Don't like nursing at all, what can I do with my BSN?

[lostrnugh]

I've been an RN for 6 months working in acute care. After working for 6 months I'm dreadfully burnt out. Nursing is not what I thought it was. Nursing school just prepared us to do nursing tasks but it didn't show us the real world behind the scenes of nursing. Dealing with admits and discharges and orders upon orders and providers losing temper always stressed running from room to room having IV bags passing meds on time cleaning up a bed fast patient and falling behind providers yelling because they orders Stat labs an hour ago but I didn't see them because I was busy with another patient. I can't deal with that type of situation anymore and I'm just burnt. My family has seen a drastic change in my demeanor and have noticed I've been depressed and quiet and not who I used to be any more and frankly it's because of this job.

Not just that but I'm really just tired of the whole bedside / direct patient care. Techs never doing their part so I'm picking up all their tasks at the same time while they text on their phones in the utilities room.

I'm not really sure where to go now or what to do. I've had multiple panic attacks prior and during work due to the stress and responsibilities bestowed upon me. Nursing school never prepared us for this and I had no clue this is what nursing was so now I am regretting entering the field.

I'm in debt nearly 35k for school and Idk what else I can do with my BSN. I really want to go back to school and go into telecom or computer engineering where the level of responsibility is not as high and the stress level is at a minimum.

Any advice at all? I really been thinking about this for a few months now and I just don't like bed side/ direct patient care at all. Idk if I should try and find an outpatient position or something that doesn't involve doing bedside nursing care. Or if there is something else I can do with my BSN.

Thanks guys

[nrseduk8ter]

@Farawyn, you would be surprised at the limited clinical hours programs offer now. Most BSN programs that I know of (locally) on get clinical in their last semester. Depending on the student, experiences are quite limited. If they are not a self-starter/go-getter, they really miss out. I see more and more graduates, whether ADN or BSN with no real skill set.

[ddmad]

I'm interested in MSN in Informatics... What exactly do you do and how's the pay??? I'm a RN/BSN working a med/surg floor currently but interested in a change and my employer will pay for my degree...

[GaleSRN, BSN, RN]

There is no reason on earth why you cannot be a Labor and Delivery nurse because you are a man. You can do ANYTHING you want. Why don't you try HOme Dialysis where you are basically teaching pts. Very different. I would hire you if you lived in the SF Bay ARea.

[JennKamrass]

I'm sorry for your difficulties. I would try working in a clinic or maybe a school nurse? The great thing with nursing is all the different things you can do. Hang in there!

[terbear68]

There are very many different jobs you can do with a nursing degree. I have done just about all of them! I started in long term care then changed to acute care then I worked in a health clinic on an Indian reservation. I now work for an Insurance carrier doing utilization review which I absolutely love! I too felt anxious working acute care but now I listen to music, wear comfy clothes and read chart notes all day. No patient contact at all. May be something that would interest you!

[Barnesy]

I have my BSN, too. Been an RN for 4.5 years. I've been down that road of panic attacks and my heart rate up to 172, almost going into SVT. As it turned out, I actually had something wrong with my heart since I was a teen, but it wasn't diagnosed until a few yrs ago. EKG revealed a short PR interval. Long story short, I was diagnosed with Wolff Parkinson White syndrome. And as for the anxiety and panic attacks, it helped to get into therapy and seeing a psychiatrist. Being on medication has really helped. However, I have had a resurgence of panic attacks, but I'm partly to blame because I stopped my medications. As for nursing specialty, I was really anxious working med-surg. Went into psych which I was pretty calm doing. Then I was a charge nurse, that was a little anxiety ridden. Did long term care, not to bad if I wasn't given a huge amount of patients, which is always common in LTC. My current position is nursing supervisor, and it is definitely stressful. Have had some panic attacks with that. But, I was off my meds. Nursing is a stressful job. Get yourself evaluated. Get your heart checked. See a psychiatrist. See about getting on antidepressants (they also help with anxiety) and some anxiolytics. Good luck. And know that you aren't the only one having panic attacks at work.

[Skykomish]

Definitely stick it out for 1 year. Opens a lot of doors. But the great thing about nursing is there are so many different things you can do with it. Maybe you need to be in the paperwork side of it. Doing audits and chart reviews, or research, or preparing legal documents.

[SarahRN2013]

Huh. I am "only" an ADN and I felt pretty prepared for what nursing really was in the transition from school- floors. Is there that much less clinical time now? We used to come in for report and stay the whole shift.

Yes, there is always a learning curve, etc., but what were you expecting, OP?

I felt like I "had it" after about a year, maybe 2. Give it some time. 6 months is not enough time.

I also think that nursing school prepares you more for the tasks as my clinical instructors never let us have more than 3 patients (except my capstone preceptorship, which for me was in an ICU so I still only had 2-3 patients). Even so, my GN orientation period was more than enough to get up to speed with having 5-6 patients. "Up to speed" being a relative term as for the first year, I was always having to stay an hour or more to finish charting, but that late charting time slowly trended down over time.

I think the way a unit/hospital is run/staffed and the patient population can make a huge difference. At my first job (only about 3 years ago), they were still on a paper charting system and the physicians were not good about using the system that was intended to notify the nurses that there were new orders, so it was easy to miss a new one. That first job was also always short at least one NA every night (putting more work on everyone) and the staff didn't like their manager and spent lots of time griping. RNs were given more tasks than my current job (respiratory treatments, phlebotomy), there was no pneumatic tube system for having pharmacy send up meds or for sending lab specimens, and a tiny Pyxis with hardly any meds so nurses had to run to pharmacy to pick up most PRN meds. There was minimal onsite provider coverage at night, just the ER doc for codes so you had to call docs at home and wait for them to call you back. I was on an ortho unit with nearly all patients on q2h or q4h meds (which seldom synced with their q4h neurovascular checks) and pretty much all were fall risks (so could not be left alone in the bathroom) and often required a lot of physical labor assistance to get to the EOB to stand. Whenever I was pulled to other med-surg floors, I couldn't believe how much easier it was on those units.

In contrast, my current hospital is better staffed and better equipped. We have an EHR so when I peek at it between tasks, I always get my new orders notice. We have huge, well-stocked Pyxises so I rarely need to call pharmacy to have something sent up (and there's a tube system for sending it). We have teams of phlebotomists, respiratory therapists, and ECG techs. We also have multiple onsite providers (residents, mid-level providers, house physician) available all night, and the physicians that I deal with are respectful and appreciate the nursing staff, even if they feel something has been missed they generally use it as an education opportunity. Our NAs usually have 8 patients instead of 13. I currently work in stepdown and usually have just 4 patients. When I was on our med-surg floors, RNs usually had 5-6 patients where as at the old job, it was not unusual to have 7 or even 8.

My point being that maybe bedside nursing at this particular hospital is the problem. Perhaps just trying out (floating) a different unit isn't enough and you need to move to one with better staffing and/or equipment.

[EdRnhere]

Are you anxious and depressed because of your job or could you have been anxious and depressed first? Maybe treatment for that will make you feel better.

In terms of acute care nursing, there are so many options and so many types of hospitals in which to work that you need to do some soul searching to see where you belong.

If acute care isn't for you check out wellness coordinator type positions in organizations or health clubs. Or check out school nursing, community health, parish nursing, camp nursing. The list goes on! The beauty of being a nurse is that you can transition to all kinds of jobs! I saw someone recommended teaching, but if you hate bedside nursing you'll hate teaching it too.

[ncagve]

Do not consider L&D if you do not like bedside nursing. A high risk unit is extremely busy with multiple patient assignments and high acuities. Many patients are critical. If you're lucky, you may get a break/ lunch twice a week. Most do 12 HR shifts, and it's every other w/e, holidays, and a lot of mandatory on-call. OB is not all rainbows and butterflies. Most people who have never done it are the ones who will tell you how wonderful it is.

[Wickerlg2008]

So, I'm not sure where you live, but in NC the CRNA schools are already doing their last year of Master's graduates. I'm not sure if that's something you're interested in, but you will need 1-2 yrs of ICU experience depending on the school you choose. I have been a nurse for 7 yrs this may & I've worked in healthcare for 13 in July. I've always worked in the OR. I was a surgical technologist prior to nursing school. I went to ADN school first & then BSN. I do think traditional BSN graduates are more ill prepared for the real world of nursing as compared to ADN graduates. Since I had experience in the OR, I knew from day one that I wanted to come back to the OR as a circulator. I love my job. Yes, I only have one patient at a time, but it is a stressful job, don't let anyone make you think differently. I think every job is going to have some kind of stress. You just need to find where you're fit as a nurse is. Six months is way too early to already be burned out!

[Gmweins]

I did get my BSN in 2014. I have been a RN for 28years. Then I had to have both hips replaced and a femur repair. I am still using a cane a year later. I lost my job because I could not go back to the floor. I used up all my sick and personal leave. Yes, I am an older nurse and was earning pretty decent at the hospital. I have looked for jobs that did not require doing bedside care. I heard either thank you, no thank you, or not a word. I feel my BSN did not help me and I still need to pay my school loan back. Very frustrating. I am not trying to sound negative!!!