Least stressful nursing specialty

Julius Seizure · Feb 17, 2016

They don't work in my unit lol Of course all we do is sit and rock babies all night. Huh!

Haha yes I've heard that one before. The days I actually get to sit and rock a baby are few and far between. I wish I had more time to do it!

djh123 · Feb 17, 2016

I had to skim this topic because I may need to find a lower-stress type of nursing, or at least a different facility. One commenter said an ER nurse didn't like having to juggle 5-6 patients in a rehab hospital... I'd love to only have 5-6 patients, although yes, in my LTC facility they're *usually* lower acuity, but the true acuity level changes every day, of course.

But the real problem at my facility - and/or due to the corporation - is the extra stuff that has added an average of an hour to every day... it's just not worth it.

nutella, MSN, RN · Feb 17, 2016

I guess that depends on what you consider "low pay". In psych I make over $30 with shift diff. More than I made in my former career

Sure - always depends. But in comparison I make around $ 11 or $ 12 per hour more in my hospital job now.

Although I was very interested in psych nursing and interviewed at a great psych hospital I was just not willing to work for that much less...

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Feb 17, 2016

Scrubs are the epitome of working in your jammies.

Epitome is subjective. I work from home in my jammies. Scrubs are too scratchy.

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Feb 17, 2016

Psych is pretty non- stressful once you get used to the types of patients you get. My unit doesn't take medically compromised patients outside of having DM2 or HTN. No wounds, IVs, catheters. No bed bounds. All ambulatory and self toileting. Most invasive thing is an IM injection of psych meds when pt acts out. Pills and charting mostly. An occasional Code Grey with restraints but it is not as common as you may think.

I found psych to be highly stressful. Walking on eggshells the entire shift, waiting... waiting..waiting for somebody to go off. The only time I was physically assaulted , was by a 2:1 psychotic.

wannabecnl · Feb 17, 2016

I've only worked PACU, and I always chuckle when a well-meaning AN member sends nurses our way for less stress and an easier job! :)

There are stressors and stressors. My schedule is wonderful, especially as a per diem; we don't work overnights or weekends unless we are on call. The pay is the same as elsewhere in the hospital, and I have 1-2 patients at a time. My patients are all on monitors, and I have a room full of ACLS/PALS trained people to help in case of an emergency. For the most part I don't deal with families, and we have a great rapport with our anesthesia team. Lots of autonomy, variety, and challenges. Preop procedures are fascinating and always changing, so we learn new things all the time. These are all VERY GOOD things about PACU.

But any patient at any time can go south. It isn't the ICU, but it is critical care. We train for the worst and then wait for it to happen, and some skills get so little use (hanging blood comes to mind, along with drawing blood samples off a PICC, the really picky drips like Cardizem, etc.) that we never get that comfortable with them. Scary airway issues. Alcoholics waking up in a rage. Toddlers waking up in a rage. The rare patient going back to the OR for a complication (it always seems to take forever to get them back in there). These are stressful for me but less so for the more experienced nurses among us, so maybe it's just a comfort thing or my personality. For me, it is worth the trade-offs at this point. In the future I'd like to focus more on periop research and evidence-based practice, which would keep all the good stuff and lose some of the bigger stressors!

Although I'm not sure why I get stressed, since all we do in PACU is watch people sleep...

Julius Seizure · Feb 17, 2016

Toddlers waking up in a rage.

.

Yes.

.

rjones416 · Feb 17, 2016

Walk in clinic?

planetearth · Feb 17, 2016

I know people who say inpatient is very non-stressful, if you work at a small surgery center or the like. I also imagine that office nursing, research, or teaching would be pretty calm. Also, holistic nursing sounds like it actually could be relaxing!

I also had a friend tell me that being an EMT was the easiest nursing job he'd ever had, but he was ex-military, so take that with a grain of salt.

Nurse Leigh · Feb 17, 2016

I know people who say inpatient is very non-stressful, if you work at a small surgery center or the like. I also imagine that office nursing, research, or teaching would be pretty calm. Also, holistic nursing sounds like it actually could be relaxing!
I also had a friend tell me that being an EMT was the easiest nursing job he'd ever had, but he was ex-military, so take that with a grain of salt.

Ummmmm......

EMTs are not nurses unless they *also* have appropriate education and licensure as one.

Office nursing can be super hectic.

Inpatient, like bedside nursing? Non-stressful? Ha!

You do realize nursing *is* holistic as we are taught to deal with the person as a whole. That is a very important part of nursing. Not sure what you mean by "holistic nurse" from this post and the other thread you started.

elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P · Feb 18, 2016

youll never get a straight answer to this question for a number of reasons.

1. youll have people that say there is no answer because every specialty can be stressful--which doesn't answer the question at all. a pepper is a pepper and theyre both spicy, but jalapeno is definitely spicier than a banana pepper if you catch my drift

2. no one will say their specialty is low stress because itll almost be seen as an insult to their specialty and anyone else who works in that specialty. nobody wants to admit that their specialty is cake, lets be honest. bragging about how laid back your facility is, or how much you love your work environment is one thing, but saying the your whole specialty's scope of practice is easy is a bit insulting to yourself and anyone else that finds it difficult. if you contend that a specialty is universally easy or stress-free, it'll almost always get dismissed on the account of how your facility runs things, or will somehow get reflected upon you as a medical worker.

3. its 99% opinion based. stress is all on you, what your triggers are, and how you deal with it. thats why specialties exist. some people are much better equipped to handle certain situations that others shy away from. the whole medical field really is based on the fact that we're willing to deal with the grossness of the human body in a way that others aren't. i can personally handle anything thats thrown at me, as long as i know what im doing. the moment i feel doubt, or uncertainty about my next step, or if i made the right call, my stress level skyrockets quickly, to the point i may actually begin to sweat. so by my standard, literally every specialty that i'm not at the supreme highest doctorate level of knowledge will inevitably stress me out.

so, what you should really be asking to get a better idea of your perfect specialty would be, ask about specialties that have what you're looking for.

are you interested in monotony, or a dynamic, fluid specialty?

routine or nonroutine?

fast-paced or slow and steady?

protocol or critical thinking?

on your feet or at a desk?

level of patient interaction?

team work or lone wolf?

zeroing in on the preferences that will ensure a stress-free day is what will help you find your ideal "least stressful" specialty.

calivianya, BSN, RN · Feb 18, 2016

I've only worked PACU, and I always chuckle when a well-meaning AN member sends nurses our way for less stress and an easier job! :)

We have had three staff leave our unit for PACU within the last year (three different PACUs) and every single one of them has reported it's so much less stress. I guess it depends on where you're starting out from.

I'm thinking about making that jump myself if I ever see a spot open up within my hospital. I don't want to have to drive anywhere else, and I am not fully vested in my 403b yet.

I like alcoholics to stay asleep, though... waking them up sucks. I think I'd hate the waking people up part. I like it when I get to keep them sedated and/or paralyzed my whole shift.