Who loves their specialty/place of employment and why?

[malem]

:nurse:I am a new nursing student. I have worked for years as a STNA, PCA and now in home health care. I understand that one of the reasons these forums are here are for nurses to vent and find support for those that are struggling/unhappy in their positions. And I totally understand the need for that. But I am wondering, who has found a position or a place of employment that they really love? Why do you like LTC or ICU or ED, etc? Are you in a big city hospital or a small town? Clinic, office, school or other...? I am really interested in those that are fulfilled in their positions. Thanks.

[PetiteOpRN]

I work in a teaching hospital as a circulator in neurosurgery. I love my job. i take care of one patient at a time. I have 15 minutes to become an expert on that one patient (by reviewing the chart and talking to the patient -- I do not get report). We do not have med reconciliation in the OR. Typically, the surgeon says, get me x and y out of the pyxis, for the field or to be administered immediately. I have to know that the patient has a history of anaphylactic reaction to PCN, so Ancef is contraindicated, or that their renal labs are incompatible with a large dose of Gentamycin. It is a challenge to be told an order and think through the patient's pertinent medical history to decide if it is appropriate.

There is also a fair amount of medical equipment that I set up and operate, so I have a lot of variety in my job. I have med students, interns, and residents who make their way through my room, and I try to brief them on the procedures, the typical post op course for patients with the given diagnosis/procedure and how they can make themselves useful (this is mainly for med students and interns). So while I don't do as much patient/family teaching, I do plenty of teaching.

And I do some of the more basic nursing duties also. Many nurses are afraid to bath a patient with a fractured neck, so I give the patient a bed bath in the OR. If we're worried that a patient ate prior to surgery, I will help insert a feeding tube and hook it to suction as anesthesia places the art line. I start foleys on about half of my patients.

But the main reason I love my job so much is because the team I work with treats me with respect. The surgeons I work with are there to see how hard I work to make their procedures go smoothly and make their day better, and they appreciate me.