Tell us your career path after leaving the bedside.

[chartreuse]

I am curious to see what career paths other have chosen that have taken them away from the bedside/direct clinical care. After reading many posts detailing the prevalent problems with management (ratios, staffing, retaliations, etc), I am more interested than before in potentially pursuing administration in the future to (hopefully) improve this area. My conversations have mainly been with bedside and advanced practice nurses, and I don't know anyone that has moved up to management, administration, program directors, etc that can offer some insight into this, so I'm turning to you all! Tell us- what has been your career path thus far? What led you to that position? Where do you want to be? Any advice for navigating to this career trajectory?

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Hmm - it's a mistake to assume that nurse administrators are "away from the bedside". Their responsibilities are 'bedside to the nth degree'... They are affected & have to deal with ALL clinical issues that occur in their areas of responsibility. Their headaches and stress are not limited to a single group of assigned patients. Their burden encompasses patient & family complaints, nurses, ancillary services, operational functions, business processes & of course (ta dah!) keeping physicians happy. With no limit on the number of worked hours & no OT (ever). And of course, nurse managers are always the designated scapegoats for any problems that may arise. YIKES!!

It's really hard to recruit 'experienced' nurse managers to fill vacancies these days. They wised up and retreated back to the bedside or another less stressful job - LOL! There are lots of naive newbies clamoring for those jobs (you don't know what you don't know, right?) and this only adds to the problem since there are not enough mentors to help them.

Yeppers - BTDT That's why I love my job as an educator... It's the best job that I could imagine.

Career trajectory? It was hardwired into my chromo-net. Family of origin for 3 generations is chockablock with educators - mostly in higher ed. I was one of 'those' nurses from the get-go. If I saw something that needed fixing, I jumped in to work on it. Volunteered for everything that came my way - because it was FUN!. If I came across something I didn't know about, I investigated and researched to satisfy my own need to learn (like creating online learning modules) Within 6 months of graduation, I was a preceptor; at 2 years, I was a unit educator - then service line educator - then director roles came along. I didn't have a formal game plan - it was just a natural progression.

Along the way, I pursued education for myself because it's FUN: clinical and functional certifications, advanced degrees and process certifications (PI, Six Sigma, Just Culture, etc.). I guess I'll stop learning when I die

[chartreuse]

I like your lifelong learning plan! And I didn't mean "leaving the bedside" as in never working near it again. I'm not sure of a better generalized way to describe career paths other than staff nursing, so that's what I used.

I can definitely see how a nurse manager position can be stressful! Do you think they are in a position to make a positive difference in the working conditions for their nurses or not so much?