Least stressful nursing specialty

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What does everyone think is the least stressful nursing specialty?

Perhaps! In terms of patient load it correlates to ICU, 1:1, 1:2. SCBU is 1:3,4,5 depending on the acuity. No heavy lifting! But many of the babies are there for months and so are the family's problems, lots of social work stuff. Same equipment as ICU, vents, chest drains, Central and arterial lines, multiple infusions just like adults but the drugs are measured in mcgs! We do emergency surgery at times when the patient is too fragile to survive the transport to the OR. Death and disability are part of the daily environment. And your patients are babies, not adults, that can be a stressor for some.

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there's been at least 3-4 post with a response that fell exactly within the spectrum of responses that i mentioned since my last post :roflmao:

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Specializes in LTC, geriatric, renal.

DoeRN, what are you now trying to get into? I have been thinking the same thing myself and wondering how I can get an education for something else while still working as a RN to support myself. I'm young and nursing has already worn away at me.

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Is there such a thing?

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

NICU is very difficult due to the families and the parents..... I had a father pulling his baby's hair out before we turned everything off.... He was collecting it to have this babe cloned at a later date. That's just one example of the weirdness you get in there.

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I am a new grad (last May), doing a rural-health residency that allows me to be trained in all of the departments of our health care district. I have found endoscopy and recovery to be the least stressful, followed closely by clinic nursing. But that might just be our particular district and my particular temperament. :)

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Outpatient surgery, same day surgery. I do pre op right now for heart & vascular surgery. No nights, no weekends, no holidays, no call. Total open hours are 5-5 but we stagger start our shifts. I would say if scheduling is a stressor, then this is a good gig. You never know what time you are getting off though. So that can be a pain with childcare & getting enough hours sometime.

You are also on your own a lot. Granted none of our patients are critical but anything can happen and a lot of the time in the afternoons I am the only person back there with them. So that can be a little scary. We do have the OR right there though if we need something.

There is a lot of dealing with anxious patients and family members. It's kind of hard to clip neck to ankles & throw in an IV in 30 min with 10 family members on top of you. But for the most part patients are not with us very long. We get them ready as quickly as possible and then they are off to the OR. I have to go get inpatients from floors a lot. Spend a lot of time on the phone trying to make sure they have everything they need before surgery. Especially open hearts have a lot of tests/labs that need to be done before 0700 surgery.

Also deal a lot directly with the surgeons, anesthesia, and the entire OR team. That can be stressful. A lot of strong personalities. Overall I enjoy it way more than step down care though which is the only other thing I've done.

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Specializes in Flight, ER, Transport, ICU/Critical Care.

Flight.

1 patient at a time.

2 providers (me & my generally, very experienced partner).

Limited time with patient.

Generally limited to no interaction with patient (sometimes medicated & intubated / or just really medicated).

Generally limited to no interaction with patient's family.

Interactions with other members of the healthcare team and referral community is ALWAYS positive (even in cases where docs have tubed the R mainstem and the sats are low -or- hung a NTG drip for BP control in the case of an ICH with midline shift) cause all I can say per policy is "Strong work, thanks for calling!", and quietly correct the issue, get the patient out of their care & in the air. Tho to be fair most of our referral sources were very good.

Well, to be be honest — that last part is a bit stressful. Swallowing your integrity. A real clinician would be able to correct the idiot docs. Hey, pull that tube back - 30 at the teeth is bad. Nitro dilates the vessels and is extending that head bleed and is gonna kill this guy. BTW dude what did the L1 referral neurosurgical team say when you told them? Oh, you didn't mention the nitro drip? You don't say? You are an idiot!

The busiest day had me making 5 flights in 24 hours. My least "busy" did not have me making a flight in over 5 weeks of shifts. Tho station time can be "stressful". Lol. Average ~1 flight a shift.

Flight turnaround -- about 4 hours MAX (from call, to arrival, to destination, back to base, fuel, paperwork & a/c cleaning-stocking) usually less.

Yeah, the patient might be really sick or injured. But, we (the team) are really capable IF that is the case. More often than not, it wasn't. Lots of education and clinical hours to keep up. But, that's not really stressful.

Have to mention, the lethal elephant in the room. The occasional to not so industry or company occasional crash that turns into a memorial for someone you know and care about can be very STRESSFUL.

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I solved the stress issues. I quit nursing.

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I haven't read all the responses, but I think it has much more to do with the nurse than the specialty.

I vote for ER.

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Specializes in School Nurse, professor, OBGYN.

Postpartum

school nursing

professor job

ER

They all will have random days of craziness, but very low key for the most part, and redundant.

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Not working in nursing is stress free from what I hear...

Not so, I think. Life itself is filled with plenty of stress.

How would you like to have to watch a coworker pee in a cup like Nurse Zoey? LOL

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