very frustated

[plilia]

I have been a med-surg nurse for almost 4 years. Recently (like 3wks ago) I changed jobs so i could be closer to home. I was very unhappy at my last job and I felt it was time for a change. I went to work for a hospital in my state where it was rumored that "nurses were so happy, they die there". Now that I am actually on my unit in my new position, I realize its the same thing. management always doing what they need to do to cut costs, understaffed, overworked, poor triage which leads to incorrect placement of patients and early discharge of patients just so the hospital and the doctors could get reimbursed. I'm so frustrated and unhappy, I actually want to go back to my old job. I think I need to do something different. I'll be going on maternity leave in a few months and i was thinking about getting wound care and ostomy certified. Is anyone in this specialty area and if so, do you recommend it? Any input would be helpful.

[D&Ggirl]

hi! i think if you are unhappy you definiately need to change jobs and what a better opporunity than maternity leave! (congrats by the way!) i dont know anything about getting certified for wound care but if you go to the tabs at the top of this page and click on the "specialty" tab and choose "nursing specialties", there is a section clear at the bottom for wound and ostomy care and i'm sure there are people in there that can answer your question! good luck!

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

Also, you can subscribed to the free Advance Magazine. Type the word in your browser and there is one for RN and LPN, subscribed regionally. I have found plenty of places that offer wound care certification in my neck of the concrete, and I am sure you would find one as well. Most of them offer classes that last about a week, and it seems that they offer the certification exam at the end. Good luck, congrats on the upcoming birth, and yes, move on if you are unhappy!

[oldiebutgoodie, RN]

I worked a year in the ICU (hated it) and a year in med-surg (wasn't crazy about it). I am now in wound and ostomy care and LOVE it.

You get to see patients one at a time, and it is more than just about wounds and ostomies. The folks with wounds often are also diabetic, smokers, have peripheral vascular disease, are malnourished, etc, so you can work with the whole patient.

The new ostomy folks are usually so freaked out that they are very thankful to have someone there who can calm their fears, teach them self care, give practical info, etc. I find it a privilege to be able to help people who are in a turning point in their life/health/self image.

If you have any questions, please PM me. I have also posted info about the various certifications under the wound and ostomy forun.

Oldiebutgoodie

[RN1989]

I see that you have not yet had enough nursing experience to realize that the grass is not greener at another facility.

In these days of poor reimbursement and soaring costs, ALL employers are looking at the bottom line. Issues that affect nursing are usually the first things to be harmed, cut, made obsolete to save money.

Please do not keep running from job to job hoping it will be better. You will likely be disappointed. Choose your jobs carefully so that you can further your career. Don't expect to just "be happy" because someone else says that their employer is wonderful. Your standards of what makes a good employer and job environment may be vastly different. Many times it is our attitude that determines whether we are happy in a job. There are definitely jobs where nothing that we do internally or externally can make a job better such as being bullied/harassed, being asked to commit fraud, being asked to cover up mistakes, etc. Those are jobs you will want to leave. But the majority of jobs are way less than perfect. You just have to figure out which manure in which pasture you can live with.

These days, it is more about what b.s. you can tolerate in order to keep a job. Most people do not enjoy their jobs. Our constitution guarantees the pursuit of happiness but not that you will actually attain happiness. I learned the hard way that you must look to your personal life to be happy - your job is simply a means to support yourself while you are happiest in the other parts of your life. Do not look to your job for fulfillment. Be a person first, a friend, a mom, a sister, an aunt, etc. Being a nurse comes last. You can't be a good nurse if you don't take care of the PERSON inside the nurse.

Wound care is not bad. It is a little more monotonous than working the floor as you basically see similar wounds day in day out with similar treatments. The only thing different is the faces of the patients. You also will be in contact with nasty germs on a more regular basis. Be aware when taking a WOCN job that some jobs require you to be on call and even come in at odd hours if there is a problem with a wound, particularly pt's with complicated wounds or on wound vacs. Make sure if you take a job like this that babysitting for your little on won't be a problem.