What's the best specialty for someone who hates small talk?

[climbeRN]

I'm looking for suggestions from my fellow introverted nurses: what specialties have you tried or heard of that are a good fit for someone who is not so fond of small talk? I am currently working in a med-surg unit on nights and find even the small amount of interaction with families to be incredibly draining. Before I worked in med-surg I actually worked in the NICU, but the long-term relationships with families for 2-3 months at a time was REALLY not my thing (my hospital did primary nursing and picking up one patient for that long terrified me because of running out of things to talk about with the parents after only one shift.) I was hoping med-surg would not require as much small talk as the NICU did, but I haven't found that to be the case. I really admire those who can talk to patients so effortlessly, but for me, that is the most draining part of the job, not the acuity, business, patho, or critical thinking. Would love to hear what specialties are a good fit for us introverts!

[jnks]

On 10/27/2020 at 6:55 AM, ChristmasNurse said:

Don't you have to talk with staff then? LOL.  I'd say PACU.  I'm surprised NICU at night would be quieter.  When it comes to babies, I figure that's round the clock drama for the parents.

That’s true, I guess “small talk” made me think of talking to strangers/pts not coworkers, but for someone really antisocial, I guess they may not want to talk to their coworkers either!

[AdventurousRN02, RN]

On 1/14/2018 at 6:06 PM, Dakeirus said:

My two loves:

ICU - If they're sedated and vented, you just come to the room and do your thing.

PACU- Most of the time they're too drowsy to talk to you. And if they're chatty--ask them if they have pain so you can put them to sleep with some dilaudid.

I don't know about just putting someone to sleep because their too talkative but...