So I graduated 3 years ago and worked on a med/surg floor (as is recommended) for a year and then started travel nursing. I have traveled to a couple of different states, which was exciting, but once you got over the being somewhere new, it was the same job day in and day out. I am looking for some excitement in my job, something to get excited about at work. I'm tried of the hum-drum of floor nursing: med passes, assessments, incontinence care, frequent narcotic administration... there's nothing exciting about it to me. I do like healthcare, and occasionally I will find myself having an exciting shift where there is alot going on, and there is problem solving required, and its something different from the ordinary.
I thought maybe a position in an ER would cure my desire for excitment, but I am a med/surg-telemetry nurse and I can't find an ER that has a transition program (similar to a new grad program, but its for experienced nurses that just don't have experience in that particular area of nursing expertise).
I have also been reading a little about forensic nursing, which seems exciting, but again, there seems to be a pattern there too with mostly sexual assault cases.
Does anyone have any suggestions for spicing up my nursing career?
hmmm thank you mbarn08 i didn't think of trying to do some per diem in an er. i am trying to get out of travel nursing and into a permanent position in a hospital near my home.
i hope that the excitement will last a little longer than it has here for me. i dread coming to work because i feel like i'm just staring at the clock waiting for it to be over. it doesn't feel challenging. i have thought of going back to school to challenge myself. i have a good social and family life, very rewarding, but i want to feel challenged. i love problem solving!
a very close friend, who is an adrenaline-junkie (extreme sports, etc), felt like you, so he became a flight nurse and loves it . . . gets to treat all kinds of trauma (motor vehicle, gun shot, stabbings) and does critical care transports. however, he already had many years of trauma icu and er beforehand.
Interesting, you are the first nurse i've encountered who admitted to being bored! I found med surg, tele, ortho neuro, oncology, ICU, CCU and ER all tremendously boring. same old crap, over and over. Busy, yes. stressfull yes, boring YES.
Then.... I found Interventional Radiology --- different procedures, fast paced yet with minimal boring stuff (if you can avoid the recovery part!) I also found psych interesting, those people have ACTIVE imaginations!
Maybe you just have to keep trying different areas until you find your niche.
And to those who say, make your personal life interesting, sure that is important, but I spend three LONG LONG LONG 12-14 hour days at work, why should i find it mind numbing? No money can compensate for that.
Specializes in ICU, PICU, School Nursing, Case Mgt.
"I want excitement from my job".....
Yeah and I want to win the lottery!
How about ditching nursing all together and doing something like BOMB DEFUSING like in the Hurt Locker....
or chain saw juggling...or tightrope walking!
Although, I supposed after awhile you would get bored with those pesky bombs...defuse one and they are all the same!
In all seriousness-if you are young enough-I agree--Join the Military!
My son in law is Special Forces-(green beret) and is the medic for the whole unit. When he is deployed, he IS the hospital. There is never a dull moment there.
He also HALO jumps=parachutes out of a plane at about 20,000 feet with oxygen and does not open the chute until the last minute...that should satisfy your adrenalin addiciton.
Unfortunately, all jobs, not just nursing, become routine after working at them for some time. MD, RN, lawyer, law enforcement, super spy, President of the United States, all have routines and to some, can be "boring". So, I've got no idea what job is continuously challenging and never repetitive.
Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.
hmmm thank you mbarn08 i didn't think of trying to do some per diem in an er. i am trying to get out of travel nursing and into a permanent position in a hospital near my home.
i hope that the excitement will last a little longer than it has here for me. i dread coming to work because i feel like i'm just staring at the clock waiting for it to be over. it doesn't feel challenging. i have thought of going back to school to challenge myself. i have a good social and family life, very rewarding, but i want to feel challenged. i love problem solving!
i understand your feeling of wanting a challenge. i felt the same way when i worked the general medical floors as oppose to the cardiac units. there was always something for me to learn and i always had to push myself to grow on the cardiac floors as oppose to general med surg. however, there were nurses on the general med surg floor with whom i worked that were not bored and who felt challenged every shift. i suppose it boils down to interest. if you have very little interest in something you will not find it challenging.
my guess is you will need to figure out what it is you want to do when you grow up. once you figure out your niche in nursing and transfer to that specialty, you will need to take that job with realistic expectations. you need to realize that at some point the job will not be the challenge it once was because you have grown to know it very well. however, it is possible to continue to set goals for yourself so that you challenge yourself at work.
another point, i agree with the others that joining the military is not a bad option. i am in the process of rejoining. from past experience, i have realistic expectations and goals for my life and that of my family that fits into the military life-style. in addition, i not only want to be an army nurse and serve my fellow service members as well as my country, i am also doing it because the army has the best trauma nurses in the world and that is what i want to be!
on the other hand, i disagree with the others that military life is always "exciting" sort-to-speak. after a while it too is a job that is repetitious. in order to continue to enjoy your job in the military (especially if you find your niche), you must be able to be disciplined enough to set your own personal career goals and work towards those goals. thus, if you choose to join the military do it for very good reasons or else you will have huge regrets and make the lives of your co-worker's a living nightmare. gl!
sunnycalifRN
902 Posts
a very close friend, who is an adrenaline-junkie (extreme sports, etc), felt like you, so he became a flight nurse and loves it . . . gets to treat all kinds of trauma (motor vehicle, gun shot, stabbings) and does critical care transports. however, he already had many years of trauma icu and er beforehand.