Disabled nurses unable to work floor nursing

[Twaldron1]

Hello my fellow nurses. I wanted to ask if anyone has had health issues that prevented them from working? I have been a nurse for 20 years and I have worked med-serg, cardiac, rehab, ER-trauma an burn, wounds, reconstruction. I had a back surgery in 2006 with fusion of L4,L5 and S1 with left hip bone graft. I think I did remarkably well after the surgery but I always had pain/numbness and decreased ROM in the left leg. About a year ago I started to have pain in my left ankle and heel. It progressively got so bad I would come home and cry. I was unable to walk on it without severe pain. I went to an orthopedic surgeon and had an MRI that showed an unstable ankle and a a few torn tendons and swelling with scar tissue. I have worked so hard in my career and now I am probably facing 6 to 8 months of casts, surgery and rehab. I'm not sure what types of jobs are out there that I can do with this ongoing disability. I am 43 years old. I'm to young for this. Is there anyone out there with this same type of problem? Any suggestions would be appreciated.I feel like I will never be able to do the job I love between the back and the foot

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

MOved to Nurses with Disabilities

[KR]

Im so sorry u too r younger and having so many health and pain issues. Working in the ICU & LTAC destroyed my back to the point ive been off work and in severe pain over a year despite PT, RFA, and many other things from back (disc, ligament, & nerve issues). I know it wouldnt be the same as u r used to but a pediatric private duty case (smaller kid or baby), office or clinic job, triage phone job, insurance nurse, school nurse, and other positions are out there. Dont give up!

[RNikkiF]

I can relate to an extent, to what you're going through. I am also 43 with health issues that have forced me to take a less physically demanding position. I've actually sought advice right here in this forum for the same reasons. I'm dealing with leaving the floor right now. I start a new clinic position tomorrow.

My advice is this: Ignore the rude, snarky comments like the first one. There was nothing even remotely constructive in it. As nurses, it is so easy for us to pigeon-hole ourselves. We limit ourselves to a certain patient population or we can't see beyond the bedside. I struggled with that myself. You have a plethora of transferrable skills and there are numerous non-clinical or non-bedside nursing positions that need someone with your experience. You have top notch critical thinking skills, time management, I'm sure you can spot a change in patient condition rapidly. You have delegations skills, people management skills. All of these things are critical to non-bedside positions too.

Check out Donna Cardillo, google it. She's a nurse who gives career advice. She has tons of ideas. As for your options... (any manager would chomp at the bit to get someone with your experience, btw)... there's dialysis, blood centers, clinics, school nursing, insurance nursing, case management, unit management. Your options really are boundless outside of your physical restrictions. It took me a long time to see beyond the bedside too.

Losing what you love to do is sooo hard!! I've "only" been a nurse 8 years and I sobbed on my way home from my last day and promptly came home and posted in All Nurses! LOL I don't know what is coming for me. I don't know if I'm going to love it. I hope I do and I'm going into it with an open mind. It's all we can do.

Know that despite some ugliness that comes out when people don't understand (and they can hide behind a fake screen name), there ARE people out there who understand and are there to support you, not nitpick every little thing they see. That crap is about them and their insecurities. Not you. You have so much to offer. You just need to find the next step for you. And if you want to teach, do it! *Forget* the ones who try to shoot you down.

[Delta56]

Hi my name is Sonya. I am an RN too. Yes, I have some physical challenges too. I just turned 60 and have been out of the nursing work force for a while, but I still maintain an active license. I have been trying to figure out some kind of alternative nursing work/career. So, I have been exploring work from home jobs in nursing. There are actually jobs that skilled nurses can do from home.

Hedis nursing. In this area of nursing you are basically working remotely from home. You are abstracting information obtained from electronic records and applying them onto records to see if they meet certain standards of care. They help medical insurers ensure that quality care if being maintained. It is easy to research on Google, Indeed.com and Linkedin.

Another name is " Medical chart review, Chart abstractors, and Nursing abstractors.

Also, I found out about Cancer Registrar and Tumor Registrar careers. They are great careers and the

The Labor Department projects these are the latest healthcare careers with great pay and can be work from home jobs too. They require additional training and education, but they can be obtained online. I am adding a link that is an overview of the career and training. If you have a degree all of the online accredited school will accept your credits towards a 12 month or 2 year program. The best of all is you can apply for federal financial aid and the online schools with accept your financial aid to pay for the entire programs. Here are the links to check out:

Become a Cancer Registrar

Associate and Certificate Programs

Cancer Registrar Jobs | Learn How to Become a Cancer Registrar

Federal Student Aid

Recruitment.pw - The Smart Job Search Engine (This is the best job search engine of all. You can virtually type in any job title and you can get great results for work from home jobs and regular jobs too). Try typing in the search box, "Hedis nursing jobs, RN work from home, Medical chart review jobs, Chart abstraction, etc."