Confused On What To Do Next

[Jeiraldene Mitchell, BSN, RN]

Hi I’ve been a nurse for 2 years now and like most of us, the pandemic has drained me to a raisin LOL. I want to do something besides med surg nursing that can keep me from being bored but a little easier on me. Being a med surg nurse has taught me a lot but I’m at a point in my life where I want to work smarter not harder. I’ve been thinking about specially to ICU which I know is harder for most people but I like that it opens so many doors and I know I can handle the challenge. Another part of me wants to do OR bc it’s one patient at a time and they’re under anesthesia (the best part) but most ORs are day shift and I hate days. Then there’s the part that wants to do L&D or mother-baby bc I did my nurse externship there but it is mind numbing how boring it is. Please help! I'm so confused on what to do next. A little backstory, I’m a travel nurse on my first assignment and loves the money but hates med surg. I worked tele and ortho in the past in addition to my nurse externship in Womens service. 

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

I can only give you my perspective from med/surg, step down and ICU. I like them all. They all take a very different skill set and for me, I like ICU the best but it's note necessarily easier these days. We're often tripled on assignments lately and don't always have techs, so physically it can be exhausting. I realize that med-surg can also be physically exhausting, but I have less full care patients on my med surg assignments than in the unit. If you're feeling burned out, I'm not sure ICU is a better way to go, although it's getting better than it was a few months back. Depending on where you are in the country and with the pandemic patients, COVID was the worst thing I ever dealt with.

I have no feedback on OR or L&D, sounds like you have a wide variety of interests. Good luck. 

[Jeiraldene Mitchell, BSN, RN]

41 minutes ago, JBMmom said:

I can only give you my perspective from med/surg, step down and ICU. I like them all. They all take a very different skill set and for me, I like ICU the best but it's note necessarily easier these days. We're often tripled on assignments lately and don't always have techs, so physically it can be exhausting. I realize that med-surg can also be physically exhausting, but I have less full care patients on my med surg assignments than in the unit. If you're feeling burned out, I'm not sure ICU is a better way to go, although it's getting better than it was a few months back. Depending on where you are in the country and with the pandemic patients, COVID was the worst thing I ever dealt with.

I have no feedback on OR or L&D, sounds like you have a wide variety of interests. Good luck. 

Thank you for responding. My past two units I’ve worked on were med surg and both are 40 bed units and we never have techs. My last place was giving us up to 9 patients a night and it’s impossible to actually be a nurse. My new unit doesn’t go over 6 patients but still having no help is so difficult. We’re not leaving until 9am due to the lack of staff. 
 

I do have a lot of interest that’s bc I am very adaptable. And I love everything which is also a downfall bc I get bored easily. Thanks for the advice 

[klone, MSN, RN]

L&D mind numbingly boring. Ahahahahahahahahahaha!

Hahaha.

[Die4mustang]

I’ve been a psychiatric nurse for the past 4 years and I love it! It’s definitely not for everyone and it’s a totally different kind of stress. Never a dull moment in psych! I’m not bored and I’m not over whelmed. I love talking to my patients and hearing them express their delusions. Mostly focusing on getting the patients to perform their ADLs and reorienting them back to reality while monitoring effectiveness and side effects of the meds. Join the dark side of nursing.