Just wondering... I know that most departments have their own share of good and bad. But if you could get any job/department/specialty out there as a RN/BSN (not CRNA or NP). Easy hours, easy patients, good (or not) money, good assignments, good co-workers, good departments, good hospitals. Besides good pay and benefits...What have you heard? What would that place be, that you would eventually want to end up in? Dream destination for RN? Who do you think has got it made? Thanks!
P.S. Personally, I am totally flexible and adaptable, I love the old and the young, manage emergencies and slow days just fine, going into nursing not for money, but for personal satisfaction and happiness.
I don't remember how many shifts I worked as an occupational nurse where no one visited me and I had nothing to do besides shut down the computer at the end of my shift. Those shifts even beat out my night shift home health shifts where I have been paid to watch a baby sleep.
My friend works for a health insurance company answering emails all day. She never even has to answer the phone. She does it 40 hours a week from home. It is a good thing, because she has very bad medical condition. She would qualify for SSI her due to her medical problem but she has such a cake job that she plans to continue doing it. She said if she stopped working she would be overwhelmed with worry about her health. There is a down side, the pay is lousy and most people couldn't live on what she makes. Please don't ask me what company she works for and how she got this job. I am not going to answer those question because I already gave out more info than I should have without asking her permission. I figure if I keep it real general I won't violate her privacy, notice I wasn't specific about the medical condition.
I don't remember how many shifts I worked as an occupational nurse where no one visited me and I had nothing to do besides shut down the computer at the end of my shift. Those shifts even beat out my night shift home health shifts where I have been paid to watch a baby sleep.
Sounds boring but I guess boring isn't always bad. You can get a lot of knitting, reading, etc. done. And if you don't mind the solitude, it's ok.
What's gravy to one nurse might be medieval torture to another. I have a job that I consider "gravy," but the vast majority of my co-workers would shoot themselves in the head before taking it on.
Our wound care nurse has the gravy job! She doesn't do work! (Ok, that's snarky.) Seriously, she picks a few lucky patients a day if we're lucky, does their dressings, and sees the new patients when she feels like it, writes consult orders, and does chart updates and photos once a week.
That's mon-fri, 8-5, no holidays no weekends. No wiping up poop unless she wants to. The consult orders hold weight like a doctor's order because the doc ordered the wound care consult; therefore she isn't bound to do the actual dressing changes that she orders for the nursing staff to do. So ridiculous orders can result; and we can get nasty emails if we don't do them the right way. Like for instance if we stop wrapping an alert woman's tongue in xeroform gauze, and decide to do the humane thing and wet it with (gasp!) water, so she might put it back in her mouth.
Oh but that's not all. She has a CNA who's her assistant. The non licensed person gets to help with the actual dressing changes, yet I haven't seen her put a dressing on in two months. Oh, well except for the wound vac that she put on bassackwards.
/sigh. There is no way for me to say it that isn't snarky.
Sounds boring but I guess boring isn't always bad. You can get a lot of knitting, reading, etc. done. And if you don't mind the solitude, it's ok.
At the time I didn't know about allnurses, (it was in its infancy), and I didn't want to get caught doing anything with the computer that was against the rules or I would have had some time on the computer playing around. I read books and ate my lunch.
Specializes in Hospice, cardiac Tele, psych, agency'.
Everyone I know says I have the easiest job ever as a psych nurse. It is medically easier than other floors I have been on, but can wear you out in other ways. My dad always told me if you love your job, you never go to work. I agree and think if you feel stressed, horrible, down on yourself, etc. with your job, then you haven't found the right RN job for you! What interestsyou in school? What are your goals? Do you like babies, gerontology, or specific systems (cardiac for example)? Hospice is definitely a great job, but most health care systems require a couple years of RN experience, unless you find the right fit and a manager willing to give you a try. Good luck!
Thanks for sharing, Pageantnurse. Oh, what type of pageants are you into?
I train nurses and MAs to do their job the way the company wants it done. Evaluations, CPR classes, wound care training , in-services of EVERY kind, and I am a mobile employee health nurse during flu season. I vaccinated 100 employees in one day last Nov.
Keep this job until I die or something even MORE amazing comes along(doubtful)
Beauty pageants. Big hair, rhinestones, and all. I never did it as a girl and started when I was 31. LOVE IT. Its also great for mindless stress relief.
Friends working in the UK worked a brief agency shift at a drug trial facility - after the TGN1412 trial in 2006 drug trial patients must have two nurses available at all times, including covering breaks. My friends had nine patients between three nurses overnight - the volunteers were all healthy young guys who slet all night, and the nurses took it in turns to have three hour naps, while getting agency rates.
That said, although that'd be fine in the short term, I'd be bored and disgruntled if that were my full-time job. I love my current position - a wide mix of specialties and conditions that keeps me learning new diseases, drugs and investigations; high acuity combined with palliation and early stage rehab; a solid core of experienced staff with regular infusions of students, grads and new staff; and a strong support network :)
Different perspectives will have different "dream jobs." An adrenaline junkie is not going to like the same job as a someone who prefers a slow-paced office environment.
I actually had my "gravy" job as an LVN, sometimes I wonder why I went and got my RN. Here were the perks:
I worked at a university in a Student Health Center. My job consisted of:
vital signs, initial interview, renewing birth control prescriptions as long as the patient's BP was wnl, etc. Assisting with toe nail removal I think was the most advanced we got there. Not even IV's! We also did community outreach where the clinic would be closed for a day and we would set up a station at an on-campus fair and do free BP checks, etc. And also we collaborated and did speeches on safe sex etc. There was a lot of health education involved with I LOVED.
The perks of this job: It was mon-fri 8-5, weekends off, all holidays off, and I had a 10/12 schedule, which means I got paid every month, but only worked 10 months out of the year. I had JULY and AUGUST off...paid, still accruing pto and sick and maintained benefits.
caliotter3
38,333 Posts
I don't remember how many shifts I worked as an occupational nurse where no one visited me and I had nothing to do besides shut down the computer at the end of my shift. Those shifts even beat out my night shift home health shifts where I have been paid to watch a baby sleep.