kaygbean

Hey everyone! Just wondering if anyone has any experience/advice with this... I am trying to figure out how I can combine my degree in nursing with nutrition. I love talking about nutrition and helping in that area. I did a lot of research on going back to school to get my dietitian degree but realize that would be very time consuming and I need to work right now. I thought about getting my diet technician certification but that doesn't seem to make much sense with having a BSN. I am am just trying figure out how I can combine my nursing and passion for nutrition together. What type of certifications do I need or what kind of careers can I do?

Thanks everyone for the responses! I don't mind the paper work side of my current admissions job I was almost relieved when I started that I didn't have to spend as much time doing direct patient care. I find I really enjoy being more independent and working alone. I even wish I could work more alone. If that makes sense. But I don't really know if that exists in nursing. Its hard to explain but I just don't want life to be work. I just want to work and come home and live my life. But right now I spend all my time at work then come home and worry about work. Maybe I am just dreaming of a perfect world!

Hello everyone, I have been a nurse for about three years now, working mainly in skilled nursing facilities. I have my BSN and am really unhappy in this field. I have tried convincing myself at first that it was because I was a new grad and working at a facility that was terribly understaffed and poorly managed. So i moved to another facility and quickly began feeling the same way. I had the opportunity to work as an admissions nurse and have been doing that for about six months. I'm afraid I just hate nursing. I really dread going into work everyday. Some times I am so anxious that I worry it is affecting my mental health. Other times I just sleep until I really have to leave and just wake myself up and go to work. I'm not sure what depressed feels like but when I think about work I think I am. I often feel so selfish and like a baby for complaining about my job because j was able to go to school and graduate and make decent money...why complain? But I am seriously unhappy and worry about my health now. Mentally I am suffering. I don't want my life to revolve around work. I don't want to feel like I wasted my life or missed big or little life moments because I was too worried about work or too stressed to enjoy life or not able to sleep because of work. Some weeks I work over 50 hours. That is most weeks. I want to spend time with people I love. My boyfriend works days and I work at night and often don't get home until 2 in the morning. I don't see him but twice a week. I never wanted that kind of life. I guess I am just asking for advice and what type of career path can I take? I've always imagined myself working for myself but have no idea what to do. I feel like nursing is all I know and I hate it. I have considered health coaching and have applied at some of those job openings but have no heard back. I just don't know how much longer I can take this. Any advice much appreciated. Sorry for any typos...typed all this on my iPhone!

Hello everyone. It's come to the point where I need advice from fellow nurses and not just my mom/boyfriend :/ I graduated from nursing school in May 2014...so in a couple months it will already be a year since graduation. When I graduated and passed the NCLEX, I applied at a variety of places. Mostly hospitals and rehab facilities. The only interview I ever got was with a short term rehab facility. I got the job in September 2014 and have worked there since. At first it was overwhelming. I had about three days of orientation and since then the most amount of patients I have had was 23. All for myself. Recently things have gotten very bad at work. We are short staffed and are becoming even more short staffed. I am still a new nurse and it seems like my boss/everyone else expects me to know it all. I have worked so hard there only to be treated poorly and very overworked at this point. I am working over 40 hours a week and I am exhausted physically and also (mostly) mentally. I have gotten to the point where I dread work. I didn't used to mind going. But I worry and my anxiety has sky rocketed. I have started hating being a nurse and I am afraid constantly of losing my license over something stupid. I worked too hard in nursing school for that. I have been applying everywhere I can but have heard nothing. I don't want to work where I am for another whole month when the new schedule comes out but I also know that I am a grown up now and I want to have another job because I give my current my two weeks notice. My parents say they will support me (god love them) in the mean time but I feel like I need to stay strong and do this the right way. But I don't know where to go from here. I am so lost and I don't want to hate my life like I do now. Help?

Thank you for your supportive words... Yesterday (my first shift "alone") went okay. My preceptor came in to help me out for the beginning of my shift but then left after a couple of hours. I didn't have to ask her many questions but a lot of things are still worrying/bothering me. This is going to sound bad but I am mostly worried that I am not going to have any idea what to do if a resident/patient is starting to go downhill. I'm not sure how to get things ordered there and if I need lab tests, etc, I don't know how to go about it. This facility uses all paper, no computers at all so there is paperwork EVERYWHERE and it is very confusing for me. Also, like I said before, I am really worried that I am going to harm a patient. There is literally no time to do much else but pass meds and I don't see many nurses doing head to toe assessments, at least not as in depth as we were taught in school. But yea, I had off today and tomorrow as well and go in Wed, Thurs, Friday but she said that my preceptor will be there which makes me feel A LOT better. I just hope this anxiety and constantly worrying before and AFTER I get home from work goes away...eventually. Thanks again :)

Hi everyone, After starting my first nursing job just this last week, I feel totally lost. Everyone keeps telling me that this feeling is to be expected but I am worried that I am going to hurt a patient or having my license taken away for making mistakes because I truly feel that I am learning nursing skills and practices all over again. I started a job at a skilled nursing/short term rehab health center where I have around 25 patients. I have oriented for 3 days and tomorrow is my first day "alone" but there will be another nurse there if I have questions. I am absolutely terrified. This facility uses paper charting and I have little experience with that and since charting i so important, I don't want to do a poor job. The med passes was getting better my third day but I am SO SLOW because I don't want to make mistakes and I feel like if I didn't have the nurse I was following there to help me with other things that were happening during the day, I would have never gotten ANYTHING done. I am SO SCARED I am going to make a mistake during a med pass and seriously hurt someone. So scared. Also, I have NO idea about the paperwork aspect of this job. It seems like everyone is always dealing with paperwork, calling doctors and filling out more paperwork and trying to find the papers to fill out and dealing with ADMISSIONS and DISCHARGE paperwork all while trying to do med passes, check blood sugars, give insulin coverage, ETC ETC ETC. I feel like I have no time to do accurate head to toe assessments on any patients and that scares me also. It's the little things too that are freaking me out, things that I feel I should know from nursing school. Like experience with IV's and PEG tubes and trachs. Those are all things I barely have experience with and am now expected to know how to do. I am just so scared. Is this how I am supposed to be feeling? I honestly wonder if I can handle this.