Where to go as a nurse if you dont want to work with patients at ALL?

[guest1074618]

Please dont judge me as I am already judging myself hard enough for paying all this money for a degree I hate. I KNEW nursing wasn't for me 1st semester of nursing school. I am not a people person and found myself annoyed with the patients very quickly. My parents and friends told me this wasnt a field for me and my personality, but I for some reason stuck with it. I was 17 and figured "I'm in too deep now may as well finish because nursing credits won't transfer anywhere". So I graduated and got 3 years of ED experience. Hated every minute of it. The patients were often abusive and unappreciative. I felt like a maid who passed out pills between GSWs.

I took advice from this forum and tried outpatient. I enjoyed that environment and schedule more but hated one thing: The patients. In my outpatient role I literally put IVs in all day and gave IV contrast. I had the patients for 15 mins max, but had to ask them several questions to determine the reason for the study/safety of IV contrast. I found myself ANNOYED asking them the questions!! Having to repeat myself because they're on their phone, asking them to "take their shirt and bra off and put the gown on with the opening in the back" and returning to find them with the gown over their shirt, bra, and coat. ANNOYED at patients talking down on me.

I'm so defeated and depressed. I paid all this money and worked so hard for this degree. I just cant stand the patients. My coworkers seem to like me and I'm a good nurse. I'm just not happy. I've tried multiple hospitals and a different setting, but the underlying annoyance is the patients it seems. Are there any nursing fields I may be better suited to?

I have my bachelors degree in nursing. I was halfway through NP school before I realized becoming and NP won't solve my problem.

[guest1074618]

4 hours ago, DavidFR said:

Have you thought of the pharmaceutical industry? Drug companies love hiring nurses to become sales reps because of your insider knowledge. That or you could go into clinical development with a drug company.

Then there's research. Many nurses become CRAs (Clinical Research Associates) and monitor clinical trials, again your prior nursing knowledge is a great advantage.

If you want to move away from health (once this world becomes "normal" again) airlines like to hire ex-nurses as flight attendants as your nursing knowledge is useful in on-board medical emergencies (and regular health upsets in-flight). Provided you don't find all the passengers too irritating!

Good luck with your search. I would say no knowledge and no experience is ever wasted - there are always ways to apply it.

Thank you! I had not considered pharmaceuticals! I will look into that today!

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

5 hours ago, schroeders_piano said:

What about being a scrub nurse or circulator? Your patients are asleep most of the time.

The patients may be asleep, but your coworkers aren't, and you're stuck in the OR with them for the whole shift. If it's someone you don't like/get along with, that can make for a miserable day.

[guest1074618]

8 hours ago, Rose_Queen said:

The patients may be asleep, but your coworkers aren't, and you're stuck in the OR with them for the whole shift. If it's someone you don't like/get along with, that can make for a miserable day.

I usually LOVE my coworkers LOL its literally just the patients I dont like. I feel like people are reading it as I hate everyone and thats not the case. I just dont enjoy patient care constantly.

[LPNpaired]

Where to go if you dont want to work with patients at ALL?... Out the door.

(Seriously though- not judging, its just common sense. What you're asking is like saying "where can I be a veterinarian when I hate animals". If you hate patient care so much, why go into nursing to begin with? We're all here for the money to an EXTENT. We wouldn't come in for free, given, but most of us at least can tolerate working with patients. .. Just get a desk job somewhere or try realty. Plenty comparatively paying jobs out there that arent nursing. ....Or just stay a nurse and work in MDS or literally any supervisory position and it'll be 99% paperwork and bossing people around. (Sounds like a nightmare to me but to each their own). But do you really think the nurses in those positions just got there the day after they got their license? To get there (and be any type of worth a sht at your job) you HAVE to have some kind of patient experience first. Clinicals dont count. And you have to always understand that in the long run, if there is a staffing crisis or whatever, there will always be a chance you have to lay hands on a human being. So at the end of the day, what I initially said is what id recommend; if at all possible, rethink your career choices.)

[DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN]

22 hours ago, KatieMI said:

I and the topic's author are both from the USA. Here research nurses routinely enroll subjects, educate about trials, collect questionnaires and other such paperwork, access them before meds administration, distribute and administer the trialed meds and do other tasks which involve direct patient contacts. Maybe not all of them have that type of work but those I have working contact with sure do.

Strange, I responded to this once and it seems to have disappeared, so I'll respond again but apologies if it subsequently appears as a second response.

I'm confused by your answer - we were talking about CRAs and now you're talking about research nurses. They are NOT the same thing. You describe the rôle of the research nurse and that's also what research nurses would do in Europe. I did not suggest the OP considers being a research nurse. I suggested considering becoming a CRA (clinical research associate).

The CRA establishes the CRF (case report form) based on the trial protocol, verifies data entered into the CRF in collaboration with the SSC (study site coordinator who may be a research nurse, a clinical nurse specialist or a doctor), validates the CRF etc. They generally don't have patient contact. Most CRAs are not nurses but nurses can move into that rôle.

Were you under the impression that the CRA and the research nurse were the same person? They are not. I worked on many trials conducted by US companies and thus came across US CRA's so I know they exist in the same form, which is why your post confused me. I appreciate that research nurses have patient contact and that's not what I was suggesting. CRAs are a different ball game - no patient contact. Possibly interesting for the OP.

[Boog'sCRRN246, RN]

I second the Utilization Management suggestion. I'm regional supervisor over three hospitals in my health system and have not had to deal with a patient/patient's family in almost three years. We do make decisions that affect patients, but we are partnered with our hospital care coordinators who handle the face-to-face encounters. My team literally sits in a cave-like office (or at home for the time being) all day reviewing charts and paging doctors.

[guest1074618]

12 hours ago, LPNpaired said:

Where to go if you dont want to work with patients at ALL?... Out the door.

(Seriously though- not judging, its just common sense. What you're asking is like saying "where can I be a veterinarian when I hate animals". If you hate patient care so much, why go into nursing to begin with? We're all here for the money to an EXTENT. We wouldn't come in for free, given, but most of us at least can tolerate working with patients. .. Just get a desk job somewhere or try realty. Plenty comparatively paying jobs out there that arent nursing. ....Or just stay a nurse and work in MDS or literally any supervisory position and it'll be 99% paperwork and bossing people around. (Sounds like a nightmare to me but to each their own). But do you really think the nurses in those positions just got there the day after they got their license? To get there (and be any type of worth a sht at your job) you HAVE to have some kind of patient experience first. Clinicals dont count. And you have to always understand that in the long run, if there is a staffing crisis or whatever, there will always be a chance you have to lay hands on a human being. So at the end of the day, what I initially said is what id recommend; if at all possible, rethink your career choices.)

If you read my post at all I stated how I fell into nursing. I also stated I have 3 years of direct patient care in an ER. Trauma ER. So no I DO HAVE EXPERIENCE. I’m looking into a career change but need to feed my dog while I do so. This is why I came here for advice from nonjudgmental peers. Work on your compassion and reading comprehension

29 minutes ago, Boog'sCRRN246 said:

I second the Utilization Management suggestion. I'm regional supervisor over three hospitals in my health system and have not had to deal with a patient/patient's family in almost three years. We do make decisions that affect patients, but we are partnered with our hospital care coordinators who handle the face-to-face encounters. My team literally sits in a cave-like office (or at home for the time being) all day reviewing charts and paging doctors.

Thank you! I will look into this, that sounds more up my alley

[Boog'sCRRN246, RN]

12 hours ago, LPNpaired said:

Where to go if you dont want to work with patients at ALL?... Out the door.

(Seriously though- not judging, its just common sense. What you're asking is like saying "where can I be a veterinarian when I hate animals". If you hate patient care so much, why go into nursing to begin with? We're all here for the money to an EXTENT. We wouldn't come in for free, given, but most of us at least can tolerate working with patients. .. Just get a desk job somewhere or try realty. Plenty comparatively paying jobs out there that arent nursing. ....Or just stay a nurse and work in MDS or literally any supervisory position and it'll be 99% paperwork and bossing people around. (Sounds like a nightmare to me but to each their own). But do you really think the nurses in those positions just got there the day after they got their license? To get there (and be any type of worth a sht at your job) you HAVE to have some kind of patient experience first. Clinicals dont count. And you have to always understand that in the long run, if there is a staffing crisis or whatever, there will always be a chance you have to lay hands on a human being. So at the end of the day, what I initially said is what id recommend; if at all possible, rethink your career choices.)

I think you missed the part where the OP stated they had three years of ED experience and at least some Outpatient experience. For my department, Utilization Management, that would be enough to at least get an interview. I also wouldn't have reinforced the UM idea if OP had no nursing experience.

As for a crisis situation, most recently we were exempt from having to offer anyone up for the COVID labor pool because we were considered essential to the health system as far as ensuring payment from contracted payors for services rendered. Having a UM plan is part of CMS's Conditions of Participation so it would have to be an unimaginably catastrophic event to depart from that.

A person doesn't have to be in love with patient care or deal with patients to be a nurse. There are so many behind the scenes nursing positions that are non-bedside. What a person does need is a willingness to get at least some experience with patient care (as awful as it may be) before making the jump.

[inthecosmos, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN]

You have received many suggestions. Have you spoken with a career coach to maybe ignite your passion? I know this sounds a bit bogus, but as someone who also dislikes direct patient care (as a bedside RN) for similar reasons, I found my passion for rural and underserved populations. I have recently completed my MSN as an FNP and when I found my passion, it changed my perspective and feelings on nursing entirely.

I do have a few more suggestions, which would require continuing your education and perhaps maintaining a bedside position until your degree was completed.

Policy advocate (this requires some interest in a population and knowledge on politics, etc...)

Academic nurse writer (may require a terminal degree depending on your level of expertise)

Legal nurse consultant.

Nurse educator (depending on your setting. Hospital educators do not often have patient contact.)

Best of luck!

[CritterLover, BSN, RN]

What do you *like* about nursing? That will help some.

I've definitely felt the way you do ... and I was an ER nurse too. I tell people all the time that the ER sucked the compassion right out of me. Which may or may not be the case for you ... but I feel you.

I can tell you that I'd absolutely hate both pharmaceutical sales (I'm too much of an introvert) and U R (I hate doing chart reviews). I think I'd be good as a scrub and/or circulating nurse but until recently I didn't live close enough to a hospital to take call so I never explored that option.

I've worked with research nurses, the amount of patient contact they had depended on the study but overall wasn't the majority of the day -- they had plenty of office time where they got a break from patients. And the CRAs that came to monitor their/our work didn't have any patient contact at all.

I currently do a mix of informatics and bedside in peds, and it is a nice mix for me. I like my pediatric patients (parents ... not always so much) and I really enjoy the informatics part of my job -- which in itself has zero patient contact. Informatics requires a lot of problem solving and hand holding. You send out emails telling people things are going to change. You post signs telling people things are going to change. You make announcements at shift change that things are going to change .... and then when things change people flag you down to ask why they weren't told that things were going to change. Kind of like your patients who won't get off the phone.

[bitter_betsy, BSN]

I am so stinking new at this - I have NO idea what I am talking about - however in some states nurses (with proper education) can become coroners (and usually it is an elected position). I admit I don't have a clue how one would go about getting to this position, but it seems to me that a nurse would be beneficial in medical investigations and people that have expired don't ask questions. Maybe police departments? I really don't know - I just thought I'd throw it out there and maybe someone who knew what they were talking about could add to it or you could run with it and figure it out. Good Luck. I do understand how you feel.

[waufah, BSN, RN]

If you are tired I agree you might have to do a career change. However even a switch in specilaties maybe the change you need as you plan your exit. My advice is though,you have clinical skills which you can apply to your next career. Depending on your strengths,nurse informatics,big pharma(sales rep,CRAs, regulatory affairs,quality auditor,medical writer). You might have to invest in some sort of certification or a Masters for some of these jobs.