Nursing Spark

[LemonDrop26]

I'm in my first year of a residency program. Nursing is my second career in the medical field (10yrs in pre-hospital) and it has been a long journey to get to where I am today. My co-workers are amazing and I like the program alright, but I quickly realized I wasn't as passionate about nursing as my peers who had dreamed of being nurses since they were in diapers. I applied to nursing school thinking that one day my nursing spark would ignite, but my passion for it has not deepened or developed.

I feel burnt out, and am now questioning if I made the right decision to become a nurse. I find myself dwelling on the negative aspects of my job and why I don't like it. I often work from a place of bias, as I struggle with trying to decided if nursing is for me.

Has anyone else felt this way? I am in my 30's and do not want to spend the rest of my career hopping around from department to department. Any advice or guidance would be helpful.

[scuba nurse, BSN, MSN, RN]

I think you need to figure out WHAT exactly you don't like about nursing, and then go from there. There are plenty of RN jobs that are not by the bedside (I assume that is what you are doing now) that you can use your degree and experience for, you just need to find your niche...and you will, it takes time!

Good luck!

["nursy", RN]

2 hours ago, LemonDrop26 said:

My co-workers are amazing and I like the program alright, but I quickly realized I wasn't as passionate about nursing as my peers who had dreamed of being nurses since they were in diapers.

2 hours ago, LemonDrop26 said:

I feel burnt out, and am now questioning if I made the right decision to become a nurse.

I've been doing this for 40 years, and I have met very few nurses who dreamed of being nurses since they were in diapers (including myself). Are you kind of assuming that your fellow nurses have this "spark" and somehow you are deficient? You'd be surprised at how many people in the medical field are in it for pragmatic reasons i.e. steady job, good pay etc. You say you like the program alright, but you feel burnt out. Are you truly burnt out, or are you feeling the usual first year hardship of learning how to be a nurse. Or do you just not like the unit that you are in. I'd be surprised if you went all the way through nursing school, including all the clinicals, and just now discovered that nursing isn't for you, unless you were totally in denial the whole time. There are so many different fields in nursing, I totally burned out in ICU, but I LOVE my school nurse job. Take a look at other options before you throw the baby out with the bathwater. Good luck.

[brownbook]

I never had the spark. I was dragged kicking and screaming into nursing, hoping, assuming, I'd flunk out of the pre-requisites.

My first few years on the floor are better left forgotten ?.

Anyhow after I got the hang of it I loved it and was nominated for nurse of the year.

There are sooooooo many different areas of nursing to work in. I loved to float and that opened up my eyes, and some doors, to get me into a great area of nursing I loved.