TLDR: Should I change my career to radiology tech or build upon my nursing degree to something far away from patient care.
I have been a RN for about 6 years; started out on med surg/ tele/ stepdown for 3 years, was beyond burnt out and became Charge RN for the unit (which was a breath of fresh air getting away from patient care) but still wasn’t happy and knew this wasn’t where I wanted to spend the rest of my career. So then after 2 years as Charge RN I transferred to SICU which was the biggest mistake. I stuck it out for 6 months despite it ruining my mental health and almost ruining my long term relationship because of my unhappiness. I was about to quit with no plan but instead was able to be taken off of work medically. During my time off I realized just how much I hate being a nurse. I have experienced other units; cardiac, observation, ED, etc and it boils down to I don’t like that whatever happens to the patient is my responsibility as a RN. Nothing is ever good enough and everything is my fault as the nurse. Other members of the care team do less than the bare minimum because they know that I as the RN will take care of it otherwise I’ll be blamed. I have been blamed for MDs putting in the wrong orders. Phlebotomy is taking too long? Then the nurse can do it. There was a time my super hard stuck patient was poked over 20 times by several nurses over the course of 2+ hours, phlebotomy came only from the request of the MD and got blood on the first poke (surprise! maybe because this is their specialty?). I call RT for an airway problem and “it’s a shared responsibility” so I as the RN have to figure it out. I have to take my ICU patient down to MRI and stay with them during the exam and hope and pray nothing happens to my other ICU patient upstairs because they are still my responsibility. Sounds unsafe, but if my patient’s MRI is delayed then I get in trouble for “delay in care”. The TV doesn’t work, it’s the nurse who has to fix the issue. The patient doesn’t like their food? Get the nurse. I’m beyond sick and tired of it. I’ve developed debilitating anxiety and have began suffering anxiety attacks at work because it’s just too much. Too many things to juggle, too much responsibility, too many interruptions. Its unsafe. Meanwhile other care team members are sitting around laughing with each other, on their phones, eating enjoying themselves. And all of the nurses are running around like a chicken with their head cut off.
I don’t mind patient care to an extent, I just don’t want to be completely responsible for anything and everything that happens to my patients for 12 hours at a time. That is 12 hours of constant anxiety, even when not dealing with critical patients. It can be 12 hours straight of dealing with severe dementia confusion, or 12 hours straight of combativeness, or 12 hours straight of the nonstop complaints of those “problem patients”. I don’t want it to be my problem anymore. I just want to be able to go in, do my job, and get out. I am more of an introvert, I can chit chat if needed but I’m sorry I don’t want to build a repor with my patients. I just want to do my job. And I’m not sure I can find a job like that as a RN. Being Charge RN was nice because i was behind the desk the majority of the shift, but I still had to deal with complaints from patients and family when they didn’t get what they want. I didn’t like feeling responsible for when the nurses messed up (which is inevitable from the workload).
I need a career change ASAP. I have been thinking about going back to school for radiology tech, it’s still patient care but all I am responsible for is the scan. Any problem with the patient and all I have to say is “let me get your nurse”. I only have to deal with the patient for the length of the scan then I can move on to the next one. I don’t have to deal with any of their issues for 12 hours straight, just until I finish my scan. I can get trained in several other modalities; cath lab, CT, MRI, mammography and make more money. Both my sister and boyfriend are rad techs, and they both make more than me hourly as a RN because they both trained in additional modalities. Before I decide to completely give up on nursing and go to school for radiology tech is there anything else I can do with my nursing degree that won’t make me absolutely dread going to work? I don’t mind getting my masters, but I don’t know if there’s anything that’s really worth it. I wouldn’t mind education, but they seem to make less than bedside nurses. I don’t want to go back to school and put myself in debt just to end up making less money. I’ve thought about informatics but I heard it’s a hit or miss. I’m just so stuck and unhappy and I don’t know what to do. Nursing pay has spoiled me, I’m used to OT being available whenever I need it. Life is expensive and if I’m living paycheck to paycheck as a RN I can’t really afford to take a huge pay cut. I am open to sacrificing making somewhat less, but nothing too crazy. I am willing to put in the work, I just need something that doesn’t drain me like nursing has. Please give me any and all of the advice!
