Want to get out of nursing, what can I do with my degree????

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I want to get out of bedside nursing. What can I do with my degree? I have a BSN and less than a year of acute care experience. I want to do something different now. I think my body and mind cant handle the stress of bedside nursing anymore. My figure deteriorated since I started to work. There are multiple times that I didnt eat for 14 hours at work! I hold my pee many times also. I hope I didnt develop renal problems. I cried multiple times coming home late from work. Now, I need a change. Maybe a 8 hour/5 days a week job. I dont care if the pay is less as long as im happy. Im thinking of getting a desk job for a change. If not, then maybe I can use my degree to become a physical therapist.

Has anyone done this before? Any suggestion? What career change did you end up doing? Thanks for the vent.

a few weeks out of orientation is waaaay to soon to decide that this is not for you. and definitely not long enough to really make you marketable for a non-bedside job (though you may be able to find one). if you stick out for more than a few weeks, you might obtain invaluable experience, that will make you a much better non-bedside nurse. good luck, whatever you decide to do with your career.

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Well I guess if you are older and have had another career -or- are just an old soul and really see things for what they are then, you know. Some people like to and are successful at tricking themselves into "putting up and putting out". I've worked too many years to be able to trick myself into stupidity anymore, LOL. If you get what I mean. OP, you know how s*** smells.

I am looking into other stuff now too. Only opened myself up to that as of very recently. Do you have another degree outside nursing? Proven business experience? I do. I am getting calls now that I put myself "out there" and revealed my sorted past! Case management, especially on the corporate side might take a gamble on you. Also some offices are tired of certain nurse types and seem to look favorably on nurses with a business background. I guess it's the professionalism that is demanded of you that you exude from certain types of corporate life, that they see? I'm starting to find a few that are looking in my direction for that kind of experience. So, an office job for you would be possibly something in a larger practice in the process of launching new sub-specialty areas and want someone who understands what that is about.

I don't know what will come of my search, but might as well use all your life's work if you can!

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Specializes in Mixed Level-1 ICU.

Med surg. nursing can be a mad jungle...especially early on in one's career.

But if your place is run such that even experienced nurses are often running around like hungry headless chickens with full bladders, then you need to get out there, anyway.

Perhaps another place....it's a tough call. You know you better than anyone here offering advice.

Follow your gut...there's time to make mistakes...you're on the right track to question your comfort zone.

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"hungry headless chickens with full bladders".....

ahahahahahaha..... almost spit coffee on my keyboard.

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Specializes in Peds Medical Floor.

Wow now when I'm reading it there are 23 people reading this lol.

I'd say give it at least 6 months after orientation to get comfortable or you run a real risk of not giving yourself a chance. And then that way maybe you can transfer into a new place or job to see if it's not just that you hate the place you work. It takes a good year to start feeling comfortable nursing.

Oh and baring an emergency it won't kill anyone for you to take 2 minutes and pee. Just saying.

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

I would try to stick it out for awhile longer. The experience would look much better on your resume than someone who just off orientation and left. Companies spend a lot of money on orientation. Someone might be leary of hiring you if they think you will leave once orientation is over and you are on your own.

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...nurses are often running around like hungry headless chickens with full bladders...

This is a very good description!

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Specializes in hospice, ortho,clinical review.

I agree with onaclearday. If you know, follow your heart, don't let others tell you what is and isn't the norm. There's a big world in nursing. Many branches on the tree.

I always knew I wouldn't stay in bedside for long, I was blessed, I have an awesome job that I actually do love. I work as a clinical research nurse for an imaging company. Basically I review charts to make sure all the pieces are there for insurance approval. I need to make sure the code is legit for what they're being scanned for,and if pieces are missing I need to track them down.

I talk to patients to prep them for the test. Simple stuff really diet choices and keep muscles relaxed and some other instructions, I get a brief history from them. I'm learnng there's so much more in the oncology world than we touched on in school. I love to learn so I don't mind reading up on it on my own. I'm sure some would say if I had an oncology background it would have been a plus (fortunately those I work with disagree :D) but it wasn't a must. I too, have a corporate background with a lot of customer service experience. They loved my background for this position.

I work Mon-Fri, no holiday, no weekends. I vary between 3 start times, none later than 830a presently. If we get a client further west, we may add a shift that would end at 6p. Still heaven to me, and we rotate between the 3 shifts so no one is stuck on one.

I make more than I did in the hospital. My anxiety went down to zero. I leave feeling like I did my job, not like I treaded water to survive the shift and did the minimum like the hospital. I don't miss the twelves. I never got to enjoy the supposed 4 days off :rolleyes: I was too burned out. Here, I still have life after work, and I have my weekends, for me, it couldn't be better.

I wish you the best. I never dreamed I could be so happy in a job, but I am.

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Specializes in FNP/FPMHNP-BC.

I am in the same situation. I have one year Med/Surg and one year in Dialysis. I really need to get away from the bedside. Or I might try the SICU. Please help.

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Specializes in FNP/FPMHNP-BC.

And one more thing, how many years of Med/Surg do one really need?

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Specializes in hospice, ortho,clinical review.
And one more thing, how many years of Med/Surg do one really need?

Some are going to anwer the usual year or two. YMMV, for me I had under 1.5 years between LTC and ortho. If you have a previous career background that may make a difference. That's what did it for me. (my prev post is just before yours if you're wondering where I'm coming from!)

If you really want out, I would just search what may be out there and apply, you never know unless you try. I answered the ad besides wanting out of bedside, I was curious and figured no harm in seeing/interviewing, because I was "okay" where I was at the time, it wasn't a dire need to escape the situation although it was getting worse and worse as time went on.

I just don't believe in putting exact time frames on things. Life rarely works out like that. I thought I would have needed more bedside to be more appealing to prospective employers because that's what everyone says, fortunately they're not all right and there is no "right" timeframe. It depends on what you bring to the table as a total package.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
And one more thing, how many years of Med/Surg do one really need?

I was always told by my professors and other nurses that 1-2 years of Med/Surg experience is a good foundation. However, I'm working on a med/surg floor now and umm it's not my cup of tea (i guess I should give it more time before I say that), but I REFUSE to leave before my one year is up :D. Like others have commented on before I want to make myself as marketable as possible if I do decide to leave.

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