.