Hate being a floor nurse- happier as NP?

Trauma Columnist · Nov 20, 2007

Personally, I liked being a staff nurse - I like patient care. This has helped with relating to staff nurses even when I disagree with them. I try to teach and improve their skills without demeaning them and/or their patient care.

The ultimate goal is good patient care and it does take a team.

Editorial Team / Admin · Nov 20, 2007

And, I am the opposite of traumaRUs. I enjoyed OB as an RN, but after a few years, became anxious to move on. I never really liked "floor" nursing. I enjoyed the acute/critical areas more so. And, I enjoy education, too.

traumaRUs is correct - it takes a team working in harmony to do our patients justice and give them the care they need and deserve.

kyboyrn · Nov 20, 2007

Hey,

I'm currently a er staff nurse. I wouldn't say that I hate floor nursing, but I've been doing it about 3 years, and I know that it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life. With advanced practice, you have more autonomy, you gain a little more respect I think, and you have more say so in the care of your patients. It totally depends on your area of practice. With more education and the advanced role also comes more responsibility. Still, I'm just getting ready to finish my first semester of nurse practitioner school, and I'm sure that I'm going to like this role better. I love caring for patients and seeing a good outcome, and I think that's something I'll get to be a part of as a family nurse practitioner. Still, you're always a nurse first, and although NPs practice "medicine" in some respects, being a nurse is still at the core of advanced practice. If one hates healthcare in general, being an np isn't really going to be any better, but if you love patient care and dislike the "doing what the doctor tells you to" aspect of general floor nursing, then you may find your niche in advanced practice. Personally, i desire to be able to use my critical thinking, assessment skills, expanding knowledge base, etc. to have a greater role in caring for my patients.

ThePrestige · Nov 20, 2007

seems like most RN's dont really like there jobs, as they are treated bad by patients, admin, docs, etc., does this hold true for NP's? Because you move up to NP does your quality of life in a hospital improve?

BarbaraNP · Nov 21, 2007

I think it's hard to say that RN's are "not happy". Too general. Many RN's love what they do, some don't. Same with NP's - some love it, and some don't.

Personally, I think it's more due to individual desires/goals, where they are working and if that working environment fits them.

I own my practice...some days I love it, and other days I wonder what did I do! Another NP I know, hated being an NP, hated having her own practice (was also ACNP/ER). She closed it and started working in a different clinic. A few days ago she told me "I think I'm finally happy being an NP!".

As an RN, I hated being on the floor, yet excelled when I went to ICU.

We all have to find our individual niches.

Good luck!

Barbara NP

westcoastgirl · Nov 24, 2007

I liked that when I worked as a RN, my day ended more or less in a timely manner when the shift ended. Sure there was the staying a bit longer to chart but it's nothing like the backlog of charts and labs to do when you are a NP.

Each job has its good and bad, for me getting older meant I couldn't imagine doing night shifts or the intense physical part of being a floor RN forever.

I like being a NP because I build relationships over time with patients, get to know them over a number of visits, instead of feeling like I never really establish a long relationship with any patients. Other RNs find primary care not exciting enough, and they also like the pay of hospital work. It really depends on what you as a person want in your career.

BChapp3182 · Nov 27, 2007

For me, I've always disliked being an LPN and RN, in floor nursing, home health, whatever. It may be due to the fact that I started out premed and then got side tracked, got too old for med school so am in NP school now. As an RN I never felt I had the whole picture of what was going on. I hate doing IVs, giving shots, dressing changes and running after everything all the time while not really thinking--just doing. I always felt there was another "level" of knowledge and I felt incomplete without it, like I was not doing all that I know I am capable of.

I love the NP role that I've experienced so far. I enjoy solving the puzzle of signs and symptoms pts present with. It's rewarding when I get the right dx and change a person's life. To me, more rewarding than giving a shot.

The NP role is 1000X better in my opinion and experience. I wish I would have done it 10 years ago!

mom and nurse · Nov 28, 2007

Hey everyone,
I have thought a lot about being a nurse and either working in L&D or maybe PICU or NICU...but with the eventual goal of becoming an NP. Many people on this forum seem to hate their jobs as nurses. Oneo f my friends from high school is a ADN grad who has been a med/surg nurse for a year and she hates her job, hates her patients, and hates everyone she works with. I've seen someone who was once a happy young lady become very negative, stressed, and sad. I don't want to end up trapped in that fate. Have any of you found better success/enjoyment in being an NP than they did as an RN?

I worked 3 years as an RN after graduation. I'm just finishing up NP school. I loved and hated my job as an RN. I agree with the poster who spoke of in NP school being able to look at the whole picture. I enjoy learning and was able to use the knowledge I learned in NP school to look at the whole picture.

When I first started my NP training, I still remember interviewing a patient with my white lab coat on and stethoscope around my neck. "Yes, ma'am" he'd said "No, ma'am" he'd said. Though this is the only patient that addressed me in this manner, It was a lot different from my role as an RN in a hospital. It's a different role. I think I'm going to like it.

Now I have to study for the NP certification boards (sigh). But all in all, I think going back to school was worth it.

butch228 · Nov 29, 2007

Well..I'm a new NP..and still a floor nurse..a per diem nurse on the floor. Let's face it..a floor nurse..on a med-surg floor is fast paced..lots of tasks..needs from the patient , family , house officer staff. Do I hate the floor nurse role? Of course not..its just different from my current NP role. It's just more demanding..with time constraints. I guess there are NP roles that are fast paced , demanding.but not on the same level of the floor nurse.

The bottom line is my experience of being a floor nurse gives me a window / valuable perspective... when I have to admit a patient to the hospital, or ordering labs..or deciding my differential diagnoses. Floor nursing is definelty not for everyone..its only for a select few..that's why the role needs to be fine tuned and better compensated .

christvs, DNP, RN, NP · Nov 30, 2007

For me, I've always disliked being an LPN and RN, in floor nursing, home health, whatever. It may be due to the fact that I started out premed and then got side tracked, got too old for med school so am in NP school now. As an RN I never felt I had the whole picture of what was going on. I hate doing IVs, giving shots, dressing changes and running after everything all the time while not really thinking--just doing. I always felt there was another "level" of knowledge and I felt incomplete without it, like I was not doing all that I know I am capable of.
I love the NP role that I've experienced so far. I enjoy solving the puzzle of signs and symptoms pts present with. It's rewarding when I get the right dx and change a person's life. To me, more rewarding than giving a shot.
The NP role is 1000X better in my opinion and experience. I wish I would have done it 10 years ago!

Oh my Gosh! I seriously could have written this response! It sounds just like what I am saying all the time. I also feel I'm missing so much of what is going on when I go to work as an RN, because we are just so busy taking care of multiple patients at the same time, running here and then there and back again, that we don't always have the time to sit down and think about the whole picture. That is one of the reasons I'm happy I'm in NP school. I also love hearing about signs and symptoms, and looking at labs, etc..and trying to figure out what is going on. I enjoy making a differential list, and then trying to narrow it down...but I also love spending time with my patients, talking with them, and taking the time to teach them, and answer their questions until they really understand what it going on. Plus, I want to have a lot more say in how clinical decisions are made that will affect my patients. These are my reasons for going to NP school.

SoundofMusic · Nov 29, 2010

Realizing this is an old thread, I just want to include my own thoughts. I've only been a nurse for about 3-4 years, but already I just KNOW I will enjoy being an NP so much more. There is too much busy-ness in nursing work. And I truly do not enjoy being blamed, responsible for EVERYONE's job, from the diet people to the techs, to the housekeepers, and the docs themselves ... and NOT getting paid extra for it. I feel that one day, as an NP, I will at least be given the opportunity to slow down and THINK, to look at the whole picture, to use my brain for a given purpose -- and that is to help patients get better or prevent illness in the first place ... I just can't deal with being a floor RN any longer. I am truly considering even quitting for a few months just to clear my heart, my soul, my head for a while and also to just concentrate on school.