Would you be content if you worked your current job/specialty for the rest of your career?

[TriciaJ, RN]

Yes, I plan to stay in my current job for the rest of my career. That's only partly because I'm retiring soon. But if I wasn't, this job is a keeper; unfortunately I've just run out of steam nursing-wise.

I've changed specialties several times and am very glad that I did. I've learned a lot and had a fun and interesting career. It builds confidence to get good at something new (but always nerve-wracking to take the plunge). "Comfort zone" is a misnomer.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Psych itself? Yes, I could definitely stay here for the rest of my career.

My current job? Right now things are going well, I'm happy there, they're not unhappy with me AFAIK, and I don't see myself leaving in the foreseeable future. But of course, the future is never certain. So I may leave the job anytime between tomorrow and 30 years from now :)

[Julius Seizure]

Same specialty? Yes.

Same job? No, I'm not even content now.

[gcupid]

no...

[Semper_Gumby]

Right! I do ECMO and take care of our sickest patients and I'm STILL bored. It's the same thing over and over and over again. I'm looking to move into PICU (where I work a big portion of the time anyway) or adult cardiac ICU.

Do you have a pediatric cardiac ICU near you? I've always thought I'd stay in NICU my whole career and then couldn't find a job as a new grad. Now I'm about to take a NICU position and looking forward to it but am interested in possibly moving on to a PCICU sometime because I think hearts are cool lol.

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

Same specialty, yes. I knew I wanted to do psych before I even entered nursing school (close to my former career as a teacher), and it hasn't changed.

Current job? So far. I like how much med/surg it incorporates; my patients have many comorbidities (CHF, DM, renal issues, etc etc) and I am able to do IVs, IMs/SC, EKGs, telemetry, head-to-toes, etc. It's a perfect combination at the moment, and there's always something new.

I'm old, make decent money. I can sit intermittently throughout the day, actually talk to my patients, and work PT. Works for me.

[Luckyyou, BSN, RN]

Do you have a pediatric cardiac ICU near you? I've always thought I'd stay in NICU my whole career and then couldn't find a job as a new grad. Now I'm about to take a NICU position and looking forward to it but am interested in possibly moving on to a PCICU sometime because I think hearts are cool lol.

Our ECMO team covers NICU, PICU and peds CICU, so I get to do cool cardiac nursing every so often, but I'd never want to work in our CICU permanently. It has a ... culture issue. To put it nicely (at least they've recognized it and are working on it).

Good luck in the NICU! I learned a lot really fast, and it was fun for a while, but I think if you're truly a critical care person it's not a great fit for the long haul. If I have to bottle feed one more baby ....

[chacha82, ADN, BSN]

I love vascular and my coworkers, so yes I could stay where I am unless something drastically changes.

[FurBabyMom, MSN, RN]

I love the OR and periop more broadly. There are days I love and days I hate, but that's kind of how it goes in this specialty. There are really good outcomes and really horrible outcomes. Weeks where I see frozen section specimen pathology results come back as the most devastating possible option, and there are also weeks the path gets called back as the "best case scenario". Sometimes the stars align and things work out well, others, you know that the outcome likely won't change no matter what you do. I love the adrenaline rush of the occasional trauma or life threatening emergency, so I don't see myself moving to a surgery center. Sometimes it's every day of the week, and I've actually had days where all the cases I've done are emergencies.

As much as I love my job and my coworkers, I don't see myself staying in this specific role for the next 30 years. Maybe moving into management or some other direction, who knows. It'll surprise me in ways I don't yet expect. Maybe moving to another hospital, though the overall culture in my facility is pretty awesome so maybe not?

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

Right! I do ECMO and take care of our sickest patients and I'm STILL bored. It's the same thing over and over and over again. I'm looking to move into PICU (where I work a big portion of the time anyway) or adult cardiac ICU.

I have actually thought about PICU. It has to be one of the most challenging specialties to work in and those patients are SICK, not hapless feeder-growers trying to get it together. But...I love my babies.

[audreysmagic, RN]

Same speciality...absolutely. I don't actually want to work with adults. When I have, it's been out of necessity. My go-to joke is, "If you're whining, it had better be developmentally appropriate." I'm sub-specialized, actually, but I would stay in peds psych, absolutely. I feel comfortable both in medical pediatrics and psych, though (and thus have worked both sides of the coin, since not all areas have child/adolescent psych availability). I raise other people's kids. (Especially since many of my patients are in state custody and end up with us for literally months due to placement issues, despite it being designed to be an acute facility with 5-7 day stays.) I try to dip back into the medical side of things to keep my skills sharp every so often, but I REALLY love my little corner of the nursing world. (Despite the frustrations that inevitably arise, such as situations where the parents clearly also need some mental health care and, them, I can't treat...) I've thought about going the psych NP route, as I've had a good deal of experience in adult psych along the way, then focusing on adolescent/child, but I came to realize when picking my MSN specialty track that I really do want to teach far more. And "ok, not right now" on NP certainly doesn't mean never.

Same job? Nah. I actually love my co-workers (which is why I'm still here) and the work I actually do, but once I finish my MSN, my goal is to teach (either peds or psych components, especially if I get to do the clinicals). I do plan to do PRN work on the inpatient side, especially since if I can get a faculty job at one of my top two hoped-for nursing schools, there's an excellent psych facility with a peds floor nearby. (In fact, I did a student internship there...which was where I fell in love with the specialty in the first place.)

[audreysmagic, RN]

Because they think NICU is all about cuddling babies and changing diapers. They have no idea what it entails.

I have a lot of nurses/students come to peds psych with a similar mindset, that these kids just need love and hugs and they'll be fixed, because what kind of actual mental health issues could a kid have?

I do kind of relish the looks on their faces the first time a four year old looks them dead in the eye when they offer a bedtime story and cusses them out. (Not that bedtime stories can't be therapeutic in peds, but it ain't gonna solve the root problem, which at that age, is unfortunately often trauma...)