Do you ever plan on leaving the bedside?

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Just wondering if the RN's out there plan on staying at the bedside for their whole career or do you plan on one day doing something that is not "bedside" nursing?

Me?

yes, one day I pan to to something like case management. It may be soon or it may be in 10 years.

I have been an RN for 13 years.

By reading these responses, bedside nursing is not very popular and I have also noticed that many of those who have only been a RN for 2 yrs or less want to leave already?

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Well, yeah, wantabeanurse -- At about the 2 year mark you figure out a lot of things. You figure out the job is very hard and isn't getting any easier, you get very few breaks -- you are a target for abuse across many fronts, you are NOT going to get into management anytime soon, and that they just simply DO NOT CARE about your troubles.

Now, I do work on a nicer unit. Our managers are pretty decent folks, they try hard to make us happy a lot of the time. I really like a lot of them. They are trying VERY hard to improve communications w/ MD's for us, try very hard to please us as far as scheduling goes, and various other things. But all in all, they don't seem to want to fix the dysfunctional things well enough for things to be more tolerable, and I also know it comes from some source way above their heads as well. They also allow various bully RN's to roam around the unit also making things difficult for a lot of us also. Why they allow this I'll never know.

I don't know -- it just seems at the bedside there is nowhere to go. You can try a different area of nursing, but are likely to continue to be overworked, understaffed, and undermotivated. You can work your way up a clinical ladder for tiny increments in pay. You can be charge nurse with loads of responsibility for a thankless extra $1 per hour. I mean -- just what IS the motivation to stay on?

I am NOT saying that it is horrific and that no one could stay -- I just think it takes a particular kind of person to stay in it and survive it. You've got to be really tough and you've got to be the type that doesn't take things personally. I am personally very senstive and definitely not a "tough gal" type, and I just don't feel I fit into it on a daily basis. I think you gather the BEST experience there is in nursing at the bedside -- it's essential that you do it at least for a while to learn. I'm not totally knocking it -- I"ve had a lot of fun, too, and I've enjoyed my co-workers and really enjoyed the teamwork. But after 2 years of it, I'm FRIED. :o I may also just need to leave my unit and find a different area -- I don't know. Sorry to be so negative.

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The very second I can find something half-way appealing with not too much of a pay cut, I am gone, baby, gone...

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Specializes in all things maternity.

Unfortunately, health concerns are pushing me away from the bedside. I work in an OB unit and I love it. We are a small unit and the workload is usually manageable. My co-workers and my managers are awesome. So I love working bedside but I hate the politics at the administrative level. Sometimes I just shake my head in amazement at some of the decisions they make when they have not a clue what we do out here!! :angryfire

I plan to enter the nursing education field. I am looking for a program now that will give me a workable RN to MSN in nursing education program. I would love to be a perinatal unit educator one day. But I will probably try to find a job teaching in a nursing program somewhere.

:paw:

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I've been back and forth more times than I care to count. I left management after several years of 24/7 responsibility and 60-hour work weeks---no coffee-klatching there!---and returned to the bedside a little over a year ago. I'm an evening-shift charge nurse in LTC, and it's probably as close to perfect as I'm ever going to get. I've known most of the managers in my building for years and we all get along well, plus my schedule provides enough downtime that I never need to call in for a 'mental-health' day. The pace is manageable, I love the residents and staff, and they love me right back......what could be better?

Well, the pay---LTC nursing isn't exactly well-respected, and the wages offered reflect that. But my household is certainly not going to starve to death anytime soon, and I've learned that money truly ISN'T everything. No amount of cash is worth the kind of stress I went through in my last hospital job, or the brutal workload and impossible expectations of my last management position.

So I imagine I'll stay where I am for a while; at 51, my days at the bedside are probably numbered (for physical reasons if nothing else) but I'm determined to last as long as I can. I don't want to go back to management, and I don't have the education to become a teacher or advanced practice nurse (nor do I possess the desire or the funding to obtain it). For now, what I have is good enough, and that's more than a lot of people can say.

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

I worked for 20 total (RN and LPN) got out for almost 5 and would still be out if it weren't for my having to go back.

Thankfully, I work in a small hospital that staffs very well. A full load is 4 pt's with a CNA to share. It's the first time I have felt like a true nurse.

Anyway, if my husband is ever able to work again and make a livable wage, I'm out of there. I would love to work either for a dr's office, if I stayed in health care, or be an advocate for special needs kids and families. The latter doesn't pay anything or very little though.

I'm tired of working holidays. After having them off the last few years, I get to go to work and leave my kids at home this Xmas. :cry:

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Specializes in ICU, psych, corrections.

I never thought I would be happy anywhere BUT the bedside. I loved doing total patient care in the ICU and thought I was where I belonged. But after a forced change in environment (I'm in recovery and under contract with my state's Board of nursing), I look back now and wonder what the hell I was thinking! LOL. I love where I work now, I get to work one on one with the clients and work in conjunction with the psychiatrists. I don't have to worry that my arthritis is going to flare up and I won't be able to fulfill my job duties (having to turn 300 and 400lbs patients every 2 hours was beginning to take a toll on my poor back). I don't have to work 12 hour shifts and I get an entire hour for lunch. I work a nice, normal schedule of 8-5 and am home every night with my kids. I get holidays off AND get paid for them (instead of having to fight 30 other nurses for Thanksgiving/Christmas off). I have a pension, great insurance, and the nurses here are respected by the doctors in our clinic. And best of all, I get to use the past 2 years of my experiences (of being in recovery) to help my clients with their struggles.

Are there negatives? Yes, of course. I miss the technology and the medical aspect. A client of mine came in last week with a PICC and I was excited to help teach her how to care for it. Just seeing it brought back memories of working around the busy atmosphere of the ICU and the excitement of not knowing what the next trauma would bring. But do I miss it enough to give up a job I love? Nope. And the ironic thing is....I NEVER would have considered even looking at my current job had the past 2 years not taken place. I had no intention of leaving the ICU anytime soon. So for me, bedside nursing is something I'm not sure I will ever return to. I am looking into getting my certification in addictions nursing and see where that leads me.

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I never thought I would be happy anywhere BUT the bedside. I loved doing total patient care in the ICU and thought I was where I belonged. But after a forced change in environment (I'm in recovery and under contract with my state's Board of nursing), I look back now and wonder what the hell I was thinking! LOL. I love where I work now, I get to work one on one with the clients and work in conjunction with the psychiatrists. I don't have to worry that my arthritis is going to flare up and I won't be able to fulfill my job duties (having to turn 300 and 400lbs patients every 2 hours was beginning to take a toll on my poor back). I don't have to work 12 hour shifts and I get an entire hour for lunch. I work a nice, normal schedule of 8-5 and am home every night with my kids. I get holidays off AND get paid for them (instead of having to fight 30 other nurses for Thanksgiving/Christmas off). I have a pension, great insurance, and the nurses here are respected by the doctors in our clinic. And best of all, I get to use the past 2 years of my experiences (of being in recovery) to help my clients with their struggles.

Are there negatives? Yes, of course. I miss the technology and the medical aspect. A client of mine came in last week with a PICC and I was excited to help teach her how to care for it. Just seeing it brought back memories of working around the busy atmosphere of the ICU and the excitement of not knowing what the next trauma would bring. But do I miss it enough to give up a job I love? Nope. And the ironic thing is....I NEVER would have considered even looking at my current job had the past 2 years not taken place. I had no intention of leaving the ICU anytime soon. So for me, bedside nursing is something I'm not sure I will ever return to. I am looking into getting my certification in addictions nursing and see where that leads me.

that's really somethin'!! it takes a special person to work in addictions, thank god for you!

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Specializes in NICU.

I plan to become an NP at some point, but not because I want to get away from the bedside. I've just always been attracted to that role. Funny thing is that I think I will probably miss the bedside when I leave. I love my daily work, even if it's stressful sometimes and there are always more things I wish I had time to do, and I'm in no rush to move on after nearly 3 years. I know I'm still green really at 3 years, but so many people on this board seem burned out well before that....

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While I would eventually like to do something outside the hospital job, I really can't think of what I'd like to do on a fulltime basis apart from that. I don't really see myself as a teacher, I don't want to do management, and I'm not (at least not at this point) motivated to go back to NP school. So...probably it will be hospital nursing for me until I keel over. :)

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Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.
The very second I can find something half-way appealing with not too much of a pay cut, I am gone, baby, gone...

I second that.

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Yep, I've already left after less than a year. I could not take the stress and the physical toll on my body. I am happily working in Public Health with high risk infants. So far, I am very happy. I work 10 minutes from my house, 7:30-4:30, an hour for lunch, low stress, holidays off (even days such as Veteran's Day!), weekends and evenings off. Nursing school just does not prepare you for the stress of the hospital environment....

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