Green8b

Thank you very much for your perspective. It means a lot to me. I'll keep searching for my niche!

I have been a nurse for over a year, and have been in pediatric home health because I like working with children and home health is the only area I have been able to be hired in with an ADN. I have been unhappy in home health for many reasons: limited training and usually training from new grads, limited scope of practice, working in isolation, less autonomy (parents prefer to speak with physicians most of the time, limiting exchanges with other health care workers and information exchange) etc etc. When I graduated nursing school, I planned to finish my cell bio degree and apply for med school because I was not happy in nursing school and I felt that my interests lie in more in-depth patho-physiology perspectives and knowledge such as those pertaining to medicine. I decided to at least try nursing so thats why I have a year under my belt. I am thinking maybe if I tried critical care and maybe pursued a CRNA degree that I could still use the hard work time and money I put into nursing so far instead of switching fields all together. I don't want to be a nurse who does it just for money though. I want to be good at what I do, and I feel you can only go so far if you are deeply unhappy. I know nursing experience and culture can be so different depending on the area of focus, so I was hoping to hear from experienced nurses who have perhaps tried various areas in nursing and could provide some food for thought. Does anyone think a nurse who feels inclined towards medicine could be happy as a CRNA or critical care nurse? I know I will just have to trial it out, but I am trying to get all the information I can to make my decisions. Thank you

All of these insights are extremely helpful. I will give it more time and try to find an area that suits me. I guess my deepest fear is accidentally harming a patient and never being able to forgive myself . I am definitely a perfectionist and am working on being more flexible and balanced with training and learning. Fingers crossed that I find a patient, kind and supportive mentor to train with. I really truly appreciate your words of wisdom and support . Thank you all very much .

I really appreciate your perspective , thank you for your response .

I graduated with an ADN 2014 moved to Colorado and have only landed home health positions as a new grad in 2015. I have hated the two jobs I have and feel like I picked the wrong career. It seems like the companies I work for are profit driven and have provided literally zero training , not even a skills check off . It's so nerve racking to be new and to feel uncertain of clinical judgment with no one around to see what you are seeing etc. I am extremely detail oriented and thorough but seem to have such little support that the burden and responsibility feels too great to bare --not to mention a potential risk to patients having an inexperienced nurse untrained and a liability to my license and definitely detrimental to my health due to extreme stress . It's incredibly competitive in this area and you won't even get an interview in a hospital without experience and or a BSN (which I am pursing)-- but maybe I'm too sensitive for this field because of how much I Have hated my first jobs and even some of nursing school .They say, nurses eat their young . Any words of wisdom for highly sensitive people in nursing that are second guessing their career choice after lack of quality training and support? Seems like a shame to quit after all the hard work , but maybe I didnt really know what nursing was about.