Looking for career direction and advice

[NewRNin2017]

I just graduated nursing school with my RN in May and am working on my BSN. I busted my butt in school and graduated with a 3.95GPA. However, this has gotten me nowhere. In spite of applying many places in town, I am still working in LTC where I started as an LPN over a year ago and honestly, I hate it. What worries me is that all through nursing school clinicals, I never found an area that was interesting to me except for maybe case management. I'm a big time introvert, maybe even have some social anxiety. I'm an awful communicator, and talking with patients and families and even doctors drains me terribly. I think I am best suited to something with research or just mainly computer-based, but I don't want to have wasted all the time I spent in nursing school for nothing. There must be a career path that requires an RN degree in which I can work behind the scenes! However, I can't seem to find one that doesn't require some kind of different degree. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

You may need to look into something like Informatics, which may indeed require you to procure an MSN in Nursing Informatics.

Most specialized types of nursing positions require 2-5 years of acute care experience. You may have to get a little help dealing with your social anxiety for a while in order to get into a specialty that is more your speed. There are a lot of introverts out there, so being one doesn't necessarily mean you aren't meant to be a nurse. You may just have to work your schedule and your habits to help compensate for the down time you need to recenter yourself. Schedule your shifts every other day if possible.

Nursing will always require additional education, no matter what. I know you probably feel all "schooled out" right now. Try not to let that settle in too much. Since continuing education is just part of what we do to stay good at our jobs, select something that will make you happier and go for it.

[NurseRay92]

I work nights in the ICU and find that I have lots of autonomy when I work. You will have to communicate with team members and physicians but most of the time the families aren't there at night and you can really focus on honing in your skills and independent research on whatever the patients condition may be.

[Flatline, BSN, RN]

My wife works from home for an insurance company reviewing charts. I work in an office for a medical manufacturer. I know companies hire nurses for all kinds of things like reviewing studies, designing clinical trials, developing products, etc.

Informatics is a great option but keep in mind that there is the hospital informatics side and the industry side. I would highly recommend that you look into some professional conferences and attend a couple, you might get some good ideas.

[2mint]

Informatics is a great option but keep in mind that there is the hospital informatics side and the industry side.

OP, in the hospital setting, you're basically the nursing IT: these nurses teach and trouble-shoot the charting system, so you need to have an efficient and effective communication skills, along with basic computer skills--you're an IT in the software side, not hardware side (so IT skills may not be a deal breaker for hiring consideration if you're already an employee).