I am my own worst enemy

[nursingaround1]

I am crap career nurse. To me, nursing was a way to get by, to work a bit, then travel a lot, work some more, then ski for a winter. Nursing helped me have fun, but I paid nothing back to it, or myself. I was an immature nurse, never thinking of the future, never planning, or furthering my own career. And now, after more than 20yrs of nursing, I'm a school nurse - please no offence to school nurses. But I went to a DOD school nurse conference in austria a couple of years ago, DOD (I think that's right) is the american defence military bases around europe. They have families living on base, and hence schools and school nurses. Out of 100 nurses, I was the only male.

The nurses were lovely, but not only was I the only male, I was the youngest person there. What have I done to my career.

I mean, I do enjoy my job, and I enjoy working with kids, although the military guys at the conference did have a bit of a chuckle at my predicament, but in a nice way, not a mean way.

I never planned on being a school nurse, but it's a job and it pays the bills. Has anyone else's career turned stagnant, and just a means to pay the bills?

I never did all the things I wanted to do, but then again, do any of us? If was put in an emergency room now, I'd be good with the minor injuries, but for the serious stuff, I'd be out of date with every single medical practice around.

I even looked at moving back to a hospital in England, but they wouldn't have me, and kept on saying I'd killed my career by spending so much time in school.

Anyway, no real point to this, just feeling a bit down.

[Jensmom7, BSN, RN]

How can you tell us how you've worked psych, ER, school nursing all over the world, OB, neuro, medsurg, peds, etc (I can't even keep up) then tell us you've lived a shallow and meaningless life? Seems to me you've had a lot of great adventures and touched many people's lives.

Personally, I think he's the Cherry Ames of the 21st century.

And about as believable. But still a fun read when you're on the mood.

Addendum-I just looked over the title list for Cherry Ames books; she was actually a "Department Store Nurse" at one point lol. Wonder what the clinicals for that one were like?? 😛

[bloatedputti, MSN, RN]

There are plenty of ways to find what you love. Go online and get a certification, take a webinar series, fluff your resume. Have something to show prospective employers. Hang in there.

[pixiestudent2]

Are you kidding me?

I think you've had the most exciting career that a nurse could possibly have.

[jdub6]

Enough; thought you worked at a boarding school for wealthy kids, where you take them to Paris or skiing or something and rapes occur?

The US Dept of Defense does not run any boarding schools for military children in England, of that I am sure. And very few US military families could be called wealthy.

I am new enough here that I wouldn't normally dive into a, um, controversial (?) Thread like this. However, as a former military kid I need to jump in and say, to give the op reasonable doubt, the U.S. military most certainly does operate on overseas bases. Some of these bases, especially in ally (sp?) countries like the UK, house both the soldier and their dependants aka spouse and minor children in on-base housing. When this is the case on larger bases there may well be on-base schools (particularly in countries where most schools are not taught in English) and if not there are arrangements for education of the children at a contract school. The OP did not actually say these were "boarding schools" and certainly did not say the families were wealthy; technically on,base schools are sort of like boarding school in that you live on the same premesis but you are living with your family. And either way this costs nothing extra for the families if the service member is assigned to that base for active duty and the children are legal, registered dependants.

Since I'm posting anyway...As for the OPs dilemma, I've read your prior posts about your many varied unique experiences and like the pp quoted I find it hard to believe that of these are true you are having problems with your resume. But I have been in a job others (including my family) considered "dead end" very early in my career and made it out. I cannot speak to the existential crisis, but for those looking to move to "higher" career grounds all I can say is if you look long and hard enough and represent yourself well enough in resume and interviews you can certainly use your school experience as a selling point to at least get you onto the ladder to the position you desire, even if you start on the bottom rung (as someone else said, start over in med surg at a smaller hospital and move up.) Also, network! Ask any, every and all nurses you know where they work, have worked, have applied, have had clinical and what it was like. You will hear of opportunities you never knew existed and you will also get a feel for what are good "re-entry" jobs by looking for other people's job progression and asking "so what was it like going from the podiatry clinic to the ABC Hospital ED, and how did you end up there anyway?"

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

feel free to work med surg for a few days with the customer service requirement involved, and you'll be begging for your old job back.

[nursingaround1]

Enough; thought you worked at a boarding school for wealthy kids, where you take them to Paris or skiing or something and rapes occur?

The US Dept of Defense does not run any boarding schools for military children in England, of that I am sure. And very few US military families could be called wealthy.

I usually enjoy crazy, but I'm not in the mood tonight. So pretty please just stop.

There are military bases all around Europe. They have schools, and these schools have nurses. They have a regular yearly conference, often in Germany, but once on a military base in Austria, right on the border with Germany, not far from skiing. This place we went to was a holiday place for the soldiers and their families. But there are American nurses all over Europe, working on various bases. You suggest I'm making this up, but that's pretty hard to do, as something like this would be easy to pick holes.

[nursingaround1]

Are you kidding me?

I think you've had the most exciting career that a nurse could possibly have.

Varied, yes, travelled yes, but I would like to help more. Have a friend from Zimbabwe and hopefully be there for next summer if can work it with the family. She founded an charity for children with no parents, but she doesn't like to call it an orphanage. It began because when HIV first came to the country, parents were wiped out, and grandparents found themselves raising the grandchildren. The grandmothers banded together, and my friend organised them and hence this foundation. They provide a temporary home, education and x3 nutritious meals a day. She wants me to go over there, says I'll fit right in. I think something like this will be good for me, plus I can really help people in need.

And yes, before I get attacked for speaking like this, I do realise there is plenty of people needing help closer to home, but this is an opportunity I cannot pass up.

[TheNGTKingRN]

I'm 22... I've been a RN for 1.5 years on a postoperative unit and already feel like I'm stagnating.

I totally understand.

[Farawyn]

I'm 22... I've been a RN for 1.5 years on a postoperative unit and already feel like I'm stagnating.

I totally understand.

You guys can UNstagnate yourselves, you know.

There's so many nursing paths to pursue.

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

Do you two know what the definition of insanity is?

[Cola89]

The guys are just jealous. You have a M-F job that pays the bills. If someone told you that you killed your career by staying in one place too long, that's weird. You are still a nurse and still capable of learning.

[TheNGTKingRN]

Do you two know what the definition of insanity is?

Funny....... =/