ICU - No Thank You!

[magster3200]

Hello everyone! I was just wondering how many of you don't want to work in a hospital when you get out of nursing school. For me, I have always known that I do NOT want to be just a general med-surg nurse or an ICU nurse. I want the same types of patients every time, such as OB. Some may see that as boring, but I see it as stability and consistency personally.

I know of some people who want to be nurses, but they have never had a desire to work in a hospital. They would rather work in an office or something of that sort.

So, what do you all prefer?

Thanks all!

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

I've been an LVN for 5 years & even though I've never had hospital experience I fell in love with corrections. I don't know if I ever plan on working in a hospital.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Hello everyone! I was just wondering how many of you don't want to work in a hospital when you get out of nursing school. For me, I have always known that I do NOT want to be just a general med-surg nurse or an ICU nurse. I want the same types of patients every time, such as OB. Some may see that as boring, but I see it as stability and consistency personally.

I know of some people who want to be nurses, but they have never had a desire to work in a hospital. They would rather work in an office or something of that sort.

So, what do you all prefer?

Thanks all!

What do you mean by "just" a general med surg nurse?

RNs are generally not hired to work in doctor's offices anymore unless they are advanced practice nurses. They hire MAs, who are much cheaper to employ.

I have a background in ICU and it can be extremely stressful, hard work. But it can also be very exciting and tremendously interesting and fulfilling.

Now I work endo, where I have "the same types of patients" for the most part. I no longer have to work nights, weekends, or holidays. Patients have to be generally in decent shape in order to have their cases done here as opposed to the hospital, so in that sense it is far less stressful.

The other side to having a job which is pretty repetitive is that it can be far less exciting. I work PRN there and PRN in a plastic surgery OR, so I do get some variety. If I had to do endo all day every day at this facility, I'd go nuts.

There are pros and cons to every job. I'd advise all students to keep an open mind about where you'll end up. A WHOLE lot of nursing students think they want to work L & D, but by the time they've done their clinicals all over the place, most find another preferred area.

Enjoy these times in school. :)

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Hello everyone! I was just wondering how many of you don't want to work in a hospital when you get out of nursing school. For me, I have always known that I do NOT want to be just a general med-surg nurse or an ICU nurse. I want the same types of patients every time, such as OB. Some may see that as boring, but I see it as stability and consistency personally.

I know of some people who want to be nurses, but they have never had a desire to work in a hospital. They would rather work in an office or something of that sort.

So, what do you all prefer?

Thanks all!

It's OK to not want to work in a hospital, although I take exception to your use of the word "just." I personally have worked in hospitals for four decades. I found my niche in the ICU. But there are other career paths.

When my mother was in her first nursing home, I ran into a woman I went to high school with. She'd been working at that nursing home, on that floor for 36 years and she LOVED it. Her husband wanted her to retire but she was resisting because she'd miss her residents too much. I couldn't have worked there. I couldn't have done that type of work. But I will always be eternally grateful that my schoolmate was there and that she loved her work (and my mother.) A good friend went from the ICU to corrections and loves it there. Another good friend went from ICU to being DON of a nursing home -- there are all kinds of nursing jobs. And fortunately, there are all kinds of nurses.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

OP: I take your post to mean that you're still a student... if that's the case, then I would simply recommend that you simply look at all the options that nursing school lays out for you. While you're a student, you'll be exposed to many different areas of nursing. I rotated through med/surg, tele, ortho, neuro, oncology, peds, maternity (high risk, L&D, post partum, NICU), psych, all were places I spent a few weeks at least. I also had "spinouts" to ICU, ED, OR, and so on where I'd be there for a couple days and return to my normal floor.

Med/Surg can get a bit repetitious. You'll eventually see the same kinds of patients over and over again. It's really much the same as in any department/unit/floor. Some of my classmates really didn't want to work in Psych... now they work in Psych and LOVE the work they do. Currently I work in the ED and I may have an opportunity to switch to ICU. If I'm offered that, I'll take it because I know that ICU will challenge me and I know I'll step up to the plate and it'll be a great learning experience for me. Do I want to work Med/Surg? Not really... Med-Tele, sure. Can I do Med/Surg? Sure. It just won't challenge me in the way that I need right now.

My point? Simple. Don't foreclose any job before you really are done with school. Be a bit introspective so that you really will get an idea what you want when you graduate and where you need to be challenged to make you a better nurse. You may hate the work somewhere, but you might find that the knowledge and skills you pick up will help you in another job.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I think it's great that OP already seems to have a fairly high level of self-awareness. It's very important to understand our own limitations and motivators.

I do want to reply to an apparent misunderstanding of OB. To the lay public, it would certainly seem that OB should be very 'routine' because there isn't much variety in how babies enter the world. But the reality is much different. If you need any evidence of this, take a look at the (fairly grim) US statistics related to childbirth adverse events. There's really no such thing as a completely predictable birth. L&D nurses have to have top-notch assessment skills & be ready to intervene at a moment's notice.