Have you ever wanted more?

Be_Moore · Apr 24, 2009

Welcome to the pit of despair that is nursing! Burn out among nurses is incredibly high because of the situation you are experiencing. The work is getting more and more stressful as patients get sicker and nurses become less and less loyal to a particular employer because of the broken system of pay scaling.

Honestly, get out of Med/Surg. Where you go is up to you. What is your passion? For me it was critical care, and I LOVE my job in an ICU. Maybe you like mommas&babies, or surgical ICU, or cardiac ICU? Emergency room? Flight nursing? Maybe you would rather a job at a clinic, doing a more 9-5 type deal working pain management, endoscopy, or a cardiac clinic doing stress tests? Beyond that there is the option of advanced degrees/advanced practice nursing. Anesthesia? Nurse Practitioner? Clinical Nurse Specialist? The last two of those have many of their own specialties, critical care, emergent care, geriatrics. You could go into research and eventually work yourself into a business suit and tie type job working for a pharmaceutical corporation as a CRA. You could go back and get a Masters in Professional Nursing / Nurse Executive and try to work your way into management. Or maybe you just need a new hospital with new coworkers?

Basically, the possibilities for nursing are nearly endless. What you should be doing depends a lot on you. Your passion, primarily. Your commitment. Family. Time. Availability of schools in your area. But don't feel despair! There are so many opportunities for nurses, one of these areas should work for you.

And if you don't like any of them, I recommend bartending. That's my fall-back career.

MedSurgeMess · Apr 24, 2009

I work at a small hospital, next nearest ones are about an hour away . I worked for first 5 yrs night shift, now on day shift. To go to another dept would require back to nights (not really so bad for me, but DH hates the idea!). The facility is also very limited on job openings as well......

The fallback career would leave me in the poorhouse--I'd drink up all the profits

Aviationurse · Apr 24, 2009

bartending? i was thinking of that.... :bugeyes:

solneeshka, BSN, RN · Apr 24, 2009

If you want more than what you have now, then you're going to have to change *something*. You say a different facility is out, and switching to a different unit is out because nights are out. If you have to stay in your same unit at your same facility, then the only place to go is up, and it sounds like there's already plenty of competition for advancement into management on your unit.

You can't ask "How can I change?" and also say "By the way, nothing can change, not my shift, not my facility, not my unit." Does that make sense? If you want a change, then something has to give. What about graduate school? There are plenty of decent on-line programs. It would give you a challenging diversion but still give you time to figure out what you want to do next. Maybe the petty attitude that prevails on your unit would be easier to tolerate if you were also getting professional satisfaction through school. So many more job opportunities open up once you have a graduate degree.

If you don't have kids, maybe DH has to suck up the idea of your going back to night shift. It wouldn't have to be forever, and things work so differently in different areas of nursing that you could very well find your dream job in ICU or ED or OR or whatever. A day shift would eventually open up! (You could still do this even if you have kids, that just makes it a little more complicated.)

If what you want is change, and your options are limited, then you need to do some serious soul-searching for what sacrifice you're willing to make to bring about that change. Only you can decide! Just recognize that you *do* have options, if you're willing to step outside of your comfort zone.

MedSurgeMess · Apr 24, 2009

The facility I work at is a magnet facility, so they tell us that seniority, education and all that is not a guarantee for promotion, they select the candidate that they think is the best fit after being interviewed by a panel of staff from that area--isn't that odd? I start grad school Spring 2010, for mgmt, but the facility has told me (and others) that the education does not necessarily mean that we will advance! I just keep thinking, HOW CRAZY IS THAT!!!!! I never said that I wouldn't change depts, night shift doesn't bother me, and I think DH is finally seeing how disenchanted I have become with my job. I just keep looking to see what is being offered in the hospital, but mostly is med/surg, because no one wants to stay there-they keep quitting or moving to other areas.....imagine that :bugeyes:

deftonez188 · Apr 24, 2009

A little extreme, but have you ever considered going to medical school or for an advanced practice degree where you can pick your specialty? I feel that picking what you want would be more beneficial to you both mentally and physically.

GL in your decision!

bigd123 · Apr 24, 2009

Some of my coworkers are more worried about how to get a promotion than how their patients are doing!
It seems to me that these coworkers shouldnt be nurses then. If they wanna make money and get promotions and backstab then they should be in business.