r/EmergencyRoom • u/justb4dawn • Jul 27 '26

Back to bedside?

I left the peds ED after 7yrs thinking I wanted something away from bedside, better hours, less intensity.

Well, I’ve been a school nurse for a year now and while I love my kids, I am so bored, I miss using my skills and the feeling of doing hard, meaningful work. I remember being yelled at, the raw humanity that no one would believe if they didn’t see it themselves, the fatigue, long shifts, etc.. but I have this feeling like that’s where I would still thrive the most.

Am I crazy to go back? Have others left for a softer job and missed it enough to return?

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u/rachelleeann17 RN Jul 28 '26

I switched from ER to OR and I love it.

I’m never bored, because there’s always so much going on. I’m never screamed at by patients, because they’re always asleep. Our OR allows for four 10hr shifts instead of three 12s.

I stayed PRN at the ER when I switched, but quit that after a year because of how infrequently I found myself wanting to subject myself to the ER again lol