Finally... I have a job! But now I'm so scared!

Nurses New Nurse

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I took a job on a surgical/pediatric floor last week only b/c it was the only job offer I've had since May. I don't deal very well with super high levels of stress. In fact I hate the hospital, always have. I wanted to work in a nursing home or health dept or dr's office.. although reasing some recent posts about SNF's has totally changed my mind about that. Anyway, I know some people who work on this floor, and they hate it and also tell me that everyone else hates it too b/c it has such a high stress level & constant pt turnover. So now I'm thinking this is just great!! I know I don't have a choice here... we need the money, BUT my main concern is the fact that I haven't done ANYTHING related to nursing in almost 7 months. I hated it so much and was so dead set on going back to school to do somehting else...which I did for a semester then had to quit b/c we couldn't afford it anymore...I sort of just threw all the nursing stuff out of my head b/c I thought I would NEVER use it again. And now here I am taking a nursing job. I'm freaking out.... I defintely didn't retain anything from peds b/c I HATED IT IN SCHOOL. its not that i don't love kids... its just that they make me super nervous.. they're soo small andi don't know it just freaks me out. I have to do this don't I? I could be a substitute teacher and make like 50-80 dollars a day, but my husband says no & that I should just try this job. Any thoughts on what to do or what to preapre myself for?

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review growth and develop. stages., and peds specific diseases/treatments, and parent teaching

(i hate to tell you, but alot of the stuff at the health dept involves peds.)

(also - if you hate it so much, then step aside - lots of grad nurses are willing to take the position)

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Specializes in L & D, Med-Surge, Dialysis.

:ancong!:

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congratulations!

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I, too, HATED the hospital. I hated it so much that I quit nursing school in my 3rd semester. I was talked into going to a LPN program by some friends later and did it not really intending on being a "nurse". I got a job quickly after graduation as a LPN (even though I did NOT want to do it) and ended up LOVING it! Actual work is a lot different from school. I liked workign as a nurse so much that I went back to school to get my RN and finished recently. I never imagined myself wanting to finish when I quit. I didn't hate school as much when I went back but it still was way different from working and wasn't exactly fun.

My suggestion is keep an open mind. Remember that work is work and school is school. I found them to be VERY different experiences. Not saying that you will definitely love it, but you may be surprised. Get the experience and you can move on to other things later if you aren't happy.

GOOD LUCK and I hope you find parts of it you like!!

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Honestly, if you hate it, you are not going to succeed. What's the point. If you are not motivated, it will show and your co-workers will pick up on this immediately, thus you become a liability. You will come home stressed, grumpy, and your family will be miserable.

People don't get into nursing because of the money. Your heart better be in it. Working with peds can be extremely stressful. I work in the ER and sick children/infants and their ****** off parents scare me. You better know your stuff or act like you know it cause I don't want you caring for my kids if you are not prepared.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Oncology, Tele, ICU.

I was a piano performance major who didn't want to be an RN ever, despite what my parents wanted me to do. They knew I wouldn't want to teach it and that's pretty much all you can do unless you want to perform for a living. I tried to do both majors for a year, but 22 credits, working part time, plus concerts, practices, rehersals, etc let me sleep about 4-8 hours a week. Not good. I was delirious half the time.I didn't even being partially enjoying school until OB and then I wasn't sure....then I thought I wanted to be a labor and delivery nurse.

Well, that idea went to pot as soon as I graduated for some reason. The only two areas I thought I didn't want to work was mental health (actually, that was an absolute no!!) and ICU. Well I started out in Med/Surg and Oncology which were both tele floors as well and did that for about a year. Then I started taking classes related to sepsis, etc, but a lot of the monitering didn't apply to me on the floor cause I didn't have the monitoring capabilities. So I started getting curious about what they did in ICU and I've been working there now for almost a year now.

Bottom line is that you may not want to do nursing, but there are so many options when you get in that most people find something they like to do. And you're lucky to have a job now anyway! :D

I understand it must be scarey for you starting a job at this point, but it would've been scarey right out of school too, right?

Best of luck!

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Specializes in NICU/Subacute/MDS.

Congratulations!

From what you stated about hating high stress and disliking the hospital, I would suggest you steer clear from SNF's. Try working the med/surg for 6 mths to a year so you have solid experience. Then why not try looking into home health or school nurse?

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Time for an update spp2423! :D What did you decide to do? And if you are working on Med/Surg, what do you think so far?

Hope all is going well!!!

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