I have been a registered nurse for almost 2 years now and I am currently working on a 22 bed telemetry unit at a community hospital in the northeast.  We take care of adult patients in an inpatient setting with a variety of different illnesses but most are cardiac in nature.  I've only been doing this for a short time after working my butt off for 4 years in nursing schhol.  The problem is, I sometimes feel like I'm not really cut out for this.  I don't have the patience to deal with some of the patients and their families and I feel like working in an acute care setting is not my thing.  My friends and family say that I'm bored and I should go work at a bigger hospital caring for "sicker" people but I really feel like I prefer when they're NOT so sick.  (I know, what kind of nurse am I?)  I get so frustrated with the whole system sometimes and I can't seem to get myself out of this rut.  I feel like a horrible person for saying this because everyone becomes a nurse to"help people" and what kind of person would I be if I said I didn't like doing that?  Of course I have those days when I feel like I've made a diference for someone but I'm missing that PASSION I think nurses need in order to feel satisfied.  It's become just a job for me and I never wanted to feel that way.  At first I thought that it was just stress related to transitioning from school to my career but as time has gone on and that stress has diminished, I still don't feel the way I think I should.  My co-workers and patients would never know this because I keep these feelings in check when I'm at work and I have had a lot of patients/families tell me I'm good at what I do.  The problem is I don't FEEL good about it.

I know I want to go back to school and sort of take a new direction with my career but I'm stuck at a road block trying to figure out which way to go.  In examining my likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, etc I have come to the conclusion that I enjoy teaching patients new information and breaking down an illness to figure out where exactly things starting going wrong in the body.  I know direct patient care is kind of the "bare bones" of the nursing profession but I think it does not cater to my strengths.  It frustrates me to no end that I have to throw so much information at people during their hospitalization in an attempt to teach them how to deal with their illness and it just falls on deaf ears.  There's no way a person can take all of that information in and use it effectively when their in the middle of an acute illness . Not to mention I feel like I spend a lot of time running around just trying to keep people alive on some of the crazy days I've had.  I think I would be more inclined to work with people who are out of an acute illness and all the stress of being hospitalized or that my next career choice should possibly involve something that uses my background as a nurse to do something totally different.  I want to use my BRAIN more; not just my time management skills.  I have looked into genetics counseling programs and feel like it might spark my interest because it involves taking a lot of information and putting it together to come up with a plan for a person's future healthcare needs.  I've also thought about maybe going into the legal side of things, becoming a consultant or even possibly going to law school and using my nursing background to start a new career.  I've always had an interest in psychological research as well but I'm not really sure what I could do with that.  I'm really all over the place at this point! 

To be quite honest, I'm frustrated and unhappy with my nursing life right now and I need to find some new path before my unhappiness in my career starts to interfere with my home life.  If there's anyone out there who feels the same way I do, is involved with any of the jobs I mentioned or has ANY advice I'd really appreciate hearing from you!  Thanks!

yes... too soon, sorry to hear about your troubled feelings.

Unquestionably, you have made-up your mind already... all I can say to you is what someone said to me 40years ago.... " DO SOMETHING THAT YOU ENJOY, AND YOU'LL NEVER HAVE TO WORK A DAY IN YOUR LIFE"...  take care leave open doors wherever, you go~

I agree 100% with the previous memeber, I learned never to close my doors because you'll never know when you might need them open~

To the previous post...

I have to say, as jaded and miserable as you sound, I admire your honesty.  No one ever wants to admit it, but we ALL feel that way sometimes.  Let's not kid ourselves, no one is selfless enough to find the beauty in helping a miserable, smelly, sweaty jerk wipe his butt that he can't reach himself (or, for that matter, doesn't WANT to reach); or when family members just beat you down and make you feel like you're incompetent and can't do anything right.  Nursing is a TOUGH job, and it's not all rainbows and butterflies everytime you put that uniform on like some people would make you think it is. 

At the same time, there ARE good things that come out of nursing if you know where to look for them.  It would be really unfortunate for you to still have to spend another year hating every minute of your job and looking back saying, "I wasted 5 years of my life."  I'm not going to tell you that you're a horrible person for saying these things, because you're not at all.  (Who are these people kidding when they say everyday as a nurse is like a gift from God?)  It's easier said than done, but don't let it get to you.  I've learned to just laugh it off when you have totally unreasonable patients that just push and push until you're about ready to snap.  To me there's nothing worse than spending 45 minutes in a room arguing with a person about why he can't be on his usual diet of steak and eggs for the 3 days he's hospitalized (with an MI!?) while you have a poor little old lady, scared to death, who just wants someone to keep her company. (This just happened to me yesterday)  You have to take these situations, realize they're going to happen every single day, say a few swears when you leave the room, and learn to work around them.  Find the humor in those tough patient encounters (it's tough to find sometimes, but EVERYTHING can be funny if you think about it the right way) then just go about your business and go home.  And DON'T take the job with you, whatever you do.  Just think, while your friends and family sit at work and stare at a computer screen all day or talk on the phone about mumbo jumbo business crap, you're actually making a difference in someone's life, whether you realize it or not. 

The only thing I can say is, nursing is hard and you're going to run into more jerks and miserable people than you ever wanted to meet in your life, BUT don't take it out on the people  who really do appreciate what you do.  You still have something left to offer once you're done dealing with all those other patients you can't stand (or maybe it's other staff, too?).  The sick ones who are thankful for anything you can offer are the people that remind you why you became a nurse in the first place, and that's where you'll find at least a glimpse of the job satisfaction you're looking for.

Good luck with the next year of your nursing career; I hope it goes by quickly, and ENJOY that retirement!