nursing career without touching people

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I am about to graduate with my BSN and I absolutely do not want to be a nurse that has patient contact. My second semester of nursing school I had an exposure at clinical and I have since been diagnosed with PTSD and OCD. I have been taking medication and I am currently going to therapy but I am absolutely terrified of anything relating touching people of any nursing tasks. I was wondering what I can do with my degree that would not entail touching people (preferably office work) with no experience. Thank you so much

Specializes in LTC, Psych, Hospice.
Im still amazed by this question. its like

"I want to be a math teacher but i really don't like math or children. Is there anything else i can do with that degree?"

:down:

That's pretty harsh. I hope you never have to experience PTSD-----it's not fun.

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, Hospice.
Thank you and yes this is exactly what happened. I tried to rely to your message xtxrn but I am still figuring out this site. Thank you for your support.

You need 15 posts before you can respond to a PM. :rolleyes:

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Specializes in hospice, ortho,clinical review.
:down:

That's pretty harsh. I hope you never have to experience PTSD-----it's not fun.

Not only that, making that correlation the other poster made, made no sense. She didn't say she wanted to be trauma nurse but can't handle blood or needles, she said she still wants to be a nurse in some other capacity. I don't see what's so weird about that. That's why nursing has many different branches.

I know quite a few nurses who do work in different nursing capacities other than bedside and left bedside well under a year. Just because it's not happening in your little world doesn't mean those nurses don't exist. (They probably just have more common sense than to post on a board that loves to tear others apart :D)

OP, just take heart that the people that feel so superior in their GRAND choice of whatever specialty they're excelling in, if they have nothing better to do that take potshots and lame comparisons and show an utter lack of compassion, something that should be a hallmark of all nurses, but sadly is not....well they must live really sad little lives outside of their grand nursing career. Again, I wish you the best.

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"I hope that you never have any patients who have had unfortunate circumstances and have real emotional problems going on because your true colors have shown in this post."

Very well said except you are not a patient and you were not coming here as a patient.. You came here asking to get blasted, then being shocked when it happend. Sounds like some drama, I shouldve have replied. The last thing the world needs is another nurse with "real emotional problems" sorry but that's the truth. Before everyone starts harpin on about PTSD..please spare me. After 12 years in the Army, Im pretty sure everyone has a little PTSD from something.

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"I hope that you never have any patients who have had unfortunate circumstances and have real emotional problems going on because your true colors have shown in this post."

Very well said except you are not a patient and you were not coming here as a patient.. You came here asking to get blasted, then being shocked when it happend. Sounds like some drama, I shouldve have replied. The last thing the world needs is another nurse with "real emotional problems" sorry but that's the truth. Before everyone starts harpin on about PTSD..please spare me. After 12 years in the Army, Im pretty sure everyone has a little PTSD from something.

A new member wouldn't know that a question would get her blasted. :) People's reactions to situations, as well as degrees of PTSD are very individualized. JMO

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Please stop bashing those of us who thought the original post was a hoax. Many of the hallmarks are there:

1) new user

2) first post

3) extremely odd/unusual/controversial problem

4) no response from OP for several pages after first post

A couple of us have already apologized. Just because we thought the post was fake, it doesn't make us compassionless or harsh. It just makes us wrong.

OP, I admittedly don't know your situation or even that much about nursing yet (still a student). But I hope you can overcome the obstacles in your life.

Somebody may have mentioned this, but what about telephone triage or one of those call-a-nurse places? I don't know how much hands on experience you might need for those, but it might be worth investigating.

Good luck!

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please stop bashing those of us who thought the original post was a hoax. many of the hallmarks are there:

1) new user

2) first post

3) extremely odd/unusual/controversial problem

4) no response from op for several pages after first post

a couple of us have already apologized. just because we thought the post was fake, it doesn't make us compassionless or harsh. it just makes us wrong.

op, i admittedly don't know your situation or even that much about nursing yet (still a student). but i hope you can overcome the obstacles in your life.

somebody may have mentioned this, but what about telephone triage or one of those call-a-nurse places? i don't know how much hands on experience you might need for those, but it might be worth investigating.

good luck!

okay, this is the internet. there is still no guarantee that the post is true. people post falsehoods all the time on the internet. trolls actually often come back and defend their posts-they are not all hit and runs. i'm actually one for giving the benefit of the doubt, but in your defense, there's really no way to know for sure. just because someone answers and re-asserts doesn't really give definitive proof of anything. everything we believe here is a leap of faith, even things i or you post. so, i understand when people verbalize skepticism. i think a little bit of that is actually healthy when you are dealing with the internet. as long as you don't violate the site's tos, i don't think you really need to apologize too vigorously.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I was diagnosed with PTSD after having a child die of cancer. I wanted to be a nurse. I got into school and discovered oncology, BMT and hospice are rough on me. So I kind of "get" what you are saying.

I underwent EMDR and it helped immensely with only a few sessions. You might do some research and see if it would help you too. I still don't think I belong in oncology or hospice. But if I encounter an oncology patient on my floor, I will be able to handle it and I am going forward with a positive feeling.

Best of luck.

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Specializes in LTC.

This board is going to give her PTSD.

What about a family practice? They aren't too terribly hands on, are they?

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Specializes in I'm too new to have a specialty.

As a new grad, you take what you can get. I think even like insurance company nurses have years of experience, if they did not how could they know what to do and say and what advice to give.

I got one interview as a new grad as a case manager, and I want patient contact so I did not want to get stuck as a case manager with no real experience being a nurse. Plus, how can a manage cases I do not know how to be the nurse taking care of the patient.

May be a stupid question and I am not trying to be mean but why did you continue with your degree and not change majors to like healthcare administration once you knew patients were not ur thing?

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Specializes in I'm too new to have a specialty.

How do you get OCD from a traumatic experience? OCD as in the disorder, or OCD as in the personality disorder? There are mental requirements to being a nurse mandated by the board of nursing, so I suggest getting treatment for your disorders and then you will be able to get a nursing job with patients after you are better.

Can I speak for all of us nurses that we have all had an experience (not to downgrade yours) that could make us PTSD if not multiple.

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Please stop bashing those of us who thought the original post was a hoax. Many of the hallmarks are there:

1) new user

2) first post

3) extremely odd/unusual/controversial problem

4) no response from OP for several pages after first post

A couple of us have already apologized. Just because we thought the post was fake, it doesn't make us compassionless or harsh. It just makes us wrong.

OP, I admittedly don't know your situation or even that much about nursing yet (still a student). But I hope you can overcome the obstacles in your life.

Somebody may have mentioned this, but what about telephone triage or one of those call-a-nurse places? I don't know how much hands on experience you might need for those, but it might be worth investigating.

Good luck!

Amen. :up:

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