TammyTho

Considering a change to 8 hr shifts, having many years in office management 9-5 role I can't seem to find a norm with my 12 hr shifts over the last two years. 2nd career nurse, icu/stepdown since I graduated - trying to look for some other options. I have an opportunity for interviews in IR and case management - trying to get a better feel for what those entail. Thank you!

Nursing is my second career, first career office management..took 7 years of part time/after work schooling to obtain my nursing degree and after one year of nursing (IMCU/ICU) have found I have a cyst on my spine not allowing me to move/lift patients. Now what? Talking to my current hospital about a House Supervisor position but *sigh*.. any other thoughts? Home hospice nursing require a lot of lifting? OR/Surgical friend of mine said there is lifting but lots of hands involved unlike our stepdown/icu unit... I'm open to ideas to research. Thank you.

I think that’s my problem I’m not sure what I love or where to focus my efforts. How do you have any idea before you jump into another position that ends up not being the right one.

Thank you, that makes a lot of sense. I’ve been under the gun for so many years I’m not sure how to do normal life anymore. I’m even considering moving onto something more what I’m used to such as case management or some sort to have that family time, normal schedule etc since nursing isn’t quite what I was expecting. I’ll give it some time and keep my eyes and ears open.

I never thought I’d feel more lost one year into my nursing career than I did when I first started nursing but here I am antsy and confused. It took me 7 years to complete my associates to become an RN as I was raising a family and working full time. I’m 40 years old, nursing is my second career with a background in office management. I’ve been working a stepdown floor and am cross trained to work the ICU. I don’t hate what I’m doing but I don’t really love it either so I’m trying to figure what my next steps should be to find a good fit for me. I’ve learned that I love my job on days that I’ve had to really use my assessment skills due to a significant change in my patient that I’ve caught, had to puzzle out with the Drs the cause and was able to make a difference for their care or days that I’ve been able to provide support to the patients/families that are making big code status/hospice type of decisions. But the endless med pass and toileting and turning and water delivery and call lights and b.s. just down right bores and drains me. Am I being naive to think there is a position out there that would be a better fit? Where I’d be using my assessing skills, puzzling out issues for patients actually feeling necessary? I was considering EDbut there are so many stories of nonsense (should have gone to their regular Dr) patients there as well. Maybe a trauma type of nursing? How does one get to that point of knowledge? Also considering the total opposite end of the spectrum of hospice care, somethings telling me that may not be a good fit. Maybe back to something more administrative based where I’m fixing problems or teaching or? I just want to give back in some way, feel necessary and like what I’m doing needs to be done. or should I just realize it’s not what I thoug it was going to be and head the more case management route where I can get paid and do the paperwork type job I’m used to with the normal working hours I’m used to.. I’m lost, no idea which direction I should be taking steps in and feeling too old to waste too much time.

I never thought I’d feel more lost one year into my nursing career than I did when I first started nursing but here I am antsy and confused. It took me 7 years to complete my associates to become an RN as I was raising a family and working full time. I’m 40 years old, nursing is my second career with a background in office management. I’ve been working a stepdown floor and am cross trained to work the ICU. I don’t hate what I’m doing but I don’t really love it either so I’m trying to figure what my next steps should be to find a good fit for me. I’ve learned that I love my job on days that I’ve had to really use my assessment skills due to a significant change in my patient that I’ve caught, had to puzzle out with the Drs the cause and was able to make a difference for their care or days that I’ve been able to provide support to the patients/families that are making big code status/hospice type of decisions. But the endless med pass and toileting and turning and water delivery and call lights and b.s. just down right bores and drains me. Am I being naive to think there is a position out there that would be a better fit? Where I’d be using my assessing skills, puzzling out issues for patients actually feeling necessary? I was considering ED but there are so many stories of nonsense (should have gone to their regular Dr) patients there as well. Maybe a trauma type of nursing? How does one get to that point of knowledge? Also considering the total opposite end of the spectrum of hospice care, somethings telling me that may not be a good fit. Maybe back to something more administrative based where I’m fixing problems or teaching or? I just want to give back in some way, feel necessary and like what I’m doing needs to be done. I have a passion for hospice as both of my in-laws passed from terrible diseases, I have a passion for domestic violence, trauma type support due to my own history. I want to make at least a little difference in this career. I’m lost, no idea which direction I should be taking steps in and feeling too old to waste too much time.

Long story short I'm 40 years old (ish) lol and nursing is a second career for me. My previous 20+ years have been administrative and management positions working the typical 9-5 M-F shifts. The 12 hour shifts are quite a challenge for me to get used to. I pretty much enjoy what I'm doing but my back is already killing me from moving the large patients or the patients who are contracted/fighting that we need to reposition every 2 hours in the stepdown and ICU. I'm not sure where to head as I'm not sure my body is going to take the 20+ years of nursing that I need to do. I enjoy the hustle and bustle when our patients have a medical change and we need to find out whats happening so I've considered ED, I enjoy helping the patients and families when patients are terminally ill and making hospice type of decisions, I enjoyed my previous management type of roles -- there are so many nursing options and I'm starting to feel too old to have the time to navigate it all myself so I thought I'd ask here. Hopefully your experiences can help me see the pros and cons of different paths. Any type of input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for this response, it is extremely helpful as the thing that I love about the ED is the trauma, the intense situations and it makes complete sense that as a new nurse I would not be in on those for a very long time. Gaining those skills in the ICU where I must have that knowledge just to function on a daily basis seems would push me in the direction I would want to be if I decided later that the ED was a better fit. Thank you for taking the time!

Hello all, I need to make sure my heads on straight and I'm not missing any aspects of this so I came here :). Little background, 42 mom, grandmother, have owned businesses, managed companies and now that my kids are out doing their thing, I have finally gone back to school and graduated with my nursing degree. I have been working as a tech on a med/surg floor throughout nursing school and while my manager has offered me a position, I know that is not where I want to be as a nurse, it's just not me. I have also been a float tech and worked in the ICU where I am amazed at the acuity and knowledge base there is to soak in and an ED tech and love the hustle and bustle and unknown of the ED. I have been offered two different positions in the last two weeks, both full time midnights, different hospitals - one in a level 2 ED where I haven't worked but have heard amazing things about the manager and staff, they have offered extensive ED internship/training and one in a step down/ICU overflow floor with a manager I know and respect (and who loves my work) who has also offered extensive ECCO training as well as additional orientation time in the ICU so I can eventually pick up shifts there. This is where my brain waffles and I need your assistance. Part of me wants to take the ED opportunity, to soak in the crazy and either thoroughly enjoy it and know I've found my place or at least get it out of my system. I enjoy being busy, the unknown, the traumas that come in and the team work of the ED. The other part of me wants to take the stepdown/ICU overflow position to be part of the long term care, take excellent care of those who need it most (and their families), soak in the details of the different disease processes and continue to expand my knowledge base. I enjoy researching the details of what is happening with my patients, the whys, the hows, the what ifs. I honestly love the idea of both of these decisions and don't know how to decide. Right now (at this moment as my mind changes moment to moment) I am leaning hard toward the ICU as I believe that if it ends up to not be my place it would be an extremely marketable skill to have in the search for where I belong while the ED may not give me the same marketability if I find that isn't my place. Thoughts? (other than start med/surg first because I'm not doing that :)) A million thanks in advance!

Hello all, I need to make sure my heads on straight and I'm not missing any aspects of this so I came here :). Little background, 42 mom, grandmother, have owned businesses, managed companies and now that my kids are out doing their thing, I have finally gone back to school and graduated with my nursing degree. I have been working as a tech on a med/surg floor throughout nursing school and while my manager has offered me a position, I know that is not where I want to be as a nurse, it's just not me. I have also been a float tech and worked in the ICU where I am amazed at the acuity and knowledge base there is to soak in and an ED tech and love the hustle and bustle and unknown of the ED. I have been offered two different positions in the last two weeks, both full time midnights, different hospitals - one in a level 2 ED where I haven't worked but have heard amazing things about the manager and staff, they have offered extensive ED internship/training and one in a step down/ICU overflow floor with a manager I know and respect (and who loves my work) who has also offered extensive ECCO training as well as additional orientation time in the ICU so I can eventually pick up shifts there. This is where my brain waffles and I need your assistance. Part of me wants to take the ED opportunity, to soak in the crazy and either thoroughly enjoy it and know I've found my place or at least get it out of my system. I enjoy being busy, the unknown, the traumas that come in and the team work of the ED. The other part of me wants to take the stepdown/ICU overflow position to be part of the long term care, take excellent care of those who need it most (and their families), soak in the details of the different disease processes and continue to expand my knowledge base. I enjoy researching the details of what is happening with my patients, the whys, the hows, the what ifs. I honestly love the idea of both of these decisions and don't know how to decide. Right now (at this moment as my mind changes moment to moment) I am leaning hard toward the ICU as I believe that if it ends up to not be my place it would be an extremely marketable skill to have in the search for where I belong while the ED may not give me the same marketability if I find that isn't my place. Thoughts? (other than start med/surg first because I'm not doing that :)) A million thanks in advance!

Hello all, I need to make sure my heads on straight and I'm not missing any aspects of this so I came here :). Little background, 42 mom, grandmother, have owned businesses, managed companies and now that my kids are out doing their thing, I have finally gone back to school and graduated with my nursing degree. I have been working as a tech on a med/surg floor throughout nursing school and while my manager has offered me a position, I know that is not where I want to be as a nurse, it's just not me. I have also been a float tech and worked in the ICU where I am amazed at the acuity and knowledge base there is to soak in and an ED tech and love the hustle and bustle and unknown of the ED. I have been offered two different positions in the last two weeks, both full time midnights, different hospitals - one in a level 2 ED where I haven't worked but have heard amazing things about the manager and staff, they have offered extensive ED internship/training and one in a step down/ICU overflow floor with a manager I know and respect (and who loves my work) who has also offered extensive ECCO training as well as additional orientation time in the ICU so I can eventually pick up shifts there. This is where my brain waffles and I need your assistance. Part of me wants to take the ED opportunity, to soak in the crazy and either thoroughly enjoy it and know I've found my place or at least get it out of my system. I enjoy being busy, the unknown, the traumas that come in and the team work of the ED. The other part of me wants to take the stepdown/ICU overflow position to be part of the long term care, take excellent care of those who need it most (and their families), soak in the details of the different disease processes and continue to expand my knowledge base. I enjoy researching the details of what is happening with my patients, the whys, the hows, the what ifs. I honestly love the idea of both of these decisions and don't know how to decide. Right now (at this moment as my mind changes moment to moment) I am leaning hard toward the ICU as I believe that if it ends up to not be my place it would be an extremely marketable skill to have in the search for where I belong while the ED may not give me the same marketability if I find that isn't my place. Thoughts? (other than start med/surg first because I'm not doing that :)) A million thanks in advance!

Thank you for the offer! I sweet talked my hubby into going and getting it for me :)

If anyone has the syllabus would you mind sharing a picture of it in here? I'd love to start this weekend but can't get up to Highland Lakes with my work/kids schedule this week.

Jasmine - do you mind me asking what type of position you applied for/accepted? I am currently a manager at a clinic but won't be able to work my 9-5 job once school starts but need something :/ :/ Sorry for your loss Robert.

Thank you!