Okay so I know that I may get a bunch of responses that I am not looking for with this post, but I wanted to get opinions about nursing jobs or specialties that are not extremely stressful. I am aware that nursing is a stressful profession and everyone experiences some deal of stress on any job, however I currently work in critical care which is downright physically and mentally exhausting. I am looking to move into a specialty that doesn't require so much physical labor as well as a slower pace, and patients with lower acuity.
I am not interested in Medical Surgical nursing, as I already tried that and did not enjoy it.
Yikes! But you saved her life and I hope you got Employee of the Month for that one! Actually your "few days every once in a while" made me smile as I recall my son when he was in 3rd grade creating some sort of mass hysteria (he has a flair for drama) telling the (new) teacher he was "dizzy" so the teacher let him go to the nurse. Then a couple more kids realized that they too were indeed suffering the malady, so she let them go too. Can you see where this is going? That poor nurse had 20 "dizzy" 3rd graders packed in her office - and all I can say is I'm glad I wasn't there to witness the mayhem*.
To the OP- just want to add my outpatient clinics, MD offices, rehab units for longer-term illnesses, med nurse at alcohol/drug facilities, or (this may be only in urban areas) stepdown facilities whose purpose is to wean people off ventilator dependence, and nurse for those high-end private pay "concierge recovery" centers, or a medspa doing cosmetic procedures. Not endorsing- just suggesting. ?
* I add there was no new paint, formaldehyde emitting particle board or sick building syndrome.
I worked in the ICU for two years and got completely burned out! I now work in a PACU at a small hospital that does not have an emergency room. I work 4 ten hour shifts per week and have to be on call maybe 3-4 days a month. We are closed weekends and holidays except for an occasional Saturday surgery. It is such a great change of pace!
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
SlightlyMentalRN - I apologize for mischaracterizing your job. I know that detoxing people is serious business with lots of variables and complications. as well. My mental picture was of several (I have a family member with this dx) places patients are sent to after they detox, where they stay for 3 weeks. The nurse would assess the residents for minor complaints, collect urines for screening, take BPs etc, sometimes sending the pt back to the hospital detox unit if they seemed unstable. Sorry for the confusion!
skittlebear said:
Cute
Pretty sure the nurse had a little "chat" with the new teacher about such phenomena. ?
I have worked for about a month as a school nurse, 1-on-1, with a little boy with muscular dystrophy. He has a trach & GT & I ride the bus with him to school. It is definitely low stress. I am very busy/it is hectic, but compared to the nightmare job I left in LTC, it is serene. The pay is bad. I am hired through an agency, officially as a temp with no benefits. But I work days with holidays & weekends off.
The down side, beside the pay, is that there is some heavy lifting to get the 55 pound child in & out of the wheel chair. Up out of his bathtub chair is the worst. I am not sure how long my back will hold out. Also I worry about not being very marketable when the time comes to look for another job. I graduated 2 years ago & it was very difficult to get a job with no experience.
But the job is very rewarding. The school system's priority for me is to facilitate learning as much as possible and the teacher is wonderful. I just wish I had some early childhood education experience beyond my experience of being mom to my now senior in HS child. I never thought I would work in peds.
I am the only nurse in this classroom of 8 kids but I hear that there are other classrooms in which nurses work one on one with more medically fragile kids, ie. they may have many seizures. The classroom aides have said that in one class, it is more like glorified daycare and the nurses care more about the potlucks & not much learning/teaching going on. I don't think I could take that.
I hear you and sympathize as well as empathize. If you have a nursing degree, why not consider becoming a lab (not clinical) instructor at a community college or university? It's VERY low stress, and the pay is excellent (well, I'm in Canada -- I can only speak about my own experience). I find teaching students very rewarding, and I really enjoy the mentoring aspect of it as well. Think of all the years of experience you have and how you can put this experience into practice by imparting your knowledge to student nurses.
I am an LPN at a federal medical correction facility and most days are very relaxed and fun. We do respond to emergencies as needed and have a 12 bed long-term care unit and two mental health units. There is also a dialysis unit. I have worked nursing homes, home care, immunization clinics and psych hospitals. I enjoy my work at the prison and will probably continue there once I have my RN next year.
I went to work on a Med-Surg/Oncology floor straight out of school, then moved on to a long term care facility, then lucked out an got a job as a Life Skills School Nurse for an elementary school. By far my best job/lesser stress was the life skills school nurse position. The school I was at had a school nurse and I was responsible for the life skills kids (ADHD,MR,CP,etc), about 20 kids. That was the best job...it had it's stress issues...I had a baby shaken syndrome child, who had multiple daily seizures...so since I wasn't use to dealing with seizure pts...I was stressed daily for awhile...the kids were great...the problem was dealing with their parents, trying to get them to do things. Unfortunately we bought a house in another county and I had to leave that job due to the long drive I would of had. The only problem school nurse jobs are hard to come by and the pay isn't the best.
Post partum has to be the easiest nursing job in an acute care setting. Everybody is young, healthy, and happy. Famili members will do most of the care.
I don't know where YOU worked, but it was not that way in any of the PP units I worked on! We often had mothers that wouldn't do ANYTHING, either for themselves, or their babies, and families that did nothing but issue demands. Did I mention that social services often had to be contacted, as so many of the mothers had used crack during the pregnancy? Then there are the ones that are NOT happy, as it was not a planned pregnancy, and we were all awaiting the "mothering hormones" to kick in. Since, for the most part, they are healthy, many of the women had us running ragged, under the "customer service" model so many hospitals have gone to. Meaning, if the apple juice wasn't brought immediately, count on your supervisor being notified in the AM.
Specializes in Med/Surge, Geriatrics(LTC), Pediatricts,.
Most any position has it's stressful moments, but in my experience the two least stressfull areas are, 1) Private duty, only one patient, get to know them as family, no buzzers going off, no Dr rounds to contend with, lots of other pros, however, does have it's moments, if the pt is contrary and you are having a bad day, if your pt is admitted to the hospital you have the stress of no work, dealing with your pt's family. And the second least stressful is homehealth, the pace is slower, and pro's similar to privat duty, however con's your agency may not be the best at scheduling, and your schedule gets all screwed up daily, or your pt is admitted to the hospital, you are out of work for that period of time, may or may not have another pt to pick up. This is for the staff nurse who "sits" with a pt for a daily or nightly shift.
What it all boils down to, is what do you consider a stressful situation. Not everyone has the same level of stress, you may fall apart on a busy Nursing home unit where I think it's a slow shift, whereas you may think it's a slow shift in a busey ICU and I think it's busey as a beehiver.
Try different areas. Also an area that might be slow paced, may be too slow paced for you and you become bored to tears, and go stir crazy.
are you kidding me? not everyone is young, healthy and happy to say the least.
You are exactly right! Last night my pp unit had a mom who delivered at 26wks w/ hgb of 6, mom with pp depression, pt w/ kidney stones, pt. w/ fetal demise, 2 fresh post-op, etc... these nurses provide intense emotional support as well as nursing care...
I worked in Public Health and loved it! It is nurse driven for the most part. No life or death situations for the most part. Also, you can do so much client education like we are taught in nursing school and see a lot of times the same patients over time and time again. You really build up a relationship with the clients. I worked in public health for 9 years and would never have left if it hadn't been for my health. Good luck....
skittlebear
408 Posts
Cute