Burnt Out NICU RN

Published May 25, 2018

51 Posts

Specializes in NICU.

Hello,

I am a burnt out NICU nurse. I know I am intelligent. I have my certification in NICU nursing and have been in the field for 9 years as a nurse and 2 years as an extern during nursing school. I also really love the actual task and interpersonal part of the job. That being said, I can't seem to keep a job in the field because my generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder gives me brain fog, I forget things, and I am not as meticulous as I once was. My first job (6 years) I chose resignation in lieu of termination because there were parental complaints that I wasn't very cheery (hello depression) and patient satisfaction vs. quality of care was of utmost importance to management, the second (6 months) I left because the NICU was absolutely horrendous and I couldn't face going in to work anymore and was literally bed bound, and the third (current, 2.5 years) I am being terminated because I did a really dumb thing and accessed my own medical record without thinking about it (which apparently is an immediate termination now) but otherwise the job was going well and I was the most requested primary nurse.

I'm not sure I want to keep doing this to myself. So where do I go from here? I don't have any adult health experience, nor do I desire to work in that field. I need a similar salary due to medical requirements, and I don't care if I utilize my degree or not. At this point my happiness and health is more important.

I've always thought floristry sounded really fun and low stress but it doesn't pay much. I thought about being a Newborn Specialist but worry that dealing with people would become an issue again.

If I'm a mostly agreeable, prefer structure, am good at independent work, and persistent, what options might I have if I want to stay at a $45000+ salary? I don't mind mindless work like inputting data or something like that but it would be nice to like my job.