What's the most and least stressful field of nursing?

oregonchinamom · Jul 29, 2009

I would say that is very subjective. I worked ICU for 15 yrs and many people would categorize that as one of the more stressfull areas. I loved it, though and thrived there. My personal "most stressful" would be mental health, an area that some might say is less stressful. Ugggg, I would be a patient in less than a week!

I think it depends on what personally stresses you out.

arelle68 · Jul 29, 2009

Long term care is stressful. You have upwards of 20 patients. You never have enough staff or enough time. You don't ever have time for a break. Your license is on the line for stuff you just can't get to, no matter how hard you work, of how organized you are. It is an impossible situation. Management is often unsupported of staff, and loyal to the corporation. Doctors are often rude. They act like they would rather you just write the prescription yourself, and not bother them. I still love it, though. It gives me a huge adrenaline rush. I get really hyped when I finish. I upset them because I refuse to be rushed to the point that I don't do a good job. They want me to leave early, so that they won't have to pay my salary beyond a certain time. I leave when I'm done.

Home care is less stressful. You have one patient, and you just monitor them a lot.

twinmommy+2, ADN, BSN, MSN · Jul 29, 2009

I would say ER naturally since we can't say no to patients. But other than that I think OB would also top the list with ER and ICU. There is a high expectation from nurses in OB, its very prone to lawsuit, and can be extremely busy.

annaedRN, RN · Jul 29, 2009

Home care is less stressful. You have one patient, and you just monitor them a lot.

Private duty nursing is one on one in the home for an entire shift and is often low stress, yes. Home health care - providing skilled nursing visits in the home....while one on one, can actually be quite stressful and involved. I case manage 20-30 patients and provide pretty much any skill that is done on a med-surg floor...in often challenging environments. So it is not the most stressful, but carries it's fair share.

I agree that it is very subjective. Every job has it's stressors. Overall, I would think the acuity seen in ICU or ED would be quite stressful

elkpark · Jul 29, 2009

The answer to that question would vary greatly -- different for each person.

allnurses Guide · Jul 29, 2009

Gotta agree with elkpark. Depends on the person.

I find mental health rather non-stressful, but like someone said, some people would find that area very very stressful. I have to admit, I WOULD get stressed out to the max if I had to work our children's unit during the day. =) But any adult unit during daylight hours would not bother me nearly as much.

I find ICU stressful, and I would probably find ER stressful. In emergency situations, I just feel like I'm all thumbs.

rachelgeorgina · Jul 29, 2009

Elective/sub-acute mental health.... Imagine working on a voluntary eating disorders unit (where, for the most part, patients have some inkling of wanting to be there.) All you do is supervise.. and get free (private) hospital meals because obviously you have to eat with your patients at the table to set a good example! I've seen a lot of young, female nurses in this role because, for the most part, they aren't much different from their pts aside from the eating disorder vs. well.

Ted D · Jul 29, 2009

I would say that is very subjective. I worked ICU for 15 yrs and many people would categorize that as one of the more stressfull areas. I loved it, though and thrived there. My personal "most stressful" would be mental health, an area that some might say is less stressful. Ugggg, I would be a patient in less than a week!
I think it depends on what personally stresses you out.

What would you find stressful about the mental health field?

RedCell · Jul 29, 2009

My personal "most stressful" would be mental health, an area that some might say is less stressful. Ugggg, I would be a patient in less than a week!.

Many of them DO become patients!

JB2007, ASN, RN · Jul 29, 2009

I would have to agree with the posters that stated mental health would stress me out. I deal with a lot of behaviors in LTC, but once they reach a certain point with their behaviors they are shipped out. When patients/residents start throwing things and are determined to leave even if they have to punch their way out I tend to get a little bit stressed.

I do not know what area of nursing I would find the least stressing. I think they all have their own little or big things that would be stressful. I think it is a matter of finding the speciality that you like and can tolerate the stress level. When you like your job it does not seem as stressful or you do not mind the stress.

I am guessing here because I really do not think that I have found that one special/magical job that I can tolerate the stress well for extended periods of time.

patrice meursault · Jul 29, 2009

What would you find stressful about the mental health field?

Man I guess you never had to deal with a patient w/ borderline personality disorder.

Mental Health is a mentally draining job. If you work in the outpt or public health sector you also have to deal w/ the politics and funding issues that you don't need to deal w/ on most inpt setting of any type.

I've worked many arenas of nursing (from lev 1 trauma ER to CCU, to Cath Lab, various other depts..) and every job in nursing will have its "pucker moments" I have to say my most stressful moments came doing critical care transport and the pt codes ( ground transport can be scary.... only one RN ACLS provider,,,while flight nursing may have higher acuity, you have two ACLS providers) and working in a rural hospital w/ one RN on ( and getting five patients from a roll over, four having to be intubated- two of them kids (1 and 6 y.o) , all transported out... with only one RN (me)and one Internal Medicine MD to stabilize the patients). The EMTs would help bag the patients as we only had one vent! God do I love the sight of a transport team!!!

So I think every type of nursing has it's own intrinsic stress factor.