Guest989734

SiwanRN, thank you so much for replying! Your job sounds very interesting. Like you, I would love to get into something along the lines of prevention and community outreach. I love that public health offers so many different areas to go into. I also appreciate yours and laflaca's confirmation that while public heath nursing does have its stresses, it is not as bad as the stress one may find in the hospital. The stress of the hospital is something that I will be glad to leave behind one day.... Also, thank you for the advice on looking into a public health association here in my state. I will do that and I am am sure I will find alot of information that will be helpful to me.

laflaca, thank you so much for replying. You have given me great reasons and a hope to continue pursuing public health nursing. Thank you for those excellent advices and insights into your job. Public health was the reason why I wanted to be a nurse and I hope one day, I can say that I am a public health nurse! One last question, do you ever get worried that the public health departments will decrease hiring of nurses or have to let nurses go, due to decrease funding/grants, or any other reasons?

I was hoping I can get some feedback and advice from my fellow public health nurses. I am a new nurse and have been working in a med surg floor for 7-8 months now. While I don't plan on leaving anytime soon, I have been thinking about what I would like to do long term and my current job is not somewhere I see myself at forever. It is a good place to learn and gain fundamental knowledge and skills of nursing, which is great. But it has also brought me a lot of tears and is also very stressful and overwhelming.... I have been thinking about public health, as I have realized I like the idea of the community as my patient, having one on one time, and having the time to educate patients. I know public health has it's own stress, but it seems like it will be an area that will suit me. I have some questions for public health nurses and would appreciate your feedback/advice. 1. If you have worked in acute care or bedside nursing, how does the stress level of those areas compare to working as a public health nurse? 2. What is your day to day routine? What is working in a public health department like? 3. Would you recommend it to nurses, who would one day like to make the change to public health nursing? 4. Do you have any other advice or words of knowledge for nurses interested in public health? Thank you :)

I am a new nurse and have been working in an med surg floor for 3 months now, with 1 month being on my own. It has been extremely hard for me, learning so many new things and feeling so incompetent and stupid. My coworkers are helpful, but some of them can get short with me, and I have heard some of them say not so nice things about me. To be honest, this has discouraged me a lot. I know I am new, still learning, but I feel like I will never be a good nurse. I was a nurse's assistant before and I felt like I did excellent at that job, but I haven't transitioned well as a new nurse. What should I do if my situation does not improve? Does it get better, and what if it doesn't? I am thinking maybe nursing is not for me. I want to give up so badly right now. I have never felt so depressed and anxiety-filled in my life. I feel so lost. Please help/offer any insights/advice.

This is my first time on this site and I am hoping to get insight/input from my fellow nurses. I am a new nurse on a med surg floor in a small hospital and still on orientation. In my time as a new nurse, I have realized that bedside care is not what I want to do. I guess I am experiencing the anxiety, stress, and overwhelming factors that comes with being a new nurse. For me, it's overwhelming to have someone's life in my hands and having the huge responsibility that comes with being in a hospital. I really want to be good at what I do and I know it's a learning process that will take time.... I am just so hard on myself for not being smart enough or competent enough. It gets to the point where I am deeply depressed and don't have motivation to want to do anything when I am at home. I am seeing a therapist and trying to help myself overcome this. I find myself wanting to do the 2-3 years of "obligatory" med surg experience to get clinical experience, but don't know if I can last.... It might be that I will eventually find myself liking or being content with this job (which is a good thing) or I might just be really, really miserable 1-2 years down the line. I guess I just need some advice on this. Another thing is that I am interested in is public health and would love to do this one day. I live in CA, have an ASN, have a BS in a non-nursing area, and plan on getting a PHN certificate from one of the CSUs that offer just the certificate. Any public health nurses out there who can give me tips/advice on how to get into this field one day? Thank you all so much.