Members are discussing the stress levels and compensation in various nursing specialties. Some members mention that nursing is a practical means to earn a living, while others share their experiences in different nursing roles such as hospice nursing, med/surg, and occupational health nursing. There is also mention of the importance of clinical experience, finding one's niche in nursing, and managing stress through coping mechanisms and self-care.
This is my first post here so bear with me. I am a current RN student and while my main focus right now is finishing the program I am nevertheless interested in finding out more about different specialties from nurses who have been there.
I have yet to decide on a nursing specialty for sure. To be honest money is a big motivator for me..but a post I read from forum member THE COMMUTER really struck me as exaclty how I feel. It stated id rather love my personal life and tolerate my job than tolerate my life and love my job. By this I mean im never going to enjoy work, I mostly enjoy traveling, exploring , cars..etc..(hence money motivated).
So begs the question...what nursing specialty out of the seemingly hundreds...would be very low stress on a daily basis and very good pay ( even if masters level as I have considered the NP route after RN school).
Any suggestions? ( I know im kinda asking for the best of both worlds here but im looking for things closest to what I seek). Thanks in advance everyone.
The best kept secret in nursing is home health,particularly Private Duty nursing working 1 on 1 through an agency!
The OP said "still great pay." Private duty is the lowest paying nursing specialty around. At the agency I was a manager at (not for PDN patients but we had a large PDN population), all RNs were paid the same, regardless of experience and their hourly rate was the same as I made as a new grad 9 years ago.
To answer the OP, you will not find what you are looking for right out of school. My jobs have gotten progressively easier/less stressful and better paying as I've gone along in my career. I am currently working the least stressful job I've ever had and making about 50% more than I ever made working in the hospital. But I've been a nurse for 9 years.
The people can make or break your work environment, regardless of the actual specialty. Teamwork is so important, which I realize working with a dysfunctional team.
The actual job is great, but the team overshadows this for me.
The problem is that what is considered stressful is rather subjective. I love psych but I've seen nurses lock themselves in the med room crying because they couldn't handle being on the psych unit. Meanwhile others thrive in places like ICU and L&D and if I were to work either one, I'd be hiding under a bed. So keep that in mind when looking at the specialties.
If you want more family-friendly hours (not necessarily lower stress, mind you), you could consider settings outside the hospital, e.g. outpatient, medical offices, schools, etc.). The problem there is that it's rare for a new grad to get hired into them: a couple of years of experience is often required. Also, the pay is usually much lower than you'd find in acute care. Plus, a lot of NP programs want applicants to have acute care experience, which you will not get working in these settings.
You want it all, and unfortunately, you will likely not get it all, at least not as a new grad. You'll have to decide what's most important to you (and only you can decide that) and where you are willing to compromise/sacrifice.
First, let's be realistic. If you are a new nurse right out of school with no experience, you probably will not be in a position to demand high pay. I live in a small town with 3 prominent hospitals and on average a brand new ER nurse commands $25-26/hr (I live in Texas); other specialties may pay more. If you're already thinking about higher pay and less stress, then are you in nursing for the right reason? Nursing is a calling, not just a job. Critical care areas such as labor & delivery, NICU, ER, ICU, Telemetry, CCU pay more, but are stressful, require skill, experience and knowledge. You'll have to earn it! Hospice, home health, rehab, prison, school nursing, office or clinic nursing, are less stressful, but not necessarily more money. You may try working in occupational health, an immunization clinic, an insurance office for a less stressful job. But if you're commanding the higher pay jobs, then get ready to work for the higher pay. Your pay will also be determined by how you decide to work: M-F 8-5; 12 hours shifts days or nights because of shift differentials and weekend differentials. Travel nursing pays well, but will require experience. Find a good preceptor program in something you think you'll enjoy (perhaps a favorite part of clinical) and gain some experience. After a year or two of experience, you can apply for travel nursing jobs, make great money, and do what you enjoy (traveling, exploring) to have the best of both worlds.
First, let's be realistic. If you are a new nurse right out of school with no experience, you probably will not be in a position to demand high pay. I live in a small town with 3 prominent hospitals and on average a brand new ER nurse commands $25-26/hr (I live in Texas); other specialties may pay more. If you're already thinking about higher pay and less stress, then are you in nursing for the right reason? Naursing [sic] is a calling, not just a job. Critical care areas such as labor & delivery, NICU, ER, ICU, Telemetry, CCU pay more, but are stressful, require skill, experience and knowledge. You'll have to earn it! Hospice, home health, rehab, prison, school nursing, office or clinic nursing, are less stressful, but not necessarily more money. You may try working in occupational health, an immunization clinic, an insurance office for a less stressful job. But if you're commanding the higher pay jobs, then get ready to work for the higher pay. Your pay will also be determined by how you decide to work: M-F 8-5; 12 hours shifts days or nights because of shift differentials and weekend differentials. Travel nursing pays well, but will require experience. Find a good preceptor program in something you think you'll enjoy (perhaps a favorite part of clinical) and gain some experience. After a year or two of experience, you can apply for travel nursing jobs, make great money, and do what you enjoy (traveling, exploring) to have the best of both worlds.
I would think it would be more stressful to decide to seek out such a specialized job as a new grad.
Focus on getting through school and passing the NCLEX. Personally, the low stress job for me was one I could get and in close to where I lived. Nothing low stress about being unemployed...
If you want less stress, don't sign up for a long commute and don't pick up lots of overtime. Overtime $$ is great but in order to earn it you have to pull full-time hours. By the time you get to that overtime shift, you may be tapped out on family members, trips to the bathroom all night, working without a tech, staring with 4 + the first admission, you get the picture.
There will be stress in any job. As other posters have said, there are trade-offs. The job market is not a cakewalk. I was happy to be hired on a tele floor near where I live. Never thought about working tele but I have come to enjoy things about it. I was relieved to get back to working full-time after two years of part-time work. I paid off my consumer debt (phew)! and have a fifteen-minute commute. You decide what your trade off is. I would keep your options open and in a few years you can probably move to something like home health but I wouldn't want to start off there as a new grad.
They are all stressful in some way. I have done almost all of them. No kidding. Well, okay, I missed a few I just thought of. It is subjective. Where you fit best has something to do with your own unique personality and traits.
Specializes in QA, ID/DD, Correctional, Education.
For the record OP I have a fair number of years in the I/DD field and it is not in any fashion stress free for a nurse. There is the on call aspects which can be exhausting, there are productivity expectations, there is dealing with insurance coverage issues when trying to obtain care for the clients. Try spending hours on the phone and internet finding a specialist who is part of the latest managed care network for Medicaid. There are lengthy and redundant reports and meetings. In addition since there is not shift to shift coverage by the nurses the nurse has global responsibility for health and welfare issues which ties into that on call all the time thing. Granted most of the companies I have worked for do rotate the call on the weekends or have an on call nurse but it can still lead to some very long days.
It is not a job for a new grad by any means. Like home health you are assessing things solo quite often with your only nursing resource being on the other end of a phone. You might not do a lot of procedures or hands on care but you need to be sharp in your assessment skills because many clients are non verbal or limited in their ability to describe an issue. If one does this it is because of the hours, the focus being less task driven and, frankly, because of enjoying working with people with disabilities. One last thing unlike a hospital where the patient/family from Hades is only there for a limited time one frequently finds themselves dealing with the family from Hades for years at a time.
IMO OP what you are wanting from nursing is not something a new grad is equipped to handle. You need that "stress" and experience to learn how to be the best nurse possible. That is not a justification for poor staffing or unsafe environments but one cannot just sail through the day and learn how to deal with literal life and death issues without stress and being challenged in the mix. And when one can do that then one has, again in my opinion, earned that "low stress, high paying" job.
Yikes...some kind of biting replies...i guess maybe low stress is too individualized of a description..i by no means meant easy or slack off job..i meant more of a job where ur not constantly worrying, getting yelled at, or worse haha. I guess ive worked with a lott of nurses in the last 5 years and every one of them hated the hospital setting (however i realize some people do love it and its not anyrhing I've counted out at all)
Ayestole by sales training and marketing experiences are you saying that this is a career for nurses who have gone back to school for marketing and sales...or do the pharm companies typically hire former nurses and do all their own marketing sales training in house?
I can see myself enjoying work as a nurse at a group home similar to the one i work at now...i can also see myself enjoying 40-50 dollars an hour and getting overtime pay on top haha! Thx foe the replies so far everyone
Sales training is many times a kind of clinical training. Training non-clinical sales reps to function in a clinical environment, teaching them disease processes, and how products interact.
No need to go back to school for anything but a MPH or MBA does help in leadership positions. Companies hire a ton of floor nurses as they are. They want your clinical experience, not your business experience.
ECMO specialist? Not low-stress. Soooo not low-stress.
I have years of ICU experience, and I can't even run ECMO. I don't work enough hours per week to qualify. My unit trains RNs after a minimum of 3 years' ICU experience, we have to work at least a 0.8 FTE, make a commitment to our unit (can't remember how long), and be willing to take call hours and work without breaks, if there isn't another ECMO RN available to relieve them. They also care for MICU and peds pts on ECMO -- not just adult SICU pts.
The ECMO RNs then only get a pt when we have someone on ECMO, of course. The rest of the time, they're working with any other stressful ICU pt...or stepdown unit boarders. (The folks who go from hospital to hospital only running ECMO -- at least in my area -- are perfusionists, not RNs.)
Also note that ECMO pts have a large blood volume outside their body. One little malfunction, misstep, etc can quickly make that pt a DEAD pt.
KelRN215, BSN, RN
1 Article; 7,349 Posts
The OP said "still great pay." Private duty is the lowest paying nursing specialty around. At the agency I was a manager at (not for PDN patients but we had a large PDN population), all RNs were paid the same, regardless of experience and their hourly rate was the same as I made as a new grad 9 years ago.
To answer the OP, you will not find what you are looking for right out of school. My jobs have gotten progressively easier/less stressful and better paying as I've gone along in my career. I am currently working the least stressful job I've ever had and making about 50% more than I ever made working in the hospital. But I've been a nurse for 9 years.