Found out I have a pretty significant back problem, how to keep nursing?

[TammyTho]

Nursing is my second career, first career office management..took 7 years of part time/after work schooling to obtain my nursing degree and after one year of nursing (IMCU/ICU) have found I have a cyst on my spine not allowing me to move/lift patients.

Now what? Talking to my current hospital about a House Supervisor position but *sigh*.. any other thoughts? Home hospice nursing require a lot of lifting? OR/Surgical friend of mine said there is lifting but lots of hands involved unlike our stepdown/icu unit...

I'm open to ideas to research.

Thank you.

[2BS Nurse, BSN]

Would you be willing to do outpatient triage? Make sure you ask if you'll be required to push wheelchairs. We get plenty of 300# patients.

[EllaBella1, BSN]

I think I read that correctly that you have a year of nursing experience? If that's so then I would probably not go for a house supervisor position. I mean this in the kindest way possible, but it's just not possible to have enough experience to be a house supervisor in a year. You really need a very broad base of experience to be able to effectively help all of the different floors. At my last hospital we worked with a house supervisor who had two years of experience, and she was very nice, but not helpful to us at all when the you-know-what hit the fan and we needed backup.

[MJ 0990]

If you are willing to get a Masters Degree then I’d suggest Nursing Informatics if you are good with computers. It’s dealing with EMR systems.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Is it a Synovial cyst? I am having one removed next month. Once removed they say you can lift again after several months......

[2BS Nurse, BSN]

Our informatics nurses (salaried) are overworked and are payed less/hour than a staff nurse when they calculate their hourly salary vs time required.

[MJ 0990]

2 hours ago, 2BS Nurse said:

Our informatics nurses (salaried) are overworked and are payed less/hour than a staff nurse when they calculate their hourly salary vs time required.

Wow really? I’ve always heard of the great pay. I can see being overworked with the rapid switch to EMR and most likely lack of qualified nurses to do the job as it’s a relatively new field that requires a Masters

I think like ANYTHING in nursing though it’s still completely unique to each person, workplace, and department. I’m not experienced in the field it’s just what I’ve found through my research (I’m a research junkie). I have some back problems too so I’ve looked into it. Seems like there isn’t a “good” option for back problems in nursing though! Just the LEAST problematic ?

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

On 6/22/2019 at 6:44 AM, kbrn2002 said:

Just because nobody has mentioned it yet if you have enough nursing experience case management might be another option. Possibly a mid-management position in LTC. Also look at assisted living facilities, all the one's in our area the RN role is supervisory/management. As somebody else mentioned school nursing is a good option though depending on how the local school district structures pay it might be a significant pay cut for you. Correctional nursing would also work I would think.

There's actually quite a few options in nursing that are either totally away from the floor or that don't involve much lifting for the job. I wouldn't mention any physical limitations though until you are offered a job unless you are required to disclose it during the application process.

What do you consider a ‘mid management position ‘ in a SNF?

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

14 hours ago, CapeCodMermaid said:

What do you consider a ‘mid management position ‘ in a SNF?

Unit managers. We have one for every unit. Different facilities use different names for that position so I didn't specify. Some are salaried, some are hourly. Ours are hourly paid. Sorry for the late reply by the way. Been working tons the last few days.

[JulieBoolie]

I do data entry for MI's in our cath lab. No pt care but you do need experience (cardiac in this instance) so you know what you're reading, and be able to assess if protocols where followed. I lucked into this job after 34 yrs of mostly ICU nursing. I could no longer do pt care due to back issues. Before this, I was a transfer coordinator which also required ICU experience but no pt care.