How do you know when it's time to move on?

[NYNursingStudent]

I have been an RN on a med/surg floor for just over 1 year. I feel comfortable, still not 100% confident, but I am BORED. I feel like I'm not being challenged. I've had 3 of my own patient codes and have participated in 1 other, and I love the rush that comes along with them.

I spend my nights wiping butts, passing meds, and babysitting geriatric patients. I KNOW I'm better than this. So although the thought of moving on petrifies me, I think I'm ready. ICU? ER?

I guess what I'm asking, is are there specific goals or guidelines I should meet before I take that next step? I want to be a competent, efficient nurse before I take the next step.

I appreciate the replies!

[2k15NurseExtern4u, BSN, RN]

Thank you for your thoughtful and articulate contribution to the conversation.

If the OP is bored after such a short time as a nurse, it's because the OP isn't thinking things through. She hasn't been a nurse long enough to learn it all, or even very much at all. If she's already bored, it's a red flag. Most likely, she's just hurrying through her list of tasks for the day without thinking about how these tasks relate to her patient's health and wellness, without thinking about why she needs to do the tasks or what her assessment means. Someone who is bored with nursing after so short a time is a very poor person to become a NP. If they don't care enough to understand what's going on when they're at the bedside, how likely is it they will suddenly care just because they have more initials after their name?

And who said the OP didnt care enough to undersrand whats going on? Thats a pretty heavy assumption to make. Do you honestly think the OP is so negligent as to hurry through tasks and procedures without forethought on how they affect the health of the patient? You should stop making so many assumptions. Ive gone through your other posts and you seem to do that alot with people.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

And who said the OP didnt care enough to undersrand whats going on? Thats a pretty heavy assumption to make. Do you honestly think the OP is so negligent as to hurry through tasks and procedures without forethought on how they affect the health of the patient? You should stop making so many assumptions. Ive gone through your other posts and you seem to do that alot with people.

A new grad who is bored after less than a year isn't doing it correctly. A year or even two years isn't long enough to learn everything -- or even most of -- what you need to know to function as a nurse. If you're bored already, you're not learning. And if you're not learning at this stage of the game, you're not trying.

It's not enough to give your Coumadin promptly at 6 PM if you don't understand why your patient is getting Coumadin in the first place, what the daily INR has to do with anything and how come everyone is so bent out of shape about that cherry red urine. It's not enough to change that saturated dressing if you don't understand that on the sixth post-op day, that much bleeding isn't normal or that green drainage from a surgical site isn't a good thing. And why. It's not enough to listen to your patient's lungs at the start of the shift if you don't understand that diminished breath sounds may relate somehow to the fact that the incentive spirometer is all the way across the room where your patient can't reach it and she doesn't know how to use it correctly anyhow. It's all too easy to get bogged down in the tasky stuff at the expense of critical thinking, especially on nights when you don't feel your best anyway. But if you do that, you miss out on valuable learning opportunities.