What do you like and don't like about your current job?

[Libby1987]

And what area do you work in?

Obviously not a HW question, but I will be making a change and although my qualifications are limited I'm also curious about the different good aspects in different areas.

I'm a FT home health case mgr.

I like the..

autonomy

flex schedule

having my *own* cases that I usually see beginning to end

patient and caregiver interactions

teaching

complex wound care

Varying environments incl getting outside

Working with mostly happy and inspired coworkers

I could live without..

paperwork (though sometimes I'm a nerd and like it)

bad weather

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I'm a house supervisor at a specialty hospital...

I enjoy:

1. Some of my coworkers

2. The lack of physical work

3. Instructing a new nurse on how to do something

4. The lack of direct supervision

5. Flexible scheduling

6. Income

7. The lack of acuity

8. Computer charting

I dislike:

1. Unreasonable expectations from management

2. Certain coworkers who snitch and tattle

3. The high nurse/patient ratios

4. The uncompetitive wage grid

5. Difficult patients

6. Demanding, unrealistic family members

7. Physicians who do not want to be bothered

[Anna S, RN]

I like:

Most of my co-workers.

I'm learning a lot.

The bennies.

I don't like:

Everything else....(low pay, the hours, hard physical work, triple charting required, mgmt...)

[oliegirllvn]

I work home health (private duty nursing) I hate my lack of training. I hate having a lot I down time with nothing to do(love kids but hate entertaining kids for hours). I like working alone. I hate feeling like I'm forgetting most if not all my nursing knowledge. I HATE feeling like parents judge me because I'm the only nitrate there at one time.

[kiszi, RN]

Small catch-all ICU.

Likes:

Usually good variety of patients

No lack of opportunities to hone clinical skills

Rarely a dull moment

Good pay and shift/weekend diff

Great unit culture that is close-knit but not cliquey

I can leave work at work, sleep well at night, and enjoy my days off

Three 12s!

Free CEUs and certifications

Dislikes:

Lack of big-hospital resources

Only a few MDs on permanent staff, so other docs rotate through from the main campus and have to get caught up on the plan of care

Certain ancillary staff who do not pull their weight

Families who create drama. The patient's drama I can deal with a lot better

[klone, MSN, RN]

I work for a inner city community health OB/Gyn clinic.

What I like:

My manager knows my professional goals and does whatever she can to help me achieve them. She sits back and lets me be in the spotlight to upper management.

My coworkers are awesome. We truly have fun working together.

I love that even though my providers are "above" me in education, they still respect that I know my ****, and they will ask for my advice and feedback.

I love that I work with an incredibly diverse patient population, and I never know what will walk through the door.

I love that I am challenged every day - from dealing with a patient who confesses that she wants to kill her 3-year-old, to the 19-year-old pregnant patient who is addicted to crack, to the 14-year-old whose mother sells her into prostitution and is dealing with PID from chlamydia that's been untreated for a year.

What I don't like:

I really miss starting IVs. I rocked at IVs and phlebotomy. Oh, and foleys.

I wish I worked 4 10s and had a day off. 5 days a week is hard. Burnout and compassion fatigue happens regularly.

I hate that I am challenged every day - from dealing with a patient who confesses that she wants to kill her 3-year-old, to the 19-year-old pregnant patient who is addicted to crack, to the 14-year-old whose mother sells her into prostitution and is dealing with PID from chlamydia that's been untreated for a year.

[Libby1987]

Klone, loving the hardest part of your job, that's such a tough balancing act.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

For the next 3 days I am still a manager of a pediatric home visit program.

I like

-My patients

-The autonomy/independence

-The schedule (for the most part)

-The flexibility

I dislike

-On call

-Irresponsible field nurses who don't show up for their private duty shifts at midnight on a Saturday night thereby ruining my weekend.

-Not having social workers. Working inner city there are a lot of, shall we say, "social issues" and if a report of abuse or neglect needs to be filed, yours truly is the one who gets to do it.

-Non-clinical office staff who think they know a lot more than they do

-Working for a small company where roles are not well defined. Any time ANYONE leaves- no matter who it is- that person's duties somehow migrate to nursing leadership staff.

-That the highest ranking person in the company is a business person/doesn't have a clinical bone in her body but thinks that she can make clinical decisions.

-Having a job that is easily 3 jobs rolled into one but only being paid for one.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

I enjoy my job; maybe because I have worked in dumps (lack of staffing, unreasonable work environments, unprofessional behavior from

leadership and peers and staff that need to be supervised-I could go on) and this job has some irritations; I'll keep it minimal:

What I like:

The variety: some days are high acuity, some days low, and everything in between; and the ability to not have the same pts everyday.

Educating pts and having the resources to do so, and other resources that help immensely.

The teamwork aspect; I'm in a new specialty and 92% of my coworkers are excellent to learn from-providers included, and nurses are excellent to learn from and at least 99.5 are approachable for anything.

What can be irritants:

Lack of concrete access to supplies; the supplies are there, but the communication with the department can be downright idiotic.

Management can talk out of both sides of their mouth; their intentions may be good-well, you know how that is...

Sometimes decision making by providers can be slow or not as communicative as it could be; however, I compensate for that much because I am aggressively assertive-fortunately or unfortunately.

[Libby1987]

Likes = liking the shared contributions but also acknowledging the difficulties at everyone's jobs.

[Farawyn]

High School RN

Like: The kids, the hours, and I have a little snarky clique now I hang with

Dislike: The parents, the pay, the lack of other nurses or medical people

[Libby1987]

Farawyn, I know what you mean about missing other nurses, my job is pretty isolated from my coworkers as well.