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.
I will just say that unless you have done the job you should not comment. I have worked as a hospital staff nurse in ortho and telemetry- both stressful mainly because of the work, but telemetry was less stressful because of the unity of the staff. Home health- stressful because of long hours and paperwork, on call and pressure to make money for the agency rather than just taking care of patients. You are very alone in the field which can be good, but when a patient goes bad it can be very stressful. Full-time home health staff work about 50 hours a week or more. Lab instructor- stressful because of demands put on nursing schools to graduate students. Many students should not be there, but just like public schools nursing schools sometimes have to deal with pressure to graduate students no matter what it takes. Students complain when they don't pass skill testing. You never know from year to year if you will have a job. Pay very low compared to other nursing jobs. School nursing- stressful because you are completely alone and have to deal with a lot of emergencies. You cannot call a doctor or ask anyone else for an opinion. You are utterly alone and may have 1000 students with meds, trachs, unstable diabetes, asthma, anaphylaxis, etc. Accidents and broken bones, head injuries, you name it and school nurses deal with it, always alone. Long-term care - extremely stressful because of work conditions. All areas have their good sides too, but all are stressful in their own way.
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
cxg174 said:
I will just say that unless you have done the job you should not comment. I have worked as a hospital staff nurse in ortho and telemetry- both stressful mainly because of the work, but telemetry was less stressful because of the unity of the staff. Home health- stressful because of long hours and paperwork, on call and pressure to make money for the agency rather than just taking care of patients. You are very alone in the field which can be good, but when a patient goes bad it can be very stressful. Full-time home health staff work about 50 hours a week or more. Lab instructor- stressful because of demands put on nursing schools to graduate students. Many students should not be there, but just like public schools nursing schools sometimes have to deal with pressure to graduate students no matter what it takes. Students complain when they don't pass skill testing. You never know from year to year if you will have a job. Pay very low compared to other nursing jobs. School nursing- stressful because you are completely alone and have to deal with a lot of emergencies. You cannot call a doctor or ask anyone else for an opinion. You are utterly alone and may have 1000 students with meds, trachs, unstable diabetes, asthma, anaphylaxis, etc. Accidents and broken bones, head injuries, you name it and school nurses deal with it, always alone. Long-term care - extremely stressful because of work conditions. All areas have their good sides too, but all are stressful in their own way.
Just wanted to add that postpartum is not always an easygoing, happy area. I worked in postpartum for a short time, and loved it, however there are very stressful and unhappy times as well. In my short time, we had young moms who were victims of physical abuse, moms who used drugs during the pregnancy and now social services has to get involved, moms who are living in unsanitary conditions, moms who had babies with a disability and were not prepared/did not know ahead of time, and moms who did not seem interested in their new baby. In addition, c-sections can be a heavy patient load as they require more frequent assessment, they need more pain meds, they need more assistance, they have catheters and IVs, and they are at a higher risk for bleeding and infection. It is also not uncommon to have patients that hemorrhage during the postpartum period, whether they were a section or lady partsl delivery, which can be a very high stress situation! Overall though, many families do their own thing and take care of themselves and their baby. A majority of the time, the patients are happy and healthy and it is a wonderful place to work :)
Specializes in Emergency Room, Specialty Infusions.
I work Emergency Room now....every weekend.
Recently took a job at a Dental Surgeon's office during the week. Pays $10 less and all I do is start IV's, manage the propofol drip, chart, and keep an eye on the airway. I go home happy, in a good mood, and not in any physical pain from lifting and pushing. Unlike, when I get off work on the weekends
I will just say that unless you have done the job you should not comment. I have worked as a hospital staff nurse in ortho and telemetry- both stressful mainly because of the work, but telemetry was less stressful because of the unity of the staff. Home health- stressful because of long hours and paperwork, on call and pressure to make money for the agency rather than just taking care of patients. You are very alone in the field which can be good, but when a patient goes bad it can be very stressful. Full-time home health staff work about 50 hours a week or more. Lab instructor- stressful because of demands put on nursing schools to graduate students. Many students should not be there, but just like public schools nursing schools sometimes have to deal with pressure to graduate students no matter what it takes. Students complain when they don't pass skill testing. You never know from year to year if you will have a job. Pay very low compared to other nursing jobs. School nursing- stressful because you are completely alone and have to deal with a lot of emergencies. You cannot call a doctor or ask anyone else for an opinion. You are utterly alone and may have 1000 students with meds, trachs, unstable diabetes, asthma, anaphylaxis, etc. Accidents and broken bones, head injuries, you name it and school nurses deal with it, always alone. Long-term care - extremely stressful because of work conditions. All areas have their good sides too, but all are stressful in their own way.
thank you for your comment. just wanted to say that i am not looking for a job the is PERFECT with no stress as i know that is impossible. I just want to not have to deal with emergencies constantly, and not have such a large workload and tasklist for the shift that I am unable to get everything done, so i leave in shambles, not even knowing what i accomplished. Also i just cant take the physical stress of turning and lifting patients constantly. I'm only 28 and have gray hair now since working this job....
Well you certainly have a healthy, realistic approach in your rationale to change fields.
I think what most of us are conveying is what you already know that no nursing is completely:uhoh3: stress-free but based on your particular stated reasons for "your" stress you do have a plethora of options... go for them.
Nursing:redbeathe definitely will give you the mutual satisfaction you are seeking but you do have to hunt for your niche. Some awesome self-evaluation tools for nursing career decisions are:
"Career Changes for Nurses: Work Opportunities Outside he Hospital" or
The Nurses' Guide to Starting a Business" (tons of govt grant money waiting to support you!), and
"Your Career in Nursing: Manage Your Future in the Changing World of Health Care"
You can get these books the cheapest on amazon.com, cheapbooks.com or half.com
If you are an ICU nurse, you might consider the PACU. You would still be able to use some of your critical care skills but it tends to be a less stressful environment. The PACU is known as the "ICU graveyard"
I don't necessarily agree with you here. I was a PACU nurse for 19 years in a Level I trauma, inner city teaching hospital. The PACU was a 17 bed unit, constantly busy, and a lot of stress in terms of "no beds in the inn" upstairs. Numerous times we were responsible for caring for ICU overflow patients (most did not belong in a PACU); no physician wanted to "lay claim" to them. Most were medical patients who fell by the wayside, so to speak. Medical residents would assume the anesthesia residents would care for the patients...nope, doesn't work like that. So much time would be spent on the phone in an attempt to find the physician responsible for the care of the patient. Try managing patients who had tenuous airways; bilateral total knee patients who had S/G catheters, hemolyte autotransfusion machines, and epidurals that needed to be replaced, all in addition to caring for a ICU overflow patient who "was circling the drain." Visitors were also an issue, but that is a topic in and of itself.
Because the PACU (where I was employed) was not governed by the dept. of nursing, it was "everyman for himself." The PACU was a tight knit unit; we came to each other's rescue, and would work MANY extra days, evenings, or nights (the PACU was "always open, never closed"). We were a tough bunch, but the care given was superb. The PACU was also a "catch basin" for outlying depts. who had a "sick patient" that needed monitoring. After 19 years, I had enough of hospital politics; I jumped ship.
Granted, not all PACUs are like this. It's the nature of the beast, IMO, when you work in a large inner city teaching hospital. All in all, I can honestly say I enjoyed working in the PACU, but in terms of low stress, I don't think so, but again, it's the size of the hospital as well as the surgical services offered that set the pace.
Thanks, I was hoping to hear from another PACU nurse. Your experience mirrors mine, Level 1 trauma, managing lots of sick pts, ICU boarders with no MD coverage....doing lots of call to cover night shift boarders. Everyone who came to PACU said they did because they heard it was a piece of cake job, after 2 weeks they changed their mind. We could have 8 OR rooms empty out within a 15 min peroid, with 4 nurses working.Putting the OR "on hold" because we were busy was not an option!! Maybe PACU in a
smaller hospital is less stressful...I loved it, but my back was shot after 30 years so I moved to another dept, IR Nursing, which is busy and stressful at times (with call ) but I needed a change
Specializes in Labor and Delivery, clinical research.
Post partum is not the least stressful job... for those that have indicated that they floated there... you probably were given the easiest assignment. I agree with the nurses who indicated that there are moms that have abused drugs, etc... also toss in a post partum hemorrhage. working in this area involves alot of teaching... same thing over and over again with a smile!
Nursing in general is stressful. You have to learn to prioritize and use your critical thinking skills on a daily basis. The only way you're going to find an area that suits you is to take the plunge and try something else.
My blood really boils when I read how "easy" it is working on a post partum floor! If you only do a few deliveries a month maybe. We do over 2200 a year. This is considered to be the "happiest" unit in the hospital. It usually is BUT when it is sad it is REALLY sad. Not every mom is there with a happy little bundle of joy. Some never get to hold that bundle at all or are faced with unexpected outcomes of prematurity and/or birth defects. Not all moms are of "sound mind and body" and can be a physical and psychological adventure. I've worked in every Unit of my hospital except for PINU and can name the good and bad sides of all. Please think twice about applying to a Post Partum Unit for ease; your feet, your back and your heart may not be up to it!
My blood really boils when I read how "easy" it is working on a post partum floor! If you only do a few deliveries a month maybe. We do over 2200 a year. This is considered to be the "happiest" unit in the hospital. It usually is BUT when it is sad it is REALLY sad. Not every mom is there with a happy little bundle of joy. Some never get to hold that bundle at all or are faced with unexpected outcomes of prematurity and/or birth defects. Not all moms are of "sound mind and body" and can be a physical and psychological adventure. I've worked in every Unit of my hospital except for PINU and can name the good and bad sides of all. Please think twice about applying to a Post Partum Unit for ease; your feet, your back and your heart may not be up to it!
Am I really reading right that your are 65 years old and still working?
Hands down, my vote is for hospice care. Either in home, or facility. Preferably a non-profit.
There is a learning curve, of course, but not so much technical knowledge, as it is a totally
different mindset. I liken it to 'labor and delivery', at the other end of the continuum.:
I worked as field hospice nurse for 2 years, and I did love it, just didn't care for the driving around. Also didn't like having to go to dangerous areas at night when on call. I have the best job in the world now as hospice triage RN, I still have patient contact, but without the lifting and no paperwork to bring home. However, it's after hours and weekends. Less stress (except when dealing with difficult family).
Wishinonastar, BSN
1 Article; 1,000 Posts
I will just say that unless you have done the job you should not comment. I have worked as a hospital staff nurse in ortho and telemetry- both stressful mainly because of the work, but telemetry was less stressful because of the unity of the staff. Home health- stressful because of long hours and paperwork, on call and pressure to make money for the agency rather than just taking care of patients. You are very alone in the field which can be good, but when a patient goes bad it can be very stressful. Full-time home health staff work about 50 hours a week or more. Lab instructor- stressful because of demands put on nursing schools to graduate students. Many students should not be there, but just like public schools nursing schools sometimes have to deal with pressure to graduate students no matter what it takes. Students complain when they don't pass skill testing. You never know from year to year if you will have a job. Pay very low compared to other nursing jobs. School nursing- stressful because you are completely alone and have to deal with a lot of emergencies. You cannot call a doctor or ask anyone else for an opinion. You are utterly alone and may have 1000 students with meds, trachs, unstable diabetes, asthma, anaphylaxis, etc. Accidents and broken bones, head injuries, you name it and school nurses deal with it, always alone. Long-term care - extremely stressful because of work conditions. All areas have their good sides too, but all are stressful in their own way.