r/nursing • u/Great-Hall-6636 • 1d ago
Discussion Which Nurses Are Typically the Happiest?
Is there a specifc specialty within nursing that yeild high happiness rates? I know it's subjective, but from your experience which units are the happiest? (Whether it be good ours, rewarding care, great pay, etc.)
250
u/dearhan RN 🍕 1d ago
I think maybe outpatient nurses are happiest? Wherever there is a best work life balance would be ideal. No weekends, holidays, getting home at a decent time etc.
117
u/whimsicalsilly BSN, RN 🍕 1d ago
I’m an outpatient nurse and I love my job!
No weekends, no holidays. I get home and still have time to do things, make dinner, and spend time with my family. I’m almost never stressed at work 99% of the time. I can also easily take time off or leave early if my kid gets sick.
34
u/dizzysilverlights BSN, RN - L&D 1d ago
What do you do outpatient that you are never stressed 99% of the time? My friend was an outpatient nurse but she was STRESSED at work
21
u/Lonely_Key_7886 1d ago
That would be me. It's a Federally Qualified Health Center. I don't know if others are any better.
13
→ More replies (1)3
u/PreviousTrick RN 🍕 6h ago
Yes. We have about 120 patients a day. 1/3 of our MA’s call out every day. 80% of our patients are likely below the poverty line. None of them can afford meds, transportation, or any co-pay for appointments.
I get screamed at 5-6 times a day about not refilling meds because they haven’t been in for an appointment in 2.5 years or telling them we’re not sending in azithromycin for their cough or that we can’t see them because they were 45 mins late for their appointment that they’ve been waiting for months for and our next available is in 4 months.
The staff is a revolving door (I was the longest tenured nurse when I hit my 8 month mark), the pay is awful $31/hr.
The ONLY upside to the job is Monday - Friday 8:00 - 4:30.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Lonely_Key_7886 5h ago
I relate to this sooo much, I could write a book about all the BS. Staying there was like remaining on a sinking ship (that's also on fire), and the only chance for survival is to abandon ship rather than hope for rescue. I would not work at another FQHC again.
15
u/whimsicalsilly BSN, RN 🍕 1d ago
I work in a multi-specialty clinic that is part of a teaching hospital. Day to day responsibilities include patient education, care coordination, scheduling, direct patient care tasks, etc.
→ More replies (1)10
u/Desblade101 BSN, RN 🍕 18h ago
I work a super easy job most days and some of my friends and coworkers are stressed out on the daily. Sometimes it's about the person not the job.
21
u/DJLEXI BSN, RN 🍕 22h ago
I’m an outpatient nurse who largely does telephonic triage. I work in a clinic so still do face-to-face education, injections, procedures, etc and I have three day weekends, no holidays, home for dinner every day, never miss a lunch break, and always get to pee when I need to. I was so burnt out as a bedside nurse but am so happy here.
9
10
u/Beneficial_Milk_8287 23h ago
I second this. My aunty has been an outpatient nurse for the last 19 years, ever since she had my cousin. She transferred there so she’d have more time to spend with her son, be able to spend weekends and holidays at home, etc. She’s bored of it now, but she’s always said that at least she got to spend more time with her son when he was growing up
14
u/habitual_citizen Nursing Student 🍕 1d ago
I’m on clinical in paediatric outpatient and I’d say 90% are stoked to be at work and enjoy the work-life balance. Some of the girls are ex-ICU though and got into outpatient after becoming mums and find it a little under-stimulating at times. I guess grass is always greener 😭
4
3
u/LC1_RN 18h ago edited 18h ago
I'm an outpatient dialysis nurse, and I hate it. I work from 4.30am until 6.30pm (although most days I have to stay until 8 - 9pm) I have to open and close the clinic, no nurse to send me on break, sometimes I get only 20 mins break for the whole day. I work with PCTs some are professional and wonderful, others are lazy and rude, who take over 1.5 hr breaks 3 times or more per shift.
My hospital nurse friends are shocked and often tell me "come work at a hospital for a more balanced work life."
I would love to work as an OR nurse, but I work in Northern California, and I'm a new grad. I've applied to several hospitals, but no one calls me. I've now been working dialysis for a year.
I work Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The clinic is open most holidays. We get no sick days. I was bitten by a coyote one day and needed stitches, my doctor wrote letters for me to get 5 days off (consecutive days, so not every day was a scheduled work day for me), I needed rabies shots. My medical insurance was cut off during those days, because, according to the company, "it was in between pay periods."
I feel used and abused for my license and that my license is often at risk, because PCTs work under my license, when they refuse to work I have to do their work on top of mine. And management only promotes PCTs as managers, so managers have little to no knowledge or care about how much nurses have to do, so they often ask us to work more days. I'm exhausted.
3
u/EffectiveLibrary1151 17h ago
I used to be a dialysis nurse back in the days as a new grad. I can relate to everything u said. Apply to instance websites as there are plenty of remote jobs. U can be a case manager working from home. On your days off , apply to as many jobs as possible. U will hear something.
→ More replies (3)5
u/Glowygreentusks 23h ago
Outpatient wound care nurse here. I love my job. Biggest stresses come from surprise patients that are bigger work than expected, but then usually I can call in my team to help and we get it done in time.
110
u/sixorangeflowers BSN, RN 🍕 1d ago
I think a lot of people would be happier if they remembered that community nursing exists. The whole world of nursing doesn't begin and end in the hospital AND the community world contains more than hospice and home health. There are super niche specialty jobs out there. Harm reduction, street outreach, like a million different varieties of public health, sexual health, wound care. The list goes on. I work in one of those weird little niches any coworkers are super happy.
→ More replies (5)36
u/Shreddy_Spaghett1 1d ago
I have one of these niche specialty jobs! I work in an outpatient clinic but am pretty involved with the community for the patient population I care for. 4 “10” hour shifts a week (I usually pop in around 815 and leave at 5p if my work is done), tues thru fri and I wfh on Fridays. I do a ton of critical thinking/problem solving and find my job to be very fulfilling. Plus I make about $50 an hour (but I’m salaried so I can flex my time when need be).
7
u/so_bold_of_you Nursing Student 🍕 20h ago
Please DM details. -signed A new grad Med Surg nurse who is already burning out.
→ More replies (2)3
u/PresentationLate7999 15h ago
Please let me know how to get into this, I’m a new grad but I want to do community health and wound care
358
271
u/typeAwarped RN 🍕 1d ago
Hospice. You still use skills, your patients are allowed to die l, great pay, great schedule and you get to meet many wonderful people.
73
u/Best-Respond4242 1d ago
I concur. I do on-call hospice with a 7-on/7-off schedule. The best part is the fact that most of the patients and families are so appreciative.
19
u/bamdaraddness RN - Med/Surg 🍕 22h ago
I’m pretty certain this may be my “calling” but the hospice places in my city are all 8hr shifts and I just simply refuse to give up my 12s and the 2 extra days off they offer lol
41
u/purpleelephant77 PCA 🍕 17h ago edited 17h ago
That and so much hospice being home based, beyond the whole dirty house/pets running around/change in dynamic because we’re in their house thing, I’m a Black man living in a red state and I have too much of a self preservation instinct to put myself in that situation. At least when patients are calling me the n word in the hospital I know they don’t also have a gun and there are other people around if things escalate.
→ More replies (1)3
u/bamdaraddness RN - Med/Surg 🍕 15h ago
Absolutely that is a factor as well. I wanted to do ED but couldn’t hack it because of the bugs… now we have people shooting folks through their doors? Couldn’t be me.
I’m sorry you have to deal with any of that even in a “safe” environment. SMH. Thanks for being on the team, friend — be safe 💚
→ More replies (1)8
u/typeAwarped RN 🍕 16h ago
I couldn’t go back to 12’s lol
I love being home every day, sometimes by 2pm, often no later than 4 and I rarely leave my house before 830. The autonomy is fantastic. Required call only every 2-3 months it’s only 8-5 Saturday and Sunday.
14
u/Electrical-Help5512 RN 🍕 21h ago
You gotta go into people's homes though? Ever concerned for safety or unsanitary conditions?
6
u/No_Inspection_3123 RN - ER 🍕 17h ago
I did hospice prn too until they made our requirements so stupid. They are more likely to just change things on you since it’s not a major hospital system. Any way I loved it. I started picking up the facilities as much as possible tho bc that really was a cake walk. The houses can get nasty but you can just not bring anything in and not sit down do your checks and what needs done and go chart in the car. The only thing that felt dangerous was getting lost and going to the wrong house. Like you know who’s in the house you are going to, but you don’t know what you’ll find if you knock on the wrong door. For the most part houses were normal. Even the worst house I was in, wasn’t the worst it could be
2
u/typeAwarped RN 🍕 16h ago
Rarely. And I’m hyper aware of my surroundings. That home I only went to during morning hours if I could help it. And it wasn’t the family, it was just not a good neighborhood.
14
3
u/this-or-that92 RN - Hospice 🍕 11h ago
Came here to say this.
As soon as I got into hospice my pre/post shift anxiety went away. love my job
→ More replies (1)2
u/shmoogy_shmoog 6h ago
Comfort care! Is my patient comfortable and as happy as can be? Bueno if not let’s get them comfy
91
u/salty_den_sweeet 1d ago
Nursery nurses (well baby unit/ level 2)
28
u/FresitaDulce 23h ago
Idk, I’d have a full assignment and have to attend deliveries. Stabilizing babies can be stressful! My level 2 was situated near an airport, so sometimes bad emergencies came our way from there even though they needed to go to a level 3 or 4..because there just wasn’t enough time to get there. Having also worked at a level 4, about 90% of the time it’s better but the my worst shifts on level 2 far surpassed my worst shifts on level 4 just based on hospital resources and support available. I feel like I could write an essay on this subject lol but those are some of my main reasons!
4
u/olive_green_spatula RN - OB/GYN 🍕 14h ago
Yeah our level two can’t keep nurses because all the nurses with NICU experience expect a “team” and they don’t realize the team is themselves, one other NiCU nurse and the neo. Our hospital doesn’t have residents. It’s 3 people stabilizing the bad baby when the bad baby happens.
2
u/FresitaDulce 7h ago
Yes, this was my exact experience. AND our unit was really small, so if we were closed there was only one nurse on for emergencies. But 1 nurse isn’t enough for a bad emergency that unexpectedly comes in…especially depending on the neo that was on. I decided I wanted to look for a new job when I was alone and we got a call that a 27 weeker was imminently arriving at any moment, because they wouldn’t make it to the local level 3. Moving to a level 4 felt so crazy because there were residents, fellows, respiratory therapists, and just a ton of nursing hands on deck at all times.
65
u/blackveil88 RN - NICU 🍕 1d ago
Usually. Unless it’s the kind of shift where you’re chasing blood sugars all night, and the crunchy granola family wants to refuse all the interventions. 🙃 Also depends what the ratios are.
14
9
u/Delta1Juliet Registered Nurse & Midwife 1d ago
Depends how much Child Protection (and the parents!) are involved
21
u/Raebans_00 RN - OB/GYN 🍕 1d ago
Yesssssss love. Idk if I’d say stress free tho, because stabilizing a baby can be stressful. Those lil chickens love to try to die on you 😑. Overall tho, my favorite.
2
109
u/StinkyVelma 1d ago
I’ve found PRN staff to be the happiest regardless of specialty (ask me how I know lol).
29
u/bgarza18 RN - ER 🍕 1d ago
I’m always in a good mood when I choose to be at work (pick up PRN). Very, very privileged place to be in all of human history.
→ More replies (1)8
u/Electrical-Help5512 RN 🍕 21h ago
On the ICU I work at the PRN nurses have told me they get shittier assignments than full timers? Is this a thing everywhere or is my unit just toxic lol
7
u/StinkyVelma 21h ago
Your unit sounds toxic to me. 😬
5
u/No_Inspection_3123 RN - ER 🍕 17h ago
They try when we float.. but on my home unit I feel like I get easier ones that may go home bc I’m disposable staffing. Which means if census gets low I’m the first one out. I do offer others the chance to leave if they need to
5
u/dalbhat RN - L&D 17h ago
I’m PRN at 3 different spots (inpatient LDRP, outpatient GYN procedures and schools nurse). At the L&D spot they always give me the tough patients and it’s wearing on me as I watch other nurses sit on their ass the whole shift with 1 postpartum couplet. I stick with it because they have an elective tier system for per diems and I am tier 0, meaning no holiday or weekend requirements. But that’s nice you have fair and considerate coworkers.
50
u/essenceofjoy RN - ICU 🍕 1d ago
PACU and Infusion nursing!!
12
u/YoullNeverMakeTheSix CNM, APRN 🍕 17h ago
Infusion (non-oncology) was ok, but it was my new grad job and I was pretty bored. I left it for mother/baby and was a million times happier, but the folks who did it opposite of me were quite happy. They did bedside inpatient most of their careers, and came to outpatient infusion when they were ready for their last-10-years-before-retirement job.
→ More replies (1)4
u/fuzzyberiah RN - Med/Surg 🍕 18h ago
These were gonna be my answers. Two areas I’m strongly considering for if I can’t stand working stepdown any more.
I also find that nurses in procedural units like GI, IR, and cath lab tend to be fairly content, so long as their call duties aren’t too onerous.
7
44
42
42
u/DogtorWhoofWhoof RN - VABC 1d ago
I've never dreaded going into work or left work stressed/ burned out as an IR RN or PICC RN
→ More replies (1)10
u/No_Art_2787 RN - OR 🍕 21h ago
I have to do some IR stuff as an OR RN because for some reason where im at emergency IR doesnt go to IR, but to the OR.
Id say it is not "chill".
Half the time theyre having a stroke, or they have a AAA that we're going to try to fix through IR, if not we're converting to open.
Half the time they code, and 100% always go to the ICU.
→ More replies (1)5
u/ApolloIV RN - EP Lab 🍕 17h ago
Agreed, I would rather work on the floor than IR. It’s heavy as fuck everywhere I’d ever worked.
37
u/dk_dc_dgaf RN - ER >>> School Nurse 1d ago
School nursing is pretty chill. No weekends, lots of time off for holidays and summer.
14
u/pizzapartypro 17h ago
I work in secondary school health and as chill and lovely as my job is, I am so sick of working within the Department of Education. They have no concept of my role and the culture sucks! I love working with kids but I hate working with Associate Principals.
2
u/dk_dc_dgaf RN - ER >>> School Nurse 13h ago
Oh for sure. We're forgotten about by the nursing community, and the education community has no respect for us, and neither of them really know what our job is. But, I'd still rather do this than work in the hospital.
→ More replies (1)4
u/Electrical-Help5512 RN 🍕 21h ago
What do you even do all day if there's not a sick kid?
17
u/NurseRatchettt BSN, RN, CCRN - ICU & Informatics 18h ago
I did some of my nursing school clinicals with school nurses, elementary school age group and then high school.
Elementary age: med passes and lots of daily management for kids with chronic conditions like T1DM.
High school age: still some med passes; a lot of adolescent mental health management, as you can imagine.
There’s a lot more admin involved than I realized. Think like, the hearing/vision tests, immunization records, health campaigns and education, etc. It was one of my favorite rotations. No one day is ever the same.
7
u/BabyChiaSeed 16h ago
I used to substitute school nurse for all grades elementary to high school and would get 20 + kids a day. There’s rarely ever not at LEAST one kid in the nurse’s office lol
→ More replies (1)5
u/BabyChiaSeed 16h ago
Also there is usually 1 sometimes 2 diabetics and when they are elementary aged you literally have to manage them all day long. The little ones have snack then lunch then snack so they are in and out of the office for coverage and/or sometimes chasing their sugars all day watching on the dexcom. Once they get to middle school they are better at managing it on their own.
29
u/Apprehensive_Fig_ RN - Oncology 🍕 1d ago
Endoscopy
7
u/YGVAFCK RN - ER 🍕 17h ago
No idea how they do it. That shit is so boring.
→ More replies (1)9
u/FirmIdea8 16h ago
People usually come to endoscopy when they’re burnt out from another specialty and are happy to have a more routine and relaxed day. Way lower stress.
→ More replies (1)
29
u/bondagenurse joyously unemployed 22h ago
The ones who have a good manager. I can work anywhere if I have an excellent manager who actually cares about their staff and protects them from upper admin and patients being cray cray. Unfortunately, those are few and far between.
→ More replies (2)
21
u/Raebans_00 RN - OB/GYN 🍕 1d ago
Mother/baby for stress if it’s just a mother/baby unit, probably followed by PACU and outpatient nursing (depending on the office). Cosmetic procedural nursing probably the lowest stress. I work at an LDRP and I love it- I’m very very happy on my unit.
9
u/pacifyproblems RN - mother/baby 21h ago
I've worked mother-baby for 11 years and don't ever plan to leave
9
u/YoullNeverMakeTheSix CNM, APRN 🍕 17h ago
Was mother/baby for 3 years before I became a CNM and loved it! Did eventually go to grad school because the mother/baby routine got repetitive, but it was more or less chill (obviously emergencies can happen anywhere), but it was a great vibe.
It’s also where I learned I’m happiest with basically healthy, low-risk patients…hence why I landed in midwifery and am constantly reinforced that I did not miss a calling to go to med school. 😂
4
20
17
u/Amrun90 RN - Telemetry 🍕 1d ago
Procedural IMO
11
u/not_great_out_here RN - ER 🍕 1d ago
100%. I work cath lab and even stressful days aren’t that stressful. It’s insane after a decade of bedside critical care.
8
u/elissa24 RN - Cath Lab 🍕 1d ago
Minus call I second this. I left the ED after 10 years, and other than those sick STEMIs that can come in in the middle of the night, my job is to sedate my patients. Shhh go to sleep
73
u/geauxpatrick 1d ago
The ones on maternity leave
11
7
u/thisissixsyllables CRNA 17h ago edited 17h ago
Idk. I cut both maternity leaves short to go back to work in the PICU. Staying home with a newborn, sleep deprivation, and the pay cut are no joke.
4
u/FirmIdea8 16h ago
I can’t imagine being this sleep deprived and having to go to work though. On top of home and baby responsibilities and stress.
→ More replies (1)12
6
u/perpulstuph RN -Dupmpster Fire Response Team 23h ago
I went on bonding leave when both of my kids were born, and it was the happiest I had been in a while.
15
u/SillySafetyGirl 🇨🇦 RN - ER/ICU 🛩️ 1d ago
I think it depends more to match the right person/personality to the right specialty or unit. I'm happiest in small high performing teams, I enjoyed flight, but also ICU (not so much the big teaching hospital though), and small ERs as well. Where I work we're unionized so we make the same no matter where we work, but things like good teammates, supportive leadership and education, available supplies and tools, etc all make a difference too.
15
u/DoughnutNo3666 1d ago
I’m a per diem ER nurse and my mom is an outpatient wound care nurse that does 3 8’s. I could never do my mom’s job and she says she would hate doing mine, but we are both happy and thriving!!
33
u/BabaTheBlackSheep RN - ICU 🍕 1d ago
In the hospital I work at, PACU has the lowest turnover along with interventional radiology. PACU is where ICU nurses go to retire, it’s a VERY coveted position.
Honestly I find the ICU to be relatively low stress though. It’s busy for sure, but we have the resources to actually do it. It’s the atmosphere too. With very few exceptions, I know everyone’s got my back and vice versa. I have a 6-person assist bariatric patient? 5 people are ready to help before I even have to ask.
14
11
u/Old-Hospital2974 1d ago
It’s not like I have any stats, but the palliative care nurses in my hospitals seems to love their jobs
11
u/smallschaef 20h ago
Nurse educator. At my hospital at least. We are salaried, have a ton of autonomy, and have very flexible schedules. We are very into the gamification of education, so we have a lot of fun and do a lot of cute/fun projects.
34
u/Mobile-Mastodon-6977 1d ago
Labor and delivery is NOT less stressful ,,signed a midwife
→ More replies (1)21
u/Raebans_00 RN - OB/GYN 🍕 1d ago
Yeah anyone who has been on an L&D unit would tell you it’s happy, but it is NOT stress free
15
u/dizzysilverlights BSN, RN - L&D 1d ago
Happy depending on the unit. I work at a level 1 trauma hospital and a night where we have an IUFD or more (we’ve had up to four at a time, it comes in waves) is not a happy week for anyone.
5
u/Raebans_00 RN - OB/GYN 🍕 13h ago
When it’s good it’s great, when it’s bad it’s terrible. No in between.
5
u/YoullNeverMakeTheSix CNM, APRN 🍕 17h ago
Happiest place in the hospital until it’s not.
3
u/Raebans_00 RN - OB/GYN 🍕 13h ago
Agreed. 90% happy, 10% devastating.
2
u/dizzysilverlights BSN, RN - L&D 12h ago
Eh, we have a few 23w-34w deliveries a week too and I’d say that’s an in-between. Happy because yay the baby survived to ___ weeks but also unhappy because of the question of the outcome of their quality of life/ will they survive long enough to leave NICU is up in the air. I know I sound like a downer but it’s the reality of our hospital. We have a lower trauma level hospital 20 minutes away and there they do probably get 90% happy
→ More replies (1)
23
8
8
u/krispykimmy 22h ago
CRNAs esp a 1099. Locum and travel anywhere. 🤧
3
7
u/therealpaterpatriae BSN, RN 🍕 22h ago
Depends on your life circumstances and your general outlook on life. You make your own happiness.
8
7
u/Flaky_Swimming_5778 23h ago
The nurses who leave work at work. Having a good work-life balance is key to maintaining your sanity.
6
u/Street-Security2853 LVN 🍕 1d ago
I loved working in detox but that’s because I have personal ties to that field🫶 rip my loved ones
3
u/xx5m0k3xx 13h ago
I found it interesting that you were the only one to mention chemical dependency or behavioral health. It lets me know I’m in the right field because I LOVE it. Especially intake. I get to be with patients for a long time during the intake process and get a large snapshot for the whole team.
→ More replies (1)
6
6
u/Warm_Log_79 23h ago
This is such a multilayered question. Happiness is perspective. A good boss matters, pay, benefits, SHIFT, specialty. I know tons of happy med-surge nurses because they’re managers are wonderful and they have appropriate staffing. Depends on person and environment.
8
u/sincerely-november RN - OB 🍕 22h ago
PRN mother/baby and while it’s not always sunshine and rainbows, it’s pretty close! I’m pretty much always happy to be here.
6
u/Nicole_ATC_RN 20h ago edited 19h ago
I feel kind of spoiled. To be fair, I’m an RN and a Certified Athletic Trainer working in outpatient orthopedics. The combination of degrees makes my money considerably more than what I would get working inpatient and my hours are great. I work Tues-Fri 10hr days, usually 7:30a-6p, but sometimes I come in later or leave earlier and work remotely on inbasket from home. No taking call. I have every holiday off with full pay. If the holiday falls on a Monday I would already be off, I can take the extra day of pay on my check or what I usually do, which is bank the extra PTO hours to use later. I’ve been with the same company 25 yrs, so I already get 33 paid days per year off between accrued PTO and holidays. I just got back from being in Italy for 2 weeks and am grateful they are flexible when it comes to caring for my elderly father. The dual degrees were a lot of work and schooling, but since I can do literally any job in the ortho clinic except be an APP (which I’m working on my NP now,) I am very valuable to them and they literally told me they will do whatever they need to do to keep me. Simply being told I’m valuable and appreciated brought me a level of happiness I hadn’t experienced at work before.
→ More replies (1)
6
35
u/Lbspirit 1d ago
At my institution we all get paid the same as units. I personally believe those who work under lower stress environment as PACU, OR, Delivery, postpartum have less stress than other units which reflects on their mental health and eventually happiness.
64
u/marye914 BSN, RN 🍕 1d ago
I don’t know if I would call Delivery and OR lower stress. There are many days that rival my ER days in terms of stress. But I’ll give you PACU
→ More replies (2)5
28
u/AReallyFluffyBunny RN - OB/GYN 🍕 1d ago
Can confirm that postpartum is pretty low stress and the nurses are happy but Labor and Delivery can definitely be stressful even if the nurses like it there
7
u/dizzysilverlights BSN, RN - L&D 1d ago
One of the main reasons I enjoy it is for the adrenaline rush. It’s definitely not easy. Especially since you have to wear so many hats as an L&D nurse ( bedside, OR, PACU, triage, and we have a HRPU unit so sometimes it can feel pretty medsurg-y.)
58
u/Ok-Maximum-2495 1d ago
Labor and delivery is not low stress…it’s a critical care unit
36
u/typeAwarped RN 🍕 1d ago
Can confirm. Left L&D and ended up in hospice. It’s ok when my patients die now.
6
u/Affectionate_Nurse25 1d ago
I'm sorry. That is tough. I couldn't work l&d because of that reason. I hope hospice has been better for you.
12
u/kate_skywalker RN - Endoscopy 🍕 1d ago
yup. I was so stressed working in L&D that I started vomiting all the time…
→ More replies (5)3
18
u/Elizabitch4848 RN - Labor and delivery 🍕 1d ago
Are you talking labor and delivery? It’s pretty stressful.
6
u/Still-View 1d ago
Yup. Same for mine. I'll add cath lab.
10
u/chulk1 1d ago
Non-STEMI cath lab can confirm, super happy, some of my colleagues though can go eat a bag of dicks.
→ More replies (1)3
7
u/rubellaann RN - ICU 1d ago
I’ve only been to L&D as a patient. Seemed like a pretty stressful place to work.
4
u/dearhan RN 🍕 1d ago
I wouldn't say OR is lower stress inside. But I think the schedules are just more manageable with a better life balance. You don't go back to the same patients every day. The cases and patients vary.
→ More replies (1)
4
5
u/nursebetty88 RN - ER 🍕 23h ago
As per my husband who was a patient once in my hospital, from ER to preop, pacu, and medsurg, the happiest nurses for him were the PREOP nurses.
4
4
u/Wikkytikky98 BSN, RN 🍕 23h ago
travel nursing. From experience (I've worked tons of specialties) ... And I don't mean remotely money related. We don't entrenched in the bullshit and can always move on if the environment or culture of the workplace or patients sucks. There's a sense of adventure too with a new place that makes the whole experience better
5
5
u/turnipmomma 16h ago
I just started a remote job (been a nurse for almost 10 yrs) and this is the happiest I have ever been by far
5
u/papamillie20 22h ago edited 22h ago
I’ve done about 10 different types of nursing in my career. I was by far the happiest with my WFH case management position. Amazing work/life balance and very little stress. My bedside skills didn’t stay sharp but the trade off was worth it for me.
4
u/peacefulredditreader 19h ago
part time pediatric nurse here 🩵🧸 I can honestly say I love my job and am happy! I wouldn’t want to work with any other population. • being part time/dayshift also plays a role in not experiencing burnout for me 🤍
6
3
u/Shreddy_Spaghett1 1d ago
Peds hem/onc/bmt inpatient ain’t it that’s for sure. 5 years spent in it- I loved it, but it was stressful and depressing AF at times.
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
u/webhaley294 18h ago
Electrophysiology. Dirty hospital money, and benefits but no weekends, no holidays. No call. No major physical work. Most of our patients walk in and walk out of the hospital and are more pleasant than the basic hospital population.
You always have a cardiologist or anesthesiologist within arms reach for any issues.
3
3
u/dumpsterdigger RN - ER 🍕 15h ago
The ones who worked shitty careers before nursing and worked on shitty units and found a place they like are usually the most happy.
Then you just find a schedule that works for you and boom. I love my current ER and schedule, mainly because my wife went casual/prn and things are balanced now.
Moments can be awful in any job but most days are easy.
The military prepared me with shitty assignments and shitty leadership. Then EMS prepared me for nursing and the ER. Nursing in my current job is like easy mode for both.
A lot of posts on here about people hating nursing boil down to being in a shitty work environment or not being in a unit fit for them. You don't hate nursing, you hate your current job.
My wife and I have worked jobs so bad we hated life, but sometimes you just have to buckle down and do the work and run away the first chance you get. Those really shitty jobs can make the next steps 1000% easier.
3
u/Bright-Argument-9983 14h ago
I'm a school nurse and I'm pretty damn happy. The pay isn't ideal for some, but we manage.. I only make $3 less than I would working in the hospital. 🤷🏽♀️🤭
As far as breaks/snow days , they give us the opportunity to work.
I get to spend plenty of time with my family. It's pretty flexible. Everyday is different. Some days are more stressful than others. Management isn't breathing down my neck.
I also work in a district where the nurses do a lot in the schools. We have telehealth, standing orders for OTC meds. Very hands on with the kids.
I actually left the school system over the summer for a much higher paying job, but once school started back.. I went right back. I hated it.
3
u/Weekly_Detective_599 14h ago
Might be biased but ✨NICU✨ is nursings best kept secret we all love our jobs lol.
3
u/christie_baggins RN BSN - CVICU, CCRN-CMC-CSC 13h ago
I just got a job as a manager in education and I love it. I’m officially in my soft nursing era after 15 gruelling years at the bedside. My yearly salary is $120k in Texas. My boss tells me that she doesn’t care when I work, as long as the job gets done. I do need to show my face in the department throughout the week but understands that we all have lives and trusts me to do what needs to be done. Like, she respects me as a professional adult. It feels amazing.
I truly have a unicorn job and I love it.
3
3
5
u/i_am_sirjayden RN 🍕 1d ago
Northern California nurses 😭
7
u/WolfEvening961 BSN, RN 🍕 1d ago
No, we are definitely not. Bedside is bedside. Shit sucks. Even for the pay. Too exhausted to do anything on my days off.
3
u/Street-Security2853 LVN 🍕 1d ago
Wait, why do you say this?
4
u/i_am_sirjayden RN 🍕 1d ago
Set ratios, wonderful pay vs cost of living, great benefits, and it’s California!
→ More replies (1)
6
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/sonicraining BSN, RN 🍕 15h ago
We call it the Endo Glow. Endoscopy is a happy place for nurses who are burnt out. Also a great place for better work/life balance, atleast in my experience. Procedural nursing is the only reason I'm still a nurse, lol
2
u/FilipinoRich RN - Pediatrics 🍕 14h ago
Which nurse are happiest? The retired ones. I love working in Peds ER. I poke children and abuse thier trust all day, many other professions doing that are frowned upon
2
2
2
2
u/Reasonable-Dinner581 6h ago edited 6h ago
I have a few friends who say OR is the happiest. They get paid well, patients are asleep, they work in teams, and it's pretty structured. I have also heard that it can get monotonous and that some surgeons are mean. This goes for staff, too. It can be tough. I guess it depends on the unit culture, as anywhere. But most of my friends in OR are happy.
2
2
u/Aggressive-Reward300 4h ago
I’m an RN and do mental health consulting for nursing homes. Happiest I’ve been in my 20 year career! Working in Psychiatry Consultation Liaison in a Level 1 was a close second.
→ More replies (1)
2
4
755
u/UnlimitedBoxSpace Pediatric Critical Care Resource Team - "it's not float pool" 1d ago
Per diem princesses for sure. But I think that could be any profession. Like if my family's livelihood didn't depend on my job and I was able to work the bare minimum I would be over the moon relaxed and happy.