One Year on M/S In the Books

[Laurus Nobilis]

Hi, All Nurses! Just looking for some advice. I'm a newer RN (Spring 2014 grad). I've just finished my first year on med-surg working a combination of day/night shifts. Nursing is my second profession, one I came to at midlife. To be honest, I do not love M/S. I dislike the feeling of being pulled in so many different directions at the same time. I feel that my new nurse skills have NOT been honed as much as they should be at this point. I feel stressed much of the time with a mountain of meds to pass, multiple new admits to the floor, discharges, phone calls, and, of course, less than adequate staffing. I do a lot, but I feel like I'm not absorbing what I learn. However, management seems happy enough with me. Meds are passed on time (usually), I haven't had an error yet, and I normally clock out in a timely fashion. The thing is: I want out! There has been a mass exodus of veteran and newer RNs over the past year because of the ever-increasing hectic conditions. I just don't know where I want to go. I do have a background in radio/news media as well as quality assurance. Any ideas? Work stress is really starting to take a toll on my health and family life. Thanks for your help.

[Levitas, BSN, RN]

I'm willing to wager that a great deal of your experience this last year has indeed stuck, more so than you might realize.

I imagine you know medication a great deal more, organization, stress management, the ability to correlate care between all aspects of patient care (physicians, PT/OT, etc.)

All of that aside, it sounds like you're maybe looking for a career in something less clinical? If you're wanting to stay within the hospital, perhaps critical care is your niche? You usually only care for 1-3 patients at a time. Less pulling in 15 different directions, and more detailed care to those 1-3 patients.

Or even the OR? I don't have a great deal of experience there, but I don't think you're running all over the floor. You're in the room, handling business with one patient at any given time.

Possibly Case Management? I have a friend who was an ICU nurse, and she went into Case Management for the better hours, among other reasons. Though, I imagine that can be stressful as well, in its own way.

Outside of the hospital? I did a simple google search, and came up with this article that gives 15 different jobs that nurses can do out of the clinical setting: 15 Super Great Non-Hospital Nursing Jobs for Nurses | 2015 NurseJournal.org

Good luck to you, I hope you find what you're looking for :)

[Laurus Nobilis]

Thank you for the link to the nursing jobs article, Levitas. Good ideas there!