I need to get out of med/surg (am desperately sick of it) but I'm not sure where I might fit, so I wanted to ask some opinions. My only other experience is back in school, and here's what I'd found:
In med surg, love bedside procedures and dressing changes. Used to be scared to death of codes, but got ACLS certified and the only code on my shift since then I jumped into, knew what the docs were talking about and was able to anticipate what would be needed (at least, until they threw out the algorithms and just started trying any-and-everything) I actually liked that one, once I knew what was going on.
In school, loved ICU, OR, Endo and IR.
HATED Peds, Home Health and ER (maybe b/c the ER's I was in was small town, mostly clinic work)
Was bored stupid with Clinic and Dialysis (though I was told those were slow days?)
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, especially if WHY that area would fit my interests could be given? Thanks all.
Specializes in 3 years MS/Tele, 10 years total ICU, 5 travel.
PennyWise:
Yes. Exactly. EVERYONE told me in school that all new nurses needed a good year of med/surg or ER. Small, rural area ER was mostly clinic and I'd hated it (my baby threw up once in 3 hours. No, there was no blood or funny smells. I'm here at 2 am because my baby was throwing up.) Ugh. Now no one wants to let me OUT of it.
My unit is actually med/surg/tele - we get floated between Ortho, General surg and Spine/Neuro surg units, but everyone gets medical/tele patients too. I was told we're technically a PCU (whatever that is), but the staff all agree we're med/surg.
Well, good luck - hopefully we'll both find our places!
I would like a change too but I'm not sure where to go. I wish I had all available options in front of me and could pick where to go next but I don't know my options!
Specializes in 3 years MS/Tele, 10 years total ICU, 5 travel.
I would like a change too but I'm not sure where to go. I wish I had all available options in front of me and could pick where to go next but I don't know my options!
Exactly. I'm trying to talk to people and find out what different areas are like, so I might find where I can fit best, but since I've never been there... Good luck to us all. I, at least, am going to need it.
If you're bored, I would look for higher acuity, not volume & busy-ness. ICU, CVICU, Trauma, Burns. That was my impression from your original post. You're not being intellectually challenged, right?
Specializes in 3 years MS/Tele, 10 years total ICU, 5 travel.
If you're bored, I would look for higher acuity, not volume & busy-ness. ICU, CVICU, Trauma, Burns. That was my impression from your original post. You're not being intellectually challenged, right?
Right. I feel like I'm running around doing 'busy work'. There's no challenge, nothing interesting.
Right. I feel like I'm running around doing 'busy work'. There's no challenge, nothing interesting.
Then I would look for high acuity. (I'm that way myself. Run of the mill is B-O-R-I-N-G!) Are you in a major metropolitan area? Would you relocate to one? That's where you can get into the very specialized high-acuity areas. What about ECMO? Is it used on adults? (I'm NICU - and ECMO is some patients' last stop.) That's pretty technical and they're REALLY sick (half-dead).
Another thought is more education. Do you have a BSN? If not not, get it - slowly, so as to portion out the intellectual stimulation. If so, what about a Master's degree? You sound like you like clinical work (not on the management track?), so maybe NP. I know you didn't like Peds, but NICU is different (they can't talk back and don't have much fight) and NNPs (Neonatal Nurse Practitioners) do a lot of procedures...of course, you'd need NICU time before getting an NNP. What about other NP tracks? It can't all be primary care & women's health. I'm thinking (based on my limited knowledge of you from this thread) that you would like ICU, and would like CRNA...but you would eventually get bored with that.
One more thought - if you can't change jobs just now - get "involved" on your unit. Help edit or write policies. Do research for EBP and make recommendations to the Powers That Be. Precept students and new hires.
Specializes in 3 years MS/Tele, 10 years total ICU, 5 travel.
I am definitely looking for a higher acuity, and am located between and fairly close to two major metro areas. I don't know about ECMO, but NICU is absolutely out of the question. They are entirely too small. I just DON'T do babies. Which is 2/3 of the reason I'm not looking into ER. Once they can point to what hurts, I can handle it. May not LIKE it, but I can handle it.
I do have a BSN, and am regularly searching through our CE courses for anything interesting. I actually just got ACLS even though my job doesn't require it, just because I wanted to know what was going on the rare times we call codes.
I'm not technically allowed to precept yet - they said you have to have at least 5 years total experience - but I do love to help, and while I can't formally take orientee's, I'm usually the one watching out for travel nurses who don't know our system.
I definitely prefer the hands-on clinical work - management would drive me insane. I haven't though about CRNA, though that's why I posted this. To get ideas to look into from those of you with more/broader experience than me.
ninja-nurse, BSN
55 Posts
PennyWise:
Yes. Exactly. EVERYONE told me in school that all new nurses needed a good year of med/surg or ER. Small, rural area ER was mostly clinic and I'd hated it (my baby threw up once in 3 hours. No, there was no blood or funny smells. I'm here at 2 am because my baby was throwing up.) Ugh. Now no one wants to let me OUT of it.
My unit is actually med/surg/tele - we get floated between Ortho, General surg and Spine/Neuro surg units, but everyone gets medical/tele patients too. I was told we're technically a PCU (whatever that is), but the staff all agree we're med/surg.
Well, good luck - hopefully we'll both find our places!