I’m an RN with two years of experience in med-surg/telemetry, and I’m currently at a crossroads in my career.
A lot of people around me encourage me to pursue CRNA school, and I completely understand why. It’s a respected career with great earning potential, financial stability, and long-term opportunities.
The problem is that I don’t genuinely see myself being a CRNA. I don’t feel particularly passionate about anesthesia, and I’m worried that even if I become successful financially, I might not feel fulfilled in that career.
On the other hand, I’ve always been drawn to esthetics. The thought of becoming an esthetician, working with clients, and potentially building something of my own genuinely excites me. It’s something I can see myself enjoying and finding purpose in.
But I’m also realistic. Esthetics doesn’t offer the same predictable income or financial security as a CRNA career, especially when you’re just starting out or trying to establish your own business.
Here’s where I’m struggling:
I’m considering moving from med-surg to the ICU now, even though I’m not certain I want to pursue CRNA school. My reasoning is that if I eventually decide to go that route, I’ll already have the critical care experience needed to apply.
What scares me is spending another three or four years exploring esthetics, only to realize I need more financial stability and decide to pursue CRNA school anyway. At that point, I’d still have to start gaining ICU experience before I could even apply.
But I’m equally afraid of spending years preparing for a career I don’t genuinely want, simply because it’s financially secure.
I don’t want to make a decision based entirely on money, but I also don’t want to ignore the importance of financial stability.
I’m also very open to exploring other educational and career opportunities. If you know of any advanced degrees, certifications, nursing specialties, or career paths that offer good financial stability while allowing me to work in aesthetics, skincare, dermatology, or wellness, I would genuinely appreciate your recommendations.
And even outside of aesthetics, if there are other opportunities for career advancement as an RN that you think are worth considering, I’d love to hear about them. I’m willing to further my education; I just want to make sure I’m investing my time and money into something that aligns with my interests and offers a sustainable future.
I’d really appreciate some honest perspectives:
Would you move to the ICU now just to keep the CRNA option open?
Has anyone chosen a financially secure career over something they were passionate about? Do you regret it?
Are there nurses who transitioned into esthetics and managed to build financially stable careers?
Are there advanced nursing degrees, specialties, or other career paths you’d recommend that combine financial security with aesthetics or wellness?
Is there a realistic way to explore esthetics while maintaining my nursing career?
I’m especially interested in hearing from CRNAs, ICU nurses, nurse estheticians, licensed estheticians, and anyone who has navigated a similar career decision.
I know no one can make this decision for me, but I’d love to hear different experiences, recommendations, and perspectives before making such a big career decision.

I have never, EVER heard of this advice. Or given it. And certainly would not give this direction to a pro football player surrounded by team doctors and trainers. What the hell?

Disclaimer: This is ofc my experience with the people I encountered in my day-to-day and wondering if any other nurse has dealt with the same. I’m not bashing non-clinical staff.

I work outpatient and work in an office with another RN, MD, NP, and MA.
I love working with the clinical staff. If there’s an issue, it’s dealt with very professionally and logically. And it’s very systematically rather than petty or innately punitive or socially punishing.
If there’s a problem, things are dealt with as private as they can be. And discussions that need to be had are done later.

The non-clinical staff in my office such as the receptionist we have love stirring pots and gossiping office to office causing drama and it creates real friction and staff splitting.
They go off on the staff for using staples, pens and ink, and instead of having a conversation they go around blaming who took their paper and pencils publicly and who used up all the ink. Spam text messages to fellow coworkers in a group chat with very long drawn out text bubble about not using ink or paper and naming the person they think did it.
The MD and NP are not too worried about the cabinets and drawers being locked up and stated that isn’t a designated thing they want them to do or even focus on.
But the receptionist makes it a hell of an issue if the cabinets are not locked at the end of the day.
The biller will also get actively involved in appointment times and time we spend with patients.

I have a pediatric patient who’s less than 4 years old and I have to get an IV on her, and a lot of the time takes up with child play. For example, talking to her and pretending to do an IV on her stuffed animal so it makes her excited to get an IV too. Roughly can be 20 minutes, and the biller was like “I had no clue where you were. There are patients waiting and they need to be seen” meanwhile I’m not the only staff member in the office who sees patients.

The biller and moreso the receptionist seem to be bent on socially shaming other staff members in public who don’t follow “their protocol” and it’s out of hand lol.

99% of the time it doesn’t even involve issues with patients, it’s just little petty things around the office and it creates a weird atmosphere.

made a terrible mistake which i whole heartedly regret, needing some guidance of when to self report and guidelines of if i can even work if the case is still pending. Already have spoken with an attorney dealing with criminal and dmv hearing, Now need advice on dealing with the board

i called out sick and saw that they took it off my CLT/PT/PTO. that took away from my vacation time i was trying to save up. if i would’ve known i would’ve just went to work since i didn’t feel TOO bad 💀

can i request to not use CLT the next time i call out sick? LOL would rather have more vacation time

So I have been a nurse more or less since 2013. In 2015 after receiving tons of tramadol, Klonopin, and Ambien, from my doctors to treat my symptoms and also being told that don’t worry, tramadol isn’t a narcotic pain med… I became physically dependent on all of my medication’s naturally, especially since I asked for a non-narcotic pain, med knowing my family history. I don’t make excuses for what I did 11 years ago I diverted meds from the hospital. I admitted it because they said if I admitted it, they would not call the police and press charges and as long as I reported to the board, everything would be fine. It is now October 2026, it is more than 10 years from the original offense and eight years from when I played guilty to possession of a controlled substance. I followed all the rules in my peer nurse assistance program to help me supposedly keep my license. My nursing license was reinstated active in April 2021 since then I have had even harder of a time getting a job nowadays, most of them look at my license on and URSYS and they usually end the interview right there. I’ve had no further in fractions no further criminal activity nothing I was going to go back for my bachelors of science in nursing at WGU. They told me to come back when I had five years between the disciplinary action and the date presently so now I came back eight years later and I am still not sure if I will be able to attend schooling. I’m not expecting pity, but if I would’ve known that, this would be the way it would be. I could’ve went to school eight years ago and became something else I find it’s getting harder to get a job not easier and I still cannot go for my bachelors which I thought would prove that I’m even more mature and further away from the infraction so I still have to submit the same paperwork to WGU for them to decide if I’m able to attend their school. I am lost. I’m heartbroken. I’ve had interviews where I interviewed at a well-known rehab. They said please if you have a criminal record, please apply. So I did. I was hired as the nurse Manager $140,000 salary as usual. I was vetted through the entire hiring process and at the end with a one sentence email was told that due to a third-party vendor checking backgrounds I am a risk and they rescinded the offer. I seriously am at the end of my road and I would rather go and pursue something else then keep dealing with these heartbreaks there’s so many jobs I’ve been offered, the DON is OK. The CNO is OK. CNO the CEO is OK and a third-party vendor says no not OK and once again I have no job thoughts anybody who’s been through this because I’m seriously ready to leave the professional altogether I’m 43 years old I have two small children ages, five and seven and a College age son who turned 18 and is at Stanford University right now if there is a profession that is more lucrative or can deal with the fact that I am such a scarlet letter. Please let me know. Thanks.

I wanted to put my new schedule in lol. I have it all written down in my planner but it’s easier to see it like this between 2 jobs.

Hi,

Anyone currently enrolled at SMU’s ELMSN-FNP program? How do you like it and would you recommend it?

For those who graduated from the program, do you recommend it? Were you able to find a job after graduation or did you have to move out the bay?

Thank you for your responses.

After spending 18 months out of state with my son, who was in acute care, I was finally able to have him transferred back to his home state into a scnf vent unit to finally begin his recovery. He is vent dependent and a quad secondary to anoxic brain injury and cip/cim.

Acute care did not provide him with any rehab or vent weaning as the state he suffered his injury does not have an LTAC or vent rehab. We were so excited to finally get home and into a scnf who could begin the rehab process. Unfortunately, this transition has become a nightmare. My son is A/O x4 but unable to speak.

The nurses in this "specialized care" vent unit literally have no idea what they are doing. They are primarily LPNs and lack the basic knowledge of caring for a medically fragile/complex patient. I feel terribly for them and are frightened for my son.

Met with administration who are completely clueless and have no idea about how deficient they are. I don't blame the nurses as they clearly have not been trained or properly vetted for this unit.

Simple things like hob at a minimum of 30 degrees (tube feed), vitals, t&p , I/O, pain assessment and management, med administration etc... are foreign to them. The nurses literally have NO idea what they are doing. I'm being literal-not hyperbolic.

They actually take a garbage bag from the trash can, bring it bedside and empty the colostomy bag without measuring output volume or description. The regional nursing manager that I met today told me this is their sop and was very annoyed that I questioned the practice. The nurse said that she didn't know any other way to do it. I told her that you would normally use a measured container and document the output since the dietitian needs this information. Not to mention that you clearly, for infection control, would never take a garbage bag liner from a garbage can to put next to a stoma.

There is 1 lpn for 12 vent patients and 2 cnas. Not a terrible ratio, I guess, if your patients are stable, but that's not the case, and there's no RN on board. This is a specialized unit.

Over the weekend my son's feeding was set at 237 ml/hr when it was ordered at 55ml/hr. When I arrived that day and saw the error I paused the pump and put on the call bell. Well, I had 2 supervisors arrive who BOTH insisted that I was reading the kangaroo pump wrong and that the number of 237 was showing total volume. Twilight zone. Did the supervisors really not know how to read a kangaroo pump or were they punking me? They reset the pump and continued to insist that I must have been mistaken. I told them that I already taken a photo of the pump as well as the bag which the nurse documented 237ml/hr as the rate. He was overfed by 4x the amount and hob was 20% when I arrived that afternoon. I felt so bad for the floor nurse who said she just copied the rate from the pump and not from the mar. I told her to always check the mar and never copy from the pump. The sups who came in didn't do ANY assessment and just reset the pump to the ordered rate.

Wth?? After persisting to determine how long my son had been overfed and was now at risk of aspiration, overfeeding syndrome, dumping syndrome etc. the nursing supervisor came back hours later and said the Dr ordered a stat cxr.

Overall the nurses have absolutely no idea what they are doing, do not come into the room other than to give meds. No assessment, no checking continence/ostomy, positioning, pain; literally nothing. Totally clueless. Cnas have airbuds in, talking on phone calls while providing care.

I've been in health care for 30 years as an administrator and I'm also a social worker. Have a MBA with a concentration in health care management. I've been out of the industry for the past 2 years as I've sat bedside with my son.

How did we get to this point? Has corporate administration really abandoned our nurses and support staff in training and guidance? In my wildest imagination I would never, ever subject my patients to untrained staff nor would I subject my nursing staff to situations which they were not trained for.

Sorry for the long rant, but this is crazy. Is this our new norm?

I graduated with my BSN in 2018 and was hired on a telemetry unit. I made the biggest mistake of quitting after a month because honestly I was very hard on myself. I didn’t think I was good enough and wasn’t patient enough to gain experience. The unit manager told me I would regret this decision and offered other floors and I was just so set on quitting that I denied all offers and left the hospital. I then got a job at a laser hair removal clinic as an RN for 3 years and in the middle of that when Covid hit I worked at a Covid vaccine clinic where I administered the vaccines. Now I’m a stay at home and have been for the past 3 years. I truly regret not sticking to bedside and want to go back so bad but have no clue where to start from or if I even can anymore. I’m not a new grad so I can’t get into one of those new grad jobs where they give out training but I also don’t have enough experience to get right back into where I would have left off. Any suggestions on how to get back to bedside?

I developed a TBI back in March after I slipped on some ice and slammed by head on a curb.

A few months in, my recovery stalled. So I asked the doc if maybe something else was up. I've always had difficulties with attention and memory but after my fall it was amplified by a hundred.

Anyways, long story short I got tested and was diagnosed a few days ago at 27.

It's kind of crazy I went this far in life without any treatment. I've only been a nurse for a few months before I fell and it was hell at first. I had to use so many fail safes, triple checks, and develop compulsive behaviours to make sure I was on top of things. As time went on I got faster and made less mistakes, but now that I've been off work for like 7 months, I'm afraid Ill have to start again at ground Zero.

Fortunately, now that I've been diagnosed I can start medication and counselling.

So now for the point of this post,

How does it feel to medicated while on the job? Are you able to do med pass without checking that med chart a hundred times? Do you remember where you left things? Or even remember indepth conversations you had with patients? How does it feel at the end of your shift when the effects start to die down?

Thanks in advanced for your help! I'm hopefully going back to work in a few months and I need some hope that things will get better when I get back.

Hi all,

I wanted to share my situation in case anyone has been through something similar. I’ve been a nurse in the UK for 4 years, but my chronic condition (Still’s Disease) means my body can no longer cope with the physical demands and shift patterns of bedside care. It’s been a really difficult decision, but I know I need to prioritise my health — and I still want to use my nursing skills, just in a different way.

I’m looking for remote nursing roles — things like clinical reviewing, telehealth support, or medical assessments. The one extra detail: I’m on a Skilled Worker Visa, so I need an employer who can offer sponsorship. It feels like a double hurdle sometimes, but I’m hopeful there are options out there.

If anyone has found a remote-friendly role that suits a chronic condition, or knows companies that are open to sponsoring, I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences. Thank you for being such a supportive community ❤️

I am a current LPN in Tampa and have been one for about 2 years now. I am graduating my RN bridge in the next few months and I'm going to a baycare career fair tomorrow. What is an appropriate salary here? Would it be fair to ask around 37/hr? All my clinicals so far have been at lakeland regional and the nurses say they start at 38. I know tampa pay is pretty doodoo so I wanna know what is good to ask for. I suck at negotiation.

I’m a new grad and got an interview at UCLA for my dream specialty, the OR! Any tips?

Hello everyone,

I lost my job in August and have been looking since then. I'm looking into medical office jobs currently.

If there are any CNA jobs I'd be happy to apply with a referral.

Can some kind souls refer me to some of these jobs?

I don't even want to have 'losing my apartment' on my mind.

This market is one of the worst I've dealt with.

DM me, of course.

Thanks.

32M this side I need a reality check on employability post completion of Nursing. I have had a few people tell me that getting a job in the Nursing field is challenging after BSN completion as a new grad. Please let me know the true ground reality about employment specially in British Columbia, Canada. I am ready to work in rural areas. Also which fields within Nursing have the more job opportunities?

Okay, this isn't new at my hospital but I'm irked every time it comes up: timed transfers into clean and ready beds. The ED is supposed to deliver the patient within 30 minutes, regardless of whether anyone is available to receive the patient. Regardless of whether there's a bed or any safety equipment in the room- as soon as EVS marks the room as clean, the patient could be on their way. Same with PACU.

Convince me, please, of the benefits of transferring a patient to a unit that isn't ready for them. I understand on a macro scale that offloading the ED is important- we're always on overflow down there. But even then I'm not convinced it's globally better to deliver a patient and make more space in the ED. It's jeopardizing the patient who gets transferred as well as the other patients on my unit when we drop everything to try to settle the new patient.

I promise we're not dragging our feet. We'll call as soon as we're ready: after there's at least an ambu-bag and suction in the room.

I guess the question I should be asking is who is making money by keeping these handoffs as tight as possible?

I recently started working the night shift at a hospital(my first hospital job). Lately, I’ve noticed significant inconsistencies in my training. For instance, on my first day, my preceptor was assigned to the emergency department, so they paired me with a different staff member for training. I trained with this staff for two days before switching back to my preceptor on the third day. Today, I was supposed to begin the second week of orientation, but my preceptor was assigned to low-census so they got to stay home, and the only other certified nursing assistant (CNA) available was in the rehab unit. Consequently, I was paired with them for training. While they’ve been helpful and kind, I’ve noticed that several of the CNAs frequently fall asleep on the job, leaving me to answer call lights and document patient care. I don’t mind answering calls or charting, I like that I’m hands on learning. However, shouldn’t my trainer CNA stay awake to support me if I need to or to give me feedback? I know that if I was training another CNA I wouldn’t fall asleep. My license, mine/my teams safety, and the patients safety could be compromised if I slept at the desk and on the clock. If I require assistance, I must physically wake up my trainer. Considering these circumstances, would I be considered unethical/ a snitch to report these issues to my nursing director? My manager happens to be the nursing director for the unit. It is a union position.

Long story short

I'm a 30 year old new grad with terrible social anxiety. Before changing careers i was a lab technologist and worked in a quiet lab with the same coworkers and environment for years. I am terrified my social anxiety will hinder my ability to work properly and/or make connections with my coworkers impossible. I am already on beta blockers.

It's already embarrassing being a full grown and having this anxiety.

Anyone with similar experience? Any advice is welcomed.

Has anyone gotten deposits back from this grant yet? Individual nurses?

Now that I type that out, I realize how absurd that prospect is, lol

Hello there. I have been an OR nurse for about 5 years. Before that, I was a bedside nurse for 1.5 years. I am coming to terms with the fact that I just simply don't enjoy my job. I don't have a passion for the OR, even though I can do the job well. It's stressful in all the wrong ways, is all I have to say. It's hard to admit that, because I've dedicated so many years of my life to it and have my CNOR.

When I think of the parts of nursing that I like, I think being a psychiatric nurse practitioner would be a good fit for me. I've always been more interested in helping out that particular population. I would like to have more agency in my job, because as a circulator I often feel like I just chart and position and prep like a cog in a machine. It would be cool to have a little more responsibility without moving to a higher acuity OR, which I used to work at and hated.

So, I am considering a switch. And instead of thinking laterally, I'm thinking a vertical move. I am wondering if anyone out there has switched from a field that has nothing to do with psych nursing to a psychiatric nurse practitioner? I realize floor experience in psych would be a plus. The program I'm looking into doesn't require it. But would it be a really bad idea?

If I need to leave my job and go work inpatient psych first that would be discouraging but understood.

Any and all advice would be valued! Thank you.

I just need to vent a little. I’m just frustrated and maybe someone else has been through something similar. This is going to be kinda long and I’m sorry if you get confused bc tbh I kinda am too.

I really like my job. I work in home care and have been doing this for almost 5 years. I had pretty much the same schedule for all of those years. I had 2 patients I absolutely adored like my own family and I worked with them weekly.

I had a baby in May and I knew coming back would disrupt my comfy little work world but I was being a good sport and willing to go outside my comfort zone and make things work in a way where I can still work full time since I make better money than my partner. I do not want to put my baby into daycare. It’s not a money issue, it’s a me issue. The thought of it makes me sick. I know I have really bad anxiety and I’m in therapy but I can keep him out of daycare if I work a set schedule.

So originally, I was gonna be doing all overnights which I hated the idea of but…my job asked me about my two patients I had and I was under the impression they were both staffed up for the days I used to work. I knew one of them wouldn’t really work ongoing (a 3-11 shift) but the other one I was always kinda hoping I could return to. I didn’t think I was going to be able to. One of the overnights I checked out was a shit show so I basically just put it out there that I would love to have my Monday shift back if it were to open up. And that’s all it took because I was available to do the whole shift since my partner has off Mondays and Tuesdays all the time. So this was my first week back at that shift and it was a really good day.

Then I found a brand new patient on Tuesday during the day. Love the case and the family and the proximity to my home. So it looked really good for me because I did take one overnight case on Wednesday and Thursday. So I would be working mon-Thurs and I would have 5 days with my baby during the week because that was really important. I don’t want to be working when he’s awake so much. I’d rather be a little tired for 2 days and deal with it. I have literally been looking forward to this week because it’s my new schedule for real and I would get to see how it felt.

So last week, my job tells me that a nurse who had been out for a while is returning and wants to do her Wednesday overnights with the patient I just took on. So I’m like, okay, understandable but sad. I tell them this has been a really good schedule and that I’d like to do another Wednesday overnight if that’s at all possible. They offer me one a little further away but it’s slightly more pay and I’m like okay let’s do it.

Family only likes new nurses to orient with one nurse. I get that, they kinda sent everyone to me on the case I can’t go back to. But she’s only there on Tuesdays and as I mentioned earlier, I just took on an all day case on Tuesdays that I love. So I was trying to get an answer out of my job about making something else work to orient the case and I just…never heard back for days. Today is supposed to be my last Wednesday overnight so at this point, I’m getting anxious. So I see this nurse on Monday and I know her and I ask her about it and she instantly offers me 2 solutions and says she’s flexible so she will come in for me when I can make it. She’s literally an angel, I’ve known her for a while and we’ve worked on some of the same cases.

So I tell my job that and they finally call me and say they just need to iron things out with that and they will call me tomorrow (yesterday).

But instead of a call, I get a message saying that the current Wednesday case is actually open for 3 more weeks and can they just leave me on. And I’m like well what about my new patient I’m supposed to meet next week or whenever.

Apparently, another nurse just came back and snatched that up on Wednesdays ! Which tbh I don’t even believe. I don’t really know why they have to lie about it but I just can’t believe in less than 24 hours, another case was taken up after being offered it.

So they start offering me bogus options like one that is an hour away from me and one that is on Tuesday overnights (as if I don’t work a 10 hour day on Tuesday) and I’m like no. None of those will work at all.

And now they are “brainstorming” but idk if they realize I can see most of the shifts on my hub and I don’t think there is a place for me. I can be flexible. I can make things work, I really want to but I feel really fucking sad and I don’t know what to do. I’ve been looking at jobs and I haven’t done that the entire time I’ve worked with my job because I really like it. I know brainstorming just means that I have a schedule for 3 weeks while I take these overnights and they’ll forget and I’ll start to panic again in a week and a half when nothing gets said. And it annoys me to no end because I pride myself on not being a flake. And this back and forth is super flaky and I feel like I deserve a little more respect than that. I think I’ve proven myself here with the work I’ve done and the way my patients and their families speak of me. It kinda feels like my job forgets that.

I don’t want to leave my job. I am working on getting back in to school fucking finally to be an RN which will open up loads of doors for me. I want to keep my benefits and the downtime I get if I’m going to be back in school. But I also need to work full time and I need a set schedule so I can you know, spend time with my baby. He’s on my insurance.

But yeah. That’s my little rant here. If anyone’s been through something similar or has a good suggestion on something I could do or say, that would be great. Love yall 🫶🏻

That is all.

I know there’s some throughout this sub. as well.

Can a nurse manager be a charge nurse?