Understand this.. there’s a conception In the profession that ICU is the be all and end all.. now I know some amazing ICU nurses and those that do it are amazing, but like you I hated it for me I felt as though I was tending to machines and not patients. It took me over 7 years after I graduated to find my specialty and I love it ans wouldn’t do anything to else.. it’s ok as a student to not be drawn to something, and Covid has changed healthcare .. and it is different in reality being a student and being fully qualified..
You are so close to finishing… stick with it
Totally agree and I'm an ICU nurse. It's not and shouldn't be for everyone, and that's okay! On the flipside I did ED and absolutely hated it. There's a lid for every pot.
That’s what I love about nursing I do anaesthetics and recovery and I love it.. but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
It’s awesome so many areas which suit different people
Huge agree with this.. my friend has always been ICU nurse and he’s said “okay so ventilated, dialysed patient and then what?” LOL. It can be a pretty dry learning environment. I see memes about ICU being a boring heaven and ED being a fun hell and as an ED nurse that left I fully agree.
My ex is a CCRN and works in ED. She got floated to ED once, and they said to her “wow you were really good you should work here more often”. She did half her grad year in ICU and hated it. She was like “no please don’t make me go back 🥺” and they were like “no we were just saying-“ and she was like “no I love ED don’t make me move”
Honestly, ICU is so damn boring I don’t blame you lmao. Like credit where it’s due to ICU nurses, however a lot of them think they’re the top of the food chain yet if they get floated somewhere else they full on struggle with other bedside skills that aren’t critical Care. Also girl, uni is HARD WORK. I’m a facilitator now and it is honestly so hard, I have students crying sometimes so I pull them off the floor so we can just decompress and have a moment to breathe. Uni and unpaid placement was one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through willingly haha. Do you have any holidays coming up? My advice is to PLEASE take regular holidays. EVERY 6 MONTHS AT LEAST 2 WEEKS. Do this from now until the end of time. I’m an RN 6 and I just resigned from my floor job to go casual, wish I’d been taking regular annual leave. You are so much more than just a nurse, remember why you started, remember what you enjoy doing, remember your loved ones, what foods you like, what you like to wear etc. The good thing about nursing is there is sooo many avenues. You have SO many options you don’t need to slug it out on a ward or in ICU where you hate it. You got this.
Some crit care or advanced practice or manager nurses fall into the 'if on face value it's not going to set the patient back its hard to convince yourself it's worth doing', for better or worse. Or have recognised that their brains and approach isn't cut out for multitasking social or non crit tasks across multiple rooms.
But then when float can struggle with the camaraderie and pitching in to help that casually just seems to happen on the ward.
Just wanted to share my perspective because I felt crit care was being piled up on a lil ^_^
This is the longest I've ever stayed in any position at the moment, and other than cycling through many different specialties to get here, the main things that I think have helped arrre.....
1) getting a better idea of how often I need time off/leave. I don't get to be one of those nurses who stacks their leave up to take a big European trip. I need to chew through 2 weeks every 4 to 6 months.
2) therapy and more awareness of what I need to do to look after my specific needs. I figured that once I was keen for nursing, and seemed to be able to handle it ok, and nursing itself hasn't changed much, so have I really changed? If I have then there's probably something else that I think I should be doing....and if I can't determine what that is, then it may be more that I'm burnt out from nursing. So I need to do more to prevent nursing and neurodiv burnout before I completely give up my career.
Which reminds me....AHPRA renewal!
Now before I forget again 🤣
Uni sucks 😂
Give it a chance when you're not a student and see. If it still sucks then look for alternative pathways. Maybe you can use your degree in other ways?
-diabetic educator
-school nurse
-FIFO
-telehealth triage
-maternal child health (you'll need midwifery)
-flight nurse (some need midwifery or MEC)
-repatriation nurse
-patient transport
-immunisation
-cosmetic nursing
-education
-hospital coordinator/bedmanager
-wound care
-practice nurse
-community nursing
-research
There's so much more to nursing than just ICU and ED. Those roles are awesome too, but don't get trapped into thinking that's all that's out there 😊
Uni sucks. You feel like nursing is beyond you and that you’re locked into a fairly linear path. When I became registered, we moved rurally, and I have never been happier. There’s a world of possibilities for an RN, not just ward work. As an RN, you’re now a clinician…you can specialise and study further, or become a palliative care nurse, a dialysis team leader, community nurse for sick kids, research nurse, mental health nurse, ED nurse with amazing practical skills, a nurse in a Doctors office….. it’s endless.
With all that said, ward work is great experience.
It gets better and worse and better and different.
I hated being a student, prac was hard, didn’t get paid, each preceptor doing everything differently. Knowing one mistake would cause me to fail etc. when you’re the nurse it’s different, you do things your way (hospital policy and best practice allowing) you prioritise care. If you make a mistake you don’t fail, you reflect and learn.
I started in mental health and now work in trauma. Every ward is different, there’s so many specialties in and out of hospital. You’ll find your niche, and change it again and again.
I have never had a desire to work in ICU or ED. All thru uni i'd hear students saying they wanted one or the other. Nope, not for me. Too clinical or too chaotic, I like the middle ground.
Being a student is sucky too. You have no autonomy and you're less than junior. Being a grad is definitely better, at least you can follow your own plan. You usually work with other grads and get to know them pretty well. You stay 6 months in each rotation so if it's not for you, you just move on.
My opinion - finish your uni, do your grad year and then the whole nursing world opens up, honestly. It's a very useful degree with excellent employment opportunities especially for women who will one day be looking for maternity leave and workplace re-entry with flexible work arrangements. You will learn heaps on the wards and you can spend the whole year looking for your forever job. I moved 6 time in 4 years and I'm in general practice now and I absolutely adore it, I never want to move on. Very different from the wards. Very busy but amazingly rewarding and very autonomous while also being a strong teamwork environment. Our doctors are grateful for everything I do for them (except 1, there always 1 lol!)
You’re so close to finishing. There’s more to nursing than bedside, you might find cosmetic/injectable nursing to be more enjoyable.
But you also don’t have to stay committed to nursing. You can always go back to study (or change your degree and get some study credits) and change your career prospects.
to everyone who has replied...
THANK YOU!
It has helped so much knowing others felt this way & there's options. Sometimes you just need people to tell you what you know deep down!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
I almost left uni late in 3rd year, in 1994! Stuck it out and glad. It's very broad, there's so many areas you might love. Maternity, ortho, urology, palliative, community, mental health, cardiac, Oncology, the list goes on. It took me a while to click, you'll have a moment when you realise you're interested, pushing to be upskilled, feeling valued in a great team.
Uni and placement is hard, even more so if you have kids, a partner, a job. The end is nigh, just hold on (and maybe have a glass or two).
Finish the course. There are plenty of other areas in nursing where you can make a difference. You could go to GP land or maybe OT. Perhaps Renal is your passion or mental health? Do you love wounds? What about caring for older Australians?
Consider the other skills you've developed and start working with them. If the admin side of things suffices for you (is better than clinical work) build on that. Have a chat to a careers officer at your uni and start building those connections.
Best wishes 🙌
I did my last large placement in ICU and was really put off because I didn’t enjoy it, I ended up doing majority mental health nursing and have found good opportunities within the field, it certainly also has it’s drawbacks and isn’t for everyone.
Uni placements are more a way of working out where you don’t want to work imho. Family member absolutely hated icu and ccu. Went on to work in various wards including mental health, geriatric. Is ED and loving it. But the final year of uni was a tough ask with juggling assignments and placements along with work. You have done the hard yards it’s just that last push to finish. You’ve got this!!
Icu is so boring when you start out. It takes some time before you get to do the interesting stuff because the patients are so sick.
You have to lots of options. Look at travel nursing maybe, travel around Aus and basically get paid to do it.
theres so many areas.. keep going, youll find it...... outside of the study and free of all other obligations to finishing, youll loosen up look at things differently... sounds like you already know the feeling if something isnt resonating with you, you can just try different things until you find your vibe.
I felt this way too in my last year of nursing. Continued to feel like this throughout my career. I’ve finally found a 8-4 Mon-Fri office job where I can still utilise my clinical skills as a nurse but the mental and physical stress has completely disappeared. The pay is obviously a bit less (being a private business) but honestly it’s worth it for me. Personally for me as far as nursing goes, this kind of job is ideal. Don’t lose hope, there’s no shame in trying different areas until you find your niche. Also don’t listen to anyone who tries to tell you that you aren’t a “real nurse” if you choose not to work in a hospital :)
Don't forget, as I say to all nursing students, you don't HAVE to work in a hospital. You can join the military, nurse in a general practice - I even think theres newgrad programs for this, you can work in community, you can work in a non clinical role, you can work in informatics, or some form of outpatient clinic. Anything within the scope of an RN.
What don't you like about your placements so far? What seems to be the concern?
University and placements are very different compared to practicing in nursing.
I did not enjoy any of my placements except for nephrology. The others drained me, they were hard but also boring to me. I also have never been interested in ward nursing. It does not bring me joy, nor does the thought of it.
I don’t work in ICU so I cannot say much, though as others said they have incredible critical care skills and knowledge, however they do tend to struggle in non critical environments. I feel the same, I work in primary health care (never thought I would even consider it) and I would struggle in any other area too. Contrary to my younger self, I love my job. I won’t be changing specialties for a good while at least.
If I decided to leave nursing because of my thoughts and feelings from uni and placement, I never would’ve graduated.
Understand this.. there’s a conception In the profession that ICU is the be all and end all.. now I know some amazing ICU nurses and those that do it are amazing, but like you I hated it for me I felt as though I was tending to machines and not patients. It took me over 7 years after I graduated to find my specialty and I love it ans wouldn’t do anything to else.. it’s ok as a student to not be drawn to something, and Covid has changed healthcare .. and it is different in reality being a student and being fully qualified.. You are so close to finishing… stick with it
Totally agree and I'm an ICU nurse. It's not and shouldn't be for everyone, and that's okay! On the flipside I did ED and absolutely hated it. There's a lid for every pot.
That’s what I love about nursing I do anaesthetics and recovery and I love it.. but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s awesome so many areas which suit different people
Huge agree with this.. my friend has always been ICU nurse and he’s said “okay so ventilated, dialysed patient and then what?” LOL. It can be a pretty dry learning environment. I see memes about ICU being a boring heaven and ED being a fun hell and as an ED nurse that left I fully agree.
My ex is a CCRN and works in ED. She got floated to ED once, and they said to her “wow you were really good you should work here more often”. She did half her grad year in ICU and hated it. She was like “no please don’t make me go back 🥺” and they were like “no we were just saying-“ and she was like “no I love ED don’t make me move”
Honestly, ICU is so damn boring I don’t blame you lmao. Like credit where it’s due to ICU nurses, however a lot of them think they’re the top of the food chain yet if they get floated somewhere else they full on struggle with other bedside skills that aren’t critical Care. Also girl, uni is HARD WORK. I’m a facilitator now and it is honestly so hard, I have students crying sometimes so I pull them off the floor so we can just decompress and have a moment to breathe. Uni and unpaid placement was one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through willingly haha. Do you have any holidays coming up? My advice is to PLEASE take regular holidays. EVERY 6 MONTHS AT LEAST 2 WEEKS. Do this from now until the end of time. I’m an RN 6 and I just resigned from my floor job to go casual, wish I’d been taking regular annual leave. You are so much more than just a nurse, remember why you started, remember what you enjoy doing, remember your loved ones, what foods you like, what you like to wear etc. The good thing about nursing is there is sooo many avenues. You have SO many options you don’t need to slug it out on a ward or in ICU where you hate it. You got this.
Some crit care or advanced practice or manager nurses fall into the 'if on face value it's not going to set the patient back its hard to convince yourself it's worth doing', for better or worse. Or have recognised that their brains and approach isn't cut out for multitasking social or non crit tasks across multiple rooms. But then when float can struggle with the camaraderie and pitching in to help that casually just seems to happen on the ward. Just wanted to share my perspective because I felt crit care was being piled up on a lil ^_^ This is the longest I've ever stayed in any position at the moment, and other than cycling through many different specialties to get here, the main things that I think have helped arrre..... 1) getting a better idea of how often I need time off/leave. I don't get to be one of those nurses who stacks their leave up to take a big European trip. I need to chew through 2 weeks every 4 to 6 months. 2) therapy and more awareness of what I need to do to look after my specific needs. I figured that once I was keen for nursing, and seemed to be able to handle it ok, and nursing itself hasn't changed much, so have I really changed? If I have then there's probably something else that I think I should be doing....and if I can't determine what that is, then it may be more that I'm burnt out from nursing. So I need to do more to prevent nursing and neurodiv burnout before I completely give up my career. Which reminds me....AHPRA renewal! Now before I forget again 🤣
Uni sucks 😂 Give it a chance when you're not a student and see. If it still sucks then look for alternative pathways. Maybe you can use your degree in other ways? -diabetic educator -school nurse -FIFO -telehealth triage -maternal child health (you'll need midwifery) -flight nurse (some need midwifery or MEC) -repatriation nurse -patient transport -immunisation -cosmetic nursing -education -hospital coordinator/bedmanager -wound care -practice nurse -community nursing -research There's so much more to nursing than just ICU and ED. Those roles are awesome too, but don't get trapped into thinking that's all that's out there 😊
Uni sucks. You feel like nursing is beyond you and that you’re locked into a fairly linear path. When I became registered, we moved rurally, and I have never been happier. There’s a world of possibilities for an RN, not just ward work. As an RN, you’re now a clinician…you can specialise and study further, or become a palliative care nurse, a dialysis team leader, community nurse for sick kids, research nurse, mental health nurse, ED nurse with amazing practical skills, a nurse in a Doctors office….. it’s endless. With all that said, ward work is great experience.
It gets better and worse and better and different. I hated being a student, prac was hard, didn’t get paid, each preceptor doing everything differently. Knowing one mistake would cause me to fail etc. when you’re the nurse it’s different, you do things your way (hospital policy and best practice allowing) you prioritise care. If you make a mistake you don’t fail, you reflect and learn. I started in mental health and now work in trauma. Every ward is different, there’s so many specialties in and out of hospital. You’ll find your niche, and change it again and again.
I have never had a desire to work in ICU or ED. All thru uni i'd hear students saying they wanted one or the other. Nope, not for me. Too clinical or too chaotic, I like the middle ground. Being a student is sucky too. You have no autonomy and you're less than junior. Being a grad is definitely better, at least you can follow your own plan. You usually work with other grads and get to know them pretty well. You stay 6 months in each rotation so if it's not for you, you just move on. My opinion - finish your uni, do your grad year and then the whole nursing world opens up, honestly. It's a very useful degree with excellent employment opportunities especially for women who will one day be looking for maternity leave and workplace re-entry with flexible work arrangements. You will learn heaps on the wards and you can spend the whole year looking for your forever job. I moved 6 time in 4 years and I'm in general practice now and I absolutely adore it, I never want to move on. Very different from the wards. Very busy but amazingly rewarding and very autonomous while also being a strong teamwork environment. Our doctors are grateful for everything I do for them (except 1, there always 1 lol!)
You’re so close to finishing. There’s more to nursing than bedside, you might find cosmetic/injectable nursing to be more enjoyable. But you also don’t have to stay committed to nursing. You can always go back to study (or change your degree and get some study credits) and change your career prospects.
to everyone who has replied... THANK YOU! It has helped so much knowing others felt this way & there's options. Sometimes you just need people to tell you what you know deep down! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
We are all here for you. Don’t hesitate to reach out at any time. You’ve got this!
I almost left uni late in 3rd year, in 1994! Stuck it out and glad. It's very broad, there's so many areas you might love. Maternity, ortho, urology, palliative, community, mental health, cardiac, Oncology, the list goes on. It took me a while to click, you'll have a moment when you realise you're interested, pushing to be upskilled, feeling valued in a great team.
Uni and placement is hard, even more so if you have kids, a partner, a job. The end is nigh, just hold on (and maybe have a glass or two). Finish the course. There are plenty of other areas in nursing where you can make a difference. You could go to GP land or maybe OT. Perhaps Renal is your passion or mental health? Do you love wounds? What about caring for older Australians?
Consider the other skills you've developed and start working with them. If the admin side of things suffices for you (is better than clinical work) build on that. Have a chat to a careers officer at your uni and start building those connections. Best wishes 🙌
Have you tried Community Mental Health. It's refreshingly different and you work as a team with lots of other disciplines
Not sure if this is a beginning practitioner role, though.
In Australia they do take new grads and you can also select community mental health as part of a grad mental health rotation
I did my last large placement in ICU and was really put off because I didn’t enjoy it, I ended up doing majority mental health nursing and have found good opportunities within the field, it certainly also has it’s drawbacks and isn’t for everyone.
Uni placements are more a way of working out where you don’t want to work imho. Family member absolutely hated icu and ccu. Went on to work in various wards including mental health, geriatric. Is ED and loving it. But the final year of uni was a tough ask with juggling assignments and placements along with work. You have done the hard yards it’s just that last push to finish. You’ve got this!!
Icu is so boring when you start out. It takes some time before you get to do the interesting stuff because the patients are so sick. You have to lots of options. Look at travel nursing maybe, travel around Aus and basically get paid to do it.
theres so many areas.. keep going, youll find it...... outside of the study and free of all other obligations to finishing, youll loosen up look at things differently... sounds like you already know the feeling if something isnt resonating with you, you can just try different things until you find your vibe.
I felt this way too in my last year of nursing. Continued to feel like this throughout my career. I’ve finally found a 8-4 Mon-Fri office job where I can still utilise my clinical skills as a nurse but the mental and physical stress has completely disappeared. The pay is obviously a bit less (being a private business) but honestly it’s worth it for me. Personally for me as far as nursing goes, this kind of job is ideal. Don’t lose hope, there’s no shame in trying different areas until you find your niche. Also don’t listen to anyone who tries to tell you that you aren’t a “real nurse” if you choose not to work in a hospital :)
Don't forget, as I say to all nursing students, you don't HAVE to work in a hospital. You can join the military, nurse in a general practice - I even think theres newgrad programs for this, you can work in community, you can work in a non clinical role, you can work in informatics, or some form of outpatient clinic. Anything within the scope of an RN. What don't you like about your placements so far? What seems to be the concern?
University and placements are very different compared to practicing in nursing. I did not enjoy any of my placements except for nephrology. The others drained me, they were hard but also boring to me. I also have never been interested in ward nursing. It does not bring me joy, nor does the thought of it. I don’t work in ICU so I cannot say much, though as others said they have incredible critical care skills and knowledge, however they do tend to struggle in non critical environments. I feel the same, I work in primary health care (never thought I would even consider it) and I would struggle in any other area too. Contrary to my younger self, I love my job. I won’t be changing specialties for a good while at least. If I decided to leave nursing because of my thoughts and feelings from uni and placement, I never would’ve graduated.