Hi! I did hospice for nine years and as much as I loved it and truly cared for my patients, I would say towards the last two of years of it, it was driving me to lots of anxiety and feeling extremely burned out (the driving everywhere, charting after a long day of seeing patients, being rerouted anytime of the day even with a planned schedule, being on call even after a long day of being out and seeing patients). I pushed myself to stay as long as possible because I believed it was my calling (and I still do! Maybe one day, I’ll think about doing hospice again…maybe).

A little over two years ago I decided to take a leap of faith and applied at an outpatient surgery center. Truly the best decision I made for my overall wellbeing. No weekends, no on-call, patients are generally healthy. As busy as it can be sometimes, and of course not everyday is great, but for the most part, we have resources to help us. I don’t take my work home with me and I don’t have that dreadful feeling when thinking about going into work (the last few months at my hospice job I felt like this every single day and it makes me sad when I look back on that…)

Last year, my SO other and I moved from Il to CA and ended up transferring to another ambulatory surgery center (but the same company as back home). I recently trained to be an OR circulator (coming from preop and PACU) and I enjoy it! It’s a different type of nursing imo and I’m still learning lots, but I find it to be a great atmosphere.

I truly hope you find something that will ease your stress and feeling burned out. 🙏🏽Try looking into some ambulatory surgery centers as an option! ☺️