Wolfie

LoriAlabamaRN · Dec 7, 2005

It might be a good idea to PM him this message

rn/writer, RN · Dec 7, 2005

I have read a lot of your posts and have seen the things you have overcome and have arrived at a point where you seem to be at peace as having done this. I am not saying that there is not a lot of posters that can share very valuable input about their experiences. And I hope they do so.
I had written to you before about coming out of an RN refresher course (med/surg) which has always interested me, but I am finding the world has changed as far as health care. It is so profit driven and I don't know how much the patients suffer because of it, but the nurses are just worn slick.
I love nursing, I love being a help to patients who are hurting, have life threating diseases and anxieties undergoing procedures not knowing what to expect and I have been pretty successful in boosting their spirits and relieving anxieties. But this is just the short time I am with them. (this is getting shorter and shorter as more admin demands are placed on us). But this assembly line medicine and corporate competition for patients is really taking a toll and I am just losing my interest.
So my point is, do you think it might make any sense for me to look into psych? I do work one day a week in a psych ambulatory skilled 19-bed residential center once a week. Although I know I have learned a lot about psych and there would be much, much more I would have to learn, and I have experienced the little frustration that creeps up about going out of your way to help and they continue on their same path, I have good experiences with gaining trusts with patients and seen improvement. And yes, I have been able to a lot of med/surg there, especially with having to make assessment that lead to them to be taken to ER because of possible stroke, heart attack, etc.
Do you think it is a place that might be appropriate for me? I have had my issues of depression and essentially have dealt pretty effectively with them with meds/counceling. However, I would not go in with my own issues as some are inclined to do. My focus would be to be a part of the patients growth and healing. I would not be comfortable with self-disclosure. I once went to a workshop and one of the speakers response to this was if a patient or client started asking about yourself the reply would be "we are here to talk about why you are here and how we can help you. We are not talking about me. I don't want to get caught up with identifying with them, I only want do what I can to help.
What insight can you and anyone reading this post give to me? Thank you for any experience or knowledge about this you can share with me. I just want to be careful, but one day soon I will have to make a step and take a risk with whatever choice I make, right or wrong. But Corporate Health care is just taking the joy of of nursing for me.
Thanks for listening. Its a kind of difficult time for me.

I'd suggest looking into options like clinic nursing or working with dialysis or chemo patients where you have a regular clientele that you would get to know and the time pressures aren't so mind-boggling.

Floor nursing isn't for everyone. For physical reasons as well as the ones you mentioned above, I cannot see myself ever doing med-surg again.

Do what it takes to discover your niche. The people who need what you have to offer are out there. Keep looking until you find them.

All the best to you,

Thunderwolf, MSN, RN · Dec 7, 2005

ZZTopRN, let me say, I am honored that a thread is started off with my name. I don't know if I deserve that or how I have earned that. My friend, we all have our crisis moments in our career where we ask ourself "is this what I'm meant to do". I currently work ortho-neuro med-surg, floor nursing. My choice. It can be grueling at times. Often, I'm in charge and seen as a resource. But, I enjoy it. Been a nurse for 20 years. Seen much, done much. Seen alot of death and dying in my career, as well as bright moments. Ortho-neuro med surg has been a welcome of such to me because most folks do well and recover. I too need to see life improvements, despite the setbacks, in my patients. Ortho-neuro gives me that. I joke sometimes, saying "Break a bone, fix it, everybody's happy"...rarely someone dies. The charge one gets from emergencies, codes, death crises are for the young nurse who needs to see it or gain experience. But, I choose in my career to see other things now. My psych experience of 10 years continues to be helpful and comes in handy on the med-surg floor. Depression/anxiety abound. Occasonally, I see a manic Bipolar, a Schizophrenic, an Alcoholic going through withdrawal, or a Borderline who is actively at risk for self harm...but, most often a Depressed patient who may/is suicidal or a patient with Panic and/or anxiety. My colleagues often come to me or I take the assignment. ZZTopRN, you have to do what is in your heart. Maybe, a change in specialty or floor or environment is in order. Maybe, this just a rough time all together and you may need to work on issues of the heart first before anything else. I can only speak from my experience, my truth. Your needs may be different from mine. I've went through my aches in my career and in my personal life...like we all do. What helps is that you don't carry it alone. PM me if need be, if it is difficult to self disclose on the board. I always inform folks to only self disclose with what you are ready to share, even if it's only bits or pieces...this is OK. You have to be comfortable with your information. If not, do not...you're not ready at the moment...and that is OK. Should you go into Psych? If you think it is an easier type of nursing, don't be fooled....it is just different. You will see and hear alot....much is anguish and pain...are you ready for that?...at this moment in your life? Only you can answer that. When it comes to crisis in one's career and heart, honesty is always the best policy. It affects you. It affects your patients. In whatever you decide or need to discuss, I will support you in it. But, it has to be your truth.

I wish you the very best,

Wolfie

LoriAlabamaRN · Dec 7, 2005

Wolfie, you are seriously more of an inspiration than you know.

ZZTopRN, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2005

I do honor you. You are kind, have overcome much and are wise. Addressing you personally I do not mean any slight toward any of the other nurses, I have learned much from some of these also wise, educated, and experienced nurses.

I appreciate your responding to my post and inviting me to pm, which I will do at some point. You make very good points. I began thinking more about psych and asking myself if I was ready to listen to all the grievous suffering of the people who go there. Yes, I know it is hard, I volunteered for a time in a psych hospital and the pressure on the RN's was tremendous. The only time they were with patients was when they admitted or discharged a patient. So I guess I am answering some of my own questions as you have suggested.

I will be pm-ing you. Thank you so much.

ZZTopRN, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2005

PS: I love your beautiful pictures of the "free and the proud."

ZZTopRN, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2005

Miranda:

Thank you for your kindness. It is hard right now, and I know I am older, but I know what I can do and I am not ready for the dinasour heap. I think they get thrown there when they reach age 70, according to some of the nature programs. I think when some of them were dug up they were in perfect shape. Heh heh.

Anyway, I refuse to listen when I am told I'm too old, and will definitely not listen to anyone say "you can't." If you say you can't, you are definitely done for. But I am not unrealistic either. But even though I would be able to keep up with the pace, I would not risk health problems to do it. When I worked agency I saw a lot of nurses that endangered their health with smoking, obesity, drinking, back problems, etc., to work too many hours to get all that money.

And no, I will not go back to the med/surg area. I am sad about that because I find it so interesting and all the wonderful new things they are doing with outpatient procedures.

And as was suggested before, about the areas of chemo and dialysis, those are also areas I will look into, and appreciate any other suggestions.