Please help, career advice for the tired ED nurse

[guest474423]

I'm at a crossroads.

I was a paramedic for five years before deciding to go back to school for nursing. I thought it would be great to work in an ED and make extra money doing similar things (making a living as a medic is hard). I quickly found out that a) your pre-hospital experience counts for nothing in the world of nursing and b) ED nursing is nothing like pre-hospital care.

Anyway, long story short I'm sick of nursing. I'm considered early to mid career. I've worked in high volume and low volume EDs. I've worked in ICUs. I'm just sick of it all. I miss the ambulance but now I am so into student loans, etc that I need the nurses wage.

I've looked at flight nursing but the two services around here just did lay-offs. I'm contemplating traveling but am finding that you really don't make that much more money traveling once you go through the hassle of finding housing that is suitable for a family.

What do I do? I feel really stuck.

[guest474423]

*BUMP*

[AnnieOaklyRN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Hi proudblood,

I was in the same boat as you a few years ago.

I have worked in EMS for 16 years, 6 as an EMT and the past 10 as a medic. I decided to get my RN thinking, hey eventually my body just isn't going to tolerate carrying folks down the stairs, especially since they are getting bigger and bigger! I got my RN thinking it would be a better career, no dealing with the cold, the rain, the snowy driving from one MVA to the next in the boo boo bus. Well, I was in for a rude awakening... I started right out as a new grad in the ER, did wonderful, was off orientation in 6 weeks. I enjoyed it for a year and tolerated it for the next year working full time, then.... I had an eye opening experience. I took a vacation from work to go to EMS Today in Baltimore. Within a day or two of not working I was more relaxed, less tired... just happier. I came to the realization that ER nursing was just draining the life out of me. I was working in a warmer environment with less lifting, but the chaos, the whiney thankless patients, the demanding families, the passive physicians, waiting 4 hours for a physician to see my patient so they could get pain or nausea relief and having to constantly apologize for the long wait, demanding psychiatric patients that need this and that and a sandwich 2 minutes after they hit the door, and patients coming in to be seen for their cold symptoms, rashes, earaches etc. I just decided I had enough.

There is hope! I left nursing completely briefly because I knew I needed a break, my body needed a break from the stress.... I went back to EMS full time, I have a lot of seniority so I was able to get right onto to two 911 shifts (24 hour shifts). Guess what, I am making bank compared to nursing. 8 hours of OT every week, lots of time to do OT since I only work 2 shifts a week and I am not completely drained like I would be from an 8 hour nursing shift. Just to give you an idea, my paramedic pay is about 14.00 less an hour than my nursing pay, but I am taking home about 1,000 a week with just an additional 12 hour shift a week. I actually look forward to going to work, love it actually. Nothing like being able to assess my own patients and treat them accordingly and give them almost immediate relief! Patients are thankful! I have psych patients for about 15 minutes then they become someone else's problem. People can call me for minor illness and I can recommend they take a POV to avoid the 2,000.00 taxi ride or I can transport them and enjoy watching them sit in the waiting room for hours like everyone else knowing they are going to still pay 2,000.00 for the ride because they thought they would get seen faster. I get great satisfaction from working in EMS, being able to calm patients and families down and just being able to help people so much faster than I can as a nurse. There are just so much politics in nursing, I feel like I spend 1 minute with the patient and 5 hours with the computer!

I did return to ER nursing per-diem, do I like it, not really. My hospital built a new ER, and unfortunately they have made a special area for psych patients and one for critical patients and another for pedi patients. The only reason I did enjoy that ER was because I LOVE caring for pediatric patients... Now I don't get to do that anymore because they put the same nurses in that area all the time. I only work nights because that is the only time the special sections are closed so everyone gets to share the wealth, so it has become more tolerable.

I am actively seeking a new nursing position in pediatrics or NICU, my dream job, but not having my BSN is making that difficult. I will be done in a year with that thankfully. It took a lot to bite the bullet and go back to school to further my education for a career that I have hated so much, but I know that I need to give nursing more of a chance, and I hope I can eventually find my niche wherever that is, I just know that it is not in ER nursing... So all I can say is don't give up on nursing, keep trying different areas and maybe you will find your place, maybe you won't. I can relate to how you feel. If you have your BSN you may want to consider becoming an NP since that would give you some autonomy that those of us that work on the ambulance seem to crave, something you can't find so much as a staff nurse.

One of the other posters suggested Interventional radiology, I must say I have heard nothing but positive things from nurses working there. Its primarily conscious sedation, one patient at a time, IV starts, looking over the patient's chart etc. It can be busy and fast paced, but it sounds like a wonderful job. I love doing conscious sedation for some reason. I have an interview for an IR position next week that is flexible and will allow me to keep my EMS job as well, so I am crossing my fingers.

Let me know if you have any questions through here or PM

HPRN

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

Does your state have prehospital rns? You may also want to look into critical care transport. Get to use your nursing skills on the truck.

That's a great idea!

[JamieLynn RN]

I understand where you are coming from...I've been in it almost 9 years now and up until about 6 months ago I never imagined I'd get burnt out, but I did. I had put off school for awhile, so after some soul searching on a lot of things I decided that rather than give up nursing I'd go back to school. I'm starting my NP track in January. I love nursing and I get those patients that I love love love and they remind me why I went into it, but on the other hand I get those that remind me why I dislike people now. I believe the ER shows you a lot about yourself, life and society in general. I work in a very busy, small ER. We are understaffed at time and only have one medic at night. This leaves me to triage, lock and lab, medicate and assess, oh yes and clean the bed and room once all the tests come back negative. I found that ER gave me the courage to actually leave the bedside for a little while to pursue the next level of nursing...If I don't I think I may turn in my license and go make necklaces and sell them on the beach!!!

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

I deployed to Afghanistan for 9 months, then came back to my crazy-busy ER. After 9 months in a hostile, austere combat zone where I had a two-bed trauma bay in a filthy plywood hospital, my crazy-busy ER is like paradise. I needed the change of scenery, but sometimes you gotta be careful what you ask for!