How Physically Demanding is Your Job

[Satori77]

And what unit do you work on? I am a prenursing student, leaving a very physically demanding job as a vet tech. A lot of bending, stooping, kneeling on the floor, wrestling with big dogs, lifting and carrying big dogs (either by myself or with help). And of course the occasional scratch or bite. My knees hurt a lot, and a decade ago I tore my trapezius muscle, which still hurts sometimes.

So one thing I worry about transitioning to nursing is how physical the job will be and the chances of getting hurt. I don't want to keep beating up my body. I'm almost 40 and am a small woman (5" about 105lbs). I'm not worried about the long shifts, being on my feet the whole time, or not getting breaks to eat or pee. I deal with that now no problem. And prefer to run around and be on my feet to sitting at a desk for 8 hours.

I just want to know what units are more demanding, more physical. I personally can't see myself doing ortho, but have an interest in NICU and the OR. And yes, I do know they are highly sought after fields. Likely I would have to work in other areas for a few years.

[SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP]

Lift team? Never heard of such a wonderful creature! Never came across one yet. Lucky you!

All the hospitals I went to for clinicals had lift teams. Hmmm, maybe it's just in my area? I just assumed most hospitals were like that, since all 3 I went to had them. Yes, I do feel lucky to have them because I would not feel comfortable using a mechanical lift being a new nurse.

[dah doh, BSN, RN]

ICU: very physically demanding! We are super happy when our patients weigh less than 100 lbs! It takes many people to reposition any patient more than 350 lb! Lift team? Nope! Lift equipment? Sure! But lift equipment doesn't help when the patient gets violent or you do hours of CPR on them!

Try patients who weigh less...like babies! Or mostly independent/ ambulatory patients such as outpatient surgery or post-partum or L&D. Or you could do a desk/paperwork job such as case management, discharge planning, research, quality management, public health, etc.

Good Luck!

[Satori77, ADN]

Thanks everyone for sharing your opinions. Like I said, I I do have a physically demanding job now, and I probably should have mentioned that I did work as a CNA for 2 years in a nursing home. But I had to go back to vet tech while in school because I needed to make more money and have more flexibility.

May I ask why you picked nursing? Nutrsing is by far one of the most physically demanding jobs in the medical field. You work 12 hour shifts and you are on your feet majority of the time. You will be moving 300+ lb patients. You will be bending, lifting, and kneeling.

First of all, I never said I didn't want a physical job, or that I couldn't do physical work at all. I'm in pretty good shape, just not a big woman and I am getting older so need to consider that for when I am working in my 50s and 60s. (I'm 37 now and will be 40 probably when I graduate). But I see a lot of older nurses in not as good shape as I am, so I don't think it will be an issue of me being able to do the work. I just wanted a comparison of different specialties and how demanding they were.

Why do I want to go into nursing? A lot of reasons. When I went to vet tech school, I did it because I loved animals. I didn't realize how much I would love the science and nursing care. My favorite subjects are A&P, Microbiology, Parasitology, and Hematology. I love learning about the body and disease processes. Overall, I have greatly enjoyed working in veterinary hospitals, especially ER, ICU and surgery. But my career has become stagnant. There is no consistency with licensing across states. The pay is horrible. Most places don't allow for a lot of autonomy or upward mobility. It simply isn't challenging anymore. And I am a little tired of doing EVERYTHING minus the things only a veterinarian can do (fun things like treatments, running anesthesia and lab work to cleaning, taking out the trash, answering phones, filling prescriptions, laundry, cleaning instruments and wrapping pack, and cutting nails, etc).

Nurses have more autonomy, more respect, make more money, and work in environments where there is cleaning staff and laundry workers. Not that I am above doing simpler things like picking up a mess. And I know I will do basic care and help with moving patients. But I think about a third of my day is spent cleaning. At least. I have many friends who were vet techs that went to nursing school, and though they miss working with animals, every single one of them is happy with their decision. They feel like they use their education and knowledge more. There is diversity and room to move laterally as well as up.

I am not bothered by blood or guts things (in fact, I love traumas and surgeries). Bodily fluids or cleaning/bathing/wiping people does not gross me out. I can handle all of that from babies to the elderly. I like being on my feet as opposed to strapped to a desk. I like the idea of not doing the same thing every day, and working longer shifts so I can have more days off. One thing that being a vet tech has taught me is how to handle and talk to people. I love working with clients at my job. They come in and talk about their personal problems, or their health issues and I often wonder about their lives after they leave us. I'm good under pressure and stressful situations. I have to be able to prioritize and multitask every single day.

This is not a career change that I have thought about lightly. My mom is a nurse, has been since I was 12. She is the strongest woman I know. And she has often encouraged me to switch to nursing. Also, I think back on all the nurses I have come across. From times my parents and grandparents have been in the hospital, to me being in the hospital, to my husband needing surgery. Or when my daughter was born prematurely, not breathing, and spent time in the NICU. Honestly, I don't remember any of those doctors. But I remember every single nurse. I might not remember all of their names, or what they look like. But I remember their care, their compassion, their knowledge. And how much it gave me comfort or ease of mind. I want to be that nurse for someone.

[Conqueror+, BSN, RN]

Meh. I have done case management, occupational health, psych, and staff development. NO lifting at any time and the case management was all desk/phone/fax/computer. There are as many specialties as there are personalities (actually more). God bless nursing. You can find a job that is not physically demanding.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

It has gotten worse over the years because of the increasingly obese patient population and rise of the super obese and add to that the foley free environment where these people need to be turned and clean often and that adds up to more strain on one's back and body! I'm sure the dogs you take care of don't weigh hundreds of pounds. The average patient in a hospital is over 200 pounds and we get many that are 300-500 pounds. This is a safety issue, and a slide sheet is a joke. The only thing that is going to help move such heavy patients are celing lifts and hover mats. Throw the fake garbage bag liners away they are absolutely worthless, but cheap which is why many hospitals are happy to supply them rather than what actually works like ceiling lifts and hovermats!

[Tex.]

Lift team? Never heard of such a wonderful creature! Never came across one yet. Lucky you!

Lift Team. I think I'm in love. Please, Lift Team Gods, Hear my prayers.

[emmy27]

In the ER I walk an average of 5 miles a shift, lift/turn/do chest compressions on sometimes severely obese patients, and have the occasional tussle with psych patients twice my size, but it's nothing compared to floor nursing. On a med-surg shift I might easily lift/turn/reposition my own patients in excess of 200 lbs 36+ times, plus helping coworkers, plus helping these enormous people ambulate (get very good at saying "Hold on to the bedrail/walker/hand rail, it's stronger than me!" in a cheerful tone because it is human nature for people to grab for you and not the rail, even when they're 400 lbs and you're a buck twenty and short). When we were critically short-staffed and had a large number of bariatric patients, it wasn't uncommon on night shift for the entire floor staff to go from room to room together turning patients, and for "average" sized patients (still very heavy) we'd usually pair up and turn and change everybody every 1-2 hours, so that's twelve patients each time (yours and your partner's).

Despite this teamwork, and despite the much-vaunted existence of lifts (most places) and lift teams (some places) and the absurdity of annual "transfer training" that is supposed to teach you the "safe" way to do fundamentally unsafe things like move 400 lb total assists without a mechanical lift, you will pull, push, steady, and occasionally pick up from the floor, giant people with minimal assistance more often than you think. I was a vet tech before nursing, too, and although it was physically demanding work, it was not anywhere near as back-breaking as nursing. Humans are just a lot bigger than dogs, and tend to need much more intensive assistance.

I have chronic back, wrist, and sciatic pain in my early thirties despite being active, using "good biomechanics," and getting regular bodywork, and I am very sure it's related to my years of med-surg nursing.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

I work in a trauma/neuro/surg ICU, and it is quite physical. Pts can be big (although it seems the MICU gets more of the >500lb "big"), plus we have their trauma hardware -- traction weights, halos, external fixators (temp hardware for long bone fractures) to deal with. We have ceiling lifts in the rooms which helps a lot, but we can't use them with certain injuries. Plus for our strokes and TBIs we make a looooot of trips to get CT scans. We wheel the pt in bed w/ all the equipment with a CNA or transporter, and an RRT if the pt. intubated.

I love my job, though.

Unfortunately, most of the low-physical-work positions are also in high demand. Dialysis seems to be less physically strenuous, although it has its own challenges.

I also need to say something about this readiness to be on your feet 12 hrs without eating or peeing. Get rid of that mindset. You will have days where things get crazy, sure. But you have to prioritize self-care. You are training to be part of a profession worthy of scholarly publication and malpractice suits. Eat your meals and pee when you need to. There are very few things that cannot wait the two min. it takes to pee. Phone calls, MDs needing help, call bells, pain meds, admissions, discharges...........they can wait two minutes.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

I work in a LTACH ICU. Most of my patients are vented and sedated, and we do not have PCAs/CNAs in the unit.

Wowwww... LTACH with CNAs was the hardest work I've ever done in my life. Without sounds like nursing Purgatory.

[zzbxdo]

Burn critical care. 2hr+ dressing changes on 150+kg butter balls are tons of fun. You burn calories for sure. It's unfortunate that we have staff that goes out due to spastic backs etc pretty frequently. Even turns and changeouts are grueling.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

You guys are making me tired. Bringing back lots of memories from my ICU days.

I work endo and I'm totally exhausted by the end of the day, not because of heavy lifting, but because we have no chairs or stools and are running around on our feet literally 8 or 9 hours per day. No sitting down to chart ever. I also work OR and I do get a chance to sit and chart for a little while after the case gets going, but it's also pretty tiring.

There are nursing jobs that are not so physical, but a lot of them will require that you do some work in the trenches before you could be considered. But the great thing about nursing is how many avenues there are, so I'm sure where there is a will there is a way.

[Bright7]

at least you worked with animals that seems fun.

i am currently doing general labor at a food processing refrigerator but its not that bad

since i physically fit and lift weights competitively. i just dont like the minimum wage pay and working with felons and people without documents bossing me around.