ER RN looking for a change!

Published Apr 10, 2017

2 Posts

Hey everyone! I'm brand new to this, but I'm reaching out because I currently work in an ER and am getting SOO burnt out! I've been a nurse for 10 years, ER nursing was always my goal, before this I worked in an acute rehab right out of school for less than a year, then a cardiothoracic surgical/tele floor for a couple years and have been in the ER now for 6 years!

I knew it would be very stressful before I even started, but at the time I enjoyed learning new things everyday, being able to anticipate care and being able to see the immediate effects of my work actually helping my patients. Now that I'm a few years in, I'm feeling like the stress outweighs the good that I see. I can handle the stress and am able to do my job well, but at the end of the 12 hour shift I am just completely drained..emotionally AND physically! I'm thinking about having kids now and I don't think this level of stress is worth it anymore...I want to be able to focus more on my life than my "work-life" if that makes sense. Some of the things that are bothering me about the ER are 1) how a lot of people these days use it as their PCP, which makes the whole department congested and takes away the time the sicker patients get with the nurse. 2) the ER is constantly holding patients that need to be admitted, they are here overnight until patients on the floors are d/c'd the next day, usually 15-20 patients being held everyday when I go in at 7AM. 3) being around the constant codes and traumas is beginning to get to me, I think I'd like to be around patients that aren't literally having the WORST day of their lives for a change! Of course it's rewarding to be able to help them, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way and having to see family members grieving over the loss of their loved ones day in and day out is getting to be too much. 4) I used to enjoy not knowing what the ambulance was bringing in and liked having to be ready for anything, but now I'm so busy with all the patients that I already am responsible for that I dread the sound of the ambulance phone going off because I already have my hands full with the current assignment! There are so many reasons why I do love it, but I just don't think it's a good fit anymore.

My question to you guys is if anyone has gone through this situation before, where your goal was always to do ER nursing and then you realized maybe it wasn't as good a fit as you thought? If so, are there any suggestions as to what other specialties might be a good fit?

I honestly was considering Cardiac Rehab, the idea of health promotion and disease prevention is really interesting to me and makes me feel like even though it isn't as intense as the ER, I would still feel really fulfilled by helping these patients in other ways. I've been looking for jobs in this area, but it seems impossible to find one! any tips?

Also, one of my friends works in PACU and keeps saying how great it is, I'm going to shadow with her, but I don't feel too excited about it because it seems more like an ICU setting and just making sure people's pain is managed and they are stable for transfer.

Phew! That was long I know, but I REALLY appreciate any input!! Thank you :)