Considering various types of nursing jobs

[heelhook80]

Anyone else get almost confused with all the nursing options? I mean, you can only know how well you will like something by reading or considering it. I think a lot of times you gotta jump in and try something to see how you like it and how good you are at it.

I have been a med surg oncology RN for over a year now and want to go to days and would like to kill two birds with one stone and move on to a different unit as well. Possibly even leave bedside. I have a business degree and I would say my goal is to be in a position I bring some passion to and don't have crazy stress from which would make a great long term fit, it took me 6-7 months to relax at my job and it did a toll on me and I wonder if ten years from now I will want to be running down halls for every bed alarm or code or answering 50 different questions at the end of a 12 hour shift. For months I hated all the backstabbing going on and made me think to the saying "those that gossip to you gossip about you" even though everyone has always been nice to my face. Its amazing how much backstabbing goes one, I dislike it but have learned to accept it and just move on.

I consider 4 10's perfect and I would love no weekends/holidays to have family time, I don't necessarily want to be stuck on a computer all day although I wouldn't eliminate the idea, I like some variety as far as tasks performed as well as scenery (moving around a building or city but can't travel overnight due to spouses job), I would love some degree of autonomy and a job I could advance in, something busy enough so I don't get bored but not so hectic that everything is rushed, I love good interactions with people and I don't really need the feeling of "taking care" of someone, just "helping" someone, I particularly enjoy health, reading, writing, researching, discussing, learning, consulting, teaching, and computers.

In nursing school I wanted to go into ED and ICU was a distant second with CRNA school in mind, those plans are gone now and I think I am interested in the following:

med writing (usually for md's)

Health/wellness promotion/ sports medicine/ antiaging or testosterone clinic (not a lot of jobs here)

Clinical Research consultant or analyst of some sort (very interesting, maybe my top pick)

Community health/public health/ph clinic/occupational health /corporate health (hard to get into?)

Informatics (hard to go into? Ever get boring? What about advancement?)

Agency nurse or float nurse (stress from 1 yr experience and chaotic days)

Sales (have background in it)

utilization or Mds coordinator (don't know a lot about it), Home health or private duty (unsure)

other specialties (allergy clinic, dialysis)

I may apply to a position above, or transfer to days and maybe float or PACU or cardiologist office and progress my career from there. How did you ultimately decide where you wanted to go?

[conscientiousnurse]

I hear where you're coming from. I also am exploring my options. What about asking all the nursing friends you have to tell you about their jobs (and looking on allnurses for "a day in the life" posts)? If you have one you're really interested in, you could try to get an informational interview. I will tell you, regarding private duty home health: It is nice to be able to focus on giving exceptional care to one patient, but remember that you will have no CNAs to help you, so it can sometimes be hard on the back if it's a large client with total care needs. Plus the pay is less, and you may find that certain families can be hard to work with. But it is less stressful than many other areas in nursing.

[heelhook80]

thanks for the post, I accepted a float pool position at my hospital and extremely excited, they will be paying for me to get a few certifications, all kinds of cool learning experiences, I couldn't be happier. I am also going to get my BSN and maybe go NP route, I have so many options this is amazing. For now I will focus on getting my certs and being a good float RN, if I want to settle into a specialty I will do it in a couple years.