Happier working more hours outside acute care?

[Genista, BSN, RN]

Hello fellow nurses. I have a wonderful job in acute care. I am so lucky to have such a great job! Part time, great pay, good benefits. It's VERY stressful, with not enough support staff, unsupportive management and I am beginning to hate it. I do not have time to spend with patients. It's very disorganized, chaotic and unrewarding. I desperately want out of the hospital. I am wondering if other nurses who have left acute care have found it more rewarding elsewhere despite having to work many more hours (leaving acute care entails a massive pay cut). I have looked for part time work outside acute care, but there are very few benefitted positions. I have to carry benefits, so I will likely have to do 32 + hrs/week. It is a HARD decision, as I have small children at home. Anyone who has left acute care and picked up more hours elsewhere and found it rewarding? Though my current job is burning me out, it is still only part time. But I would like to try other areas where I feel it would better match my personality (ie hospice/public health, etc). The job market is tight, and I am wondering if I should just go for it even with the extra hours. (BTW- I don't want to work two jobs such as per diem in addition to my current job/too hard with scheduling). I am finding it hard to make a decision, as I really would miss my kids, but at the same time I feel like working at a place where you feel you are miserable is no way to live. Thanks for your insights!

[westieluv]

Whatever you do, don't jump from the frying pan into the fire by going to LTC, thinking that it will be a piece of cake like a lot of others do. You will be on your feet for the entire, and I do mean entire, shift, and you will experience never ending med passes from hell.

I worked hospice for most of 2010, first in the inpatient unit and then as an on-call/triage nurse. My experience was this: the caseworkers found their work to be very rewarding and developed close relationships with the patients and their families, but they often found themselves working over, since death has no timetable and people need support when the time comes. It was hard for them to plan things after work for this very reason. The inpatient hospice unit was much easier than acute care, but the census would vary wildly, because you could have five deaths in one day, and then everyone would get called off until census came up again, sometimes this took a week or two or longer. Working on-call is a good fit for someone who wants a lot of home time, because you get to stay home until a call comes in. I really enjoyed working on-call evenings and weekends, because our case managers were very good, so the most calls I ever got was four in one twelve hour shift. That was on night shift though, weekend days can be crazy. A couple of times, I got no calls for the entire shift and got paid to stay home and sleep. If it weren't for the fact that our hospice covered seven counties and I was running the wheels off my car, and the fact that I had to go into some pretty rough areas at night a couple of times that required me to call for a police escort, I would still be doing that job. It is very rewarding. At this point, I am starting a new job in acute care as nurse in the Med/Surg float pool of a local hospital. It's where most of my experience lies, and where I am most comfortable.

Good luck to you. I can certainly understand feeling burned out, especially with the staffing that so many facilities get away with these days. I still say that LTC is the worst, though. It's not just about tucking little old ladies into bed, it's HARD on your body and extremely automated and boring, because all you do is pass meds and do treatments.

[Genista, BSN, RN]

Thanks for the reply Westieluv. No, I wasn't thinking LTC. My dream job would be hospice or public health, but I am also looking into phone triage. I have been searching for my perfect fit, and jobs are hard to come by. It's hard to make a decision, because on one hand, I really want out of acute care, but on the other hand...change always involves an element of unknown. I guess you never know till you try it. It seems like every nursing job has an element of stress. I am second guessing myself all the time. In almost any specialty I read up on, some nurses love it, while other just hate it. Which one will I be? I wish I had a crystal ball. One thing I do know: I am ready for a change. :-)