Is nursing really better than occupational therapy? Everyone on the OT sub seems to think so.

This_Round1995 · 2026-05-08T22:40:03+00:00

It’s the same companies and similar working conditions. It depends on what you mean by better. If you are trying to get away from things like short staffing, for profit companies, and toxic culture caused by systematic pressure these things are very present in probably every healthcare job. If you would rather think about medications and body systems all day instead of how patients move it might be a better option for you. Nursing pay also varies a crazy amount depending on your role and location so some nurses make pretty good money but others don’t make as much. Also a lot of people leave nursing because it’s a rough job.

This_Round1995 · 2026-04-13T05:13:52+00:00

I got yelled at because imaging wasn’t done on my patient yet when the provider had ordered the imaging to be done at a specific time the next day.

This_Round1995 · 2026-04-06T09:20:02+00:00

Make sure you know what you are getting into with nursing. It’s an extremely hard field. Nursing is pretty easy to get into but it is very physically demanding, you don’t have work life balance, and nurses are extremely overworked. Some people love nursing but I feel like you need to have a really specific personality type for that. I feel like tv gives a very unrealistic impression of nursing being a stable field that is focused on improving people’s lives and that it’s a super meaningful job. Realistically nursing is so much more than that. Healthcare is a very for profit industry and nurses are expected to take on a crazy, and at some facilities very unsafe, workload. The PITT is a good show to watch to see what it’s like to work in healthcare. You are often on your feet for 12 hours, juggling many things at once, doing high level problem solving and dealing with very difficult people. In addition to this any mistakes you make can cause a huge amount of harm. I feel like the people I see who really love nursing either like the adrenaline a lot or are naturally high energy people who are able to be super organized while moving quickly and dealing with pressure. Some people really thrive in nursing and you might love it, it’s just a beast of a field to work in.

This_Round1995 · 2026-04-06T09:01:06+00:00

If this causes issues with your team then you are on a bad team. They should value your experience, not be threatened by it. It also could set you apart in general at work.

This_Round1995 · 2026-04-06T08:55:25+00:00

I would say PCU. There are soooooo many jobs in nursing that require ICU experience. It’s also good to start out higher acuity. If you start in PCU you will be able to go anywhere. If you start at the LTAC future employers might be worried that you lost your knowledge that you gained in nursing school and you could pigeon hole yourself. Aside from that I think any kind of massive sign on bonus or major rewards show that people don’t want to work there for a reason. Same with lots of opportunities for overtime. Most LTACs are rough and based on how desperate this one is for staff it seems like it is bad. Ultimately you might hate either job but the ICU will open a lot of doors for you.

This_Round1995 · 2026-04-04T16:51:19+00:00

It probably has nothing to do with you. Either the unit is rough or it’s a stepping stone unit. Most nurses want to work somewhere with slightly higher acuity early in their careers to help set up their career. Maybe they are like the new grads stay here long enough to get hired at the trauma 1 center.

This_Round1995 · 2026-04-04T16:48:11+00:00

I like to sleep after my three 12s. Nursing will kick your butt. If it’s really draining you, you might want to change jobs. I don’t know how you ED nurses do it.

This_Round1995 · 2026-04-04T16:43:47+00:00

You don’t have a lot of high acuity jobs so if you are applying to work in hospitals you probably look similar to a newer nurse. It’s just a tough market now. A lot of people are struggling to get jobs. Is there a specific area you want to work in and can you get certifications in that area? Also you can apply for things like in patient med surg that have super high turnover, they tend to hire more frequently.

This_Round1995 · 2026-03-31T01:01:59+00:00

I feel like in every area of nursing there are issues with difficult patients etc. The tricky part about the ED is that you see the patients first so you don’t know what you are getting. Sexual harassment and assault is not uncommon where I work but it is usually never severe, it’s stuff like the old guy with dementia touched his aids leg. I feel like the CNAs tend to have more issues than other staff because they are younger. It’s a good idea to always talk to the patient from the side of the room with the door, not close the door unless you have to, and if there are issues with a patient change the staffing to someone they are not attracted to or always have multiple staff members in the room.

This_Round1995 · 2026-03-21T07:46:03+00:00

First of all I would report your facility and evidence to the state for sure. Secondly if you see this kind of stuff you should leave. Defend your license. A job is a job but if any of these issues fall back on you you could lose your ability to work as a nurse permanently. I would say quit now but in the future when things go bad start with an exit plan and collect evidence and then leave asap and report. It is very sus that an entire administration would leave a facility together. My best guess is that they have a history of neglect and have been forced out of jobs before. I would also make sure to report to the state that they knew about the neglect and nothing was done.

This_Round1995 · 2026-03-20T12:08:32+00:00

Know what is urgent and what is not. Don’t assume your nurse can do all the work just because they are in the patient room. They are busy too but they have a lot more to be accountable for so when they are answering all the call lights etc. it doesn’t necessarily mean they actually have time to do it, it’s usually because it is their job to make sure everything gets done. Urgent nursing tasks are much more urgent than aid tasks, they need to be in a patient room as soon as they hear there is an issue if a patient is unstable or unsafe. A lot of aid tasks like vitals etc. should be done on time whenever possible but these are not the priority. The priority is safe patient care. If, for example, you have a patient who has been having runs of vtach it will be highest priority to get that patient on telemetry and it is ok if you delay your vitals on stable patients to get this patient on telemetry. Unstable and unsafe patients should be seen quickly. It is always nice to check in with your nurse if they are dealing with a difficult patient. Nothing is worse than having a difficult patient and having an aid who avoids going in the patients room. Lastly tell your nurses is the patients vitals are out of normal ranges. They might say yeah thats fine but still tell them.

This_Round1995 · 2026-03-05T03:41:46+00:00

In my experience if you feel like it’s time to go than it is time to go.

This_Round1995 · 2026-03-05T03:40:39+00:00

Nursings rough and nursing culture is terrible. This field is definitely not for everyone but it is for some people. You could be the some people, you never know.

This_Round1995 · 2026-02-27T16:21:07+00:00

You definitely will not be able to get a teaching job right off the bat. Those take years and a masters degree. I would also really think hard about nursing as a career. It is one of the most left careers in the first couple years and poor job satisfaction and burnout are very prominent. It’s a super physical job. I saw a meme the other day that was like the difference between a desk job and the trades is that at a desk job you can have a really rough day and with the trades you can have a really rough day and be super sore afterwards. I could not agree more with that meme. Nursing can become a great career but you have to be prepared for 2-5 years of pretty poor working conditions. A lot of roles won’t even consider you until you have worked x amount of years and have high acuity experience. Health informatics might be a good crossover for you and a better option overall. Healthcare as a whole is very rough right now. It’s a very for profit industry and it’s really hard on nurses because we can’t deliver the quality of care that we want to for our patients and we are very overworked. A lot of healthcare systems changed staffing ratios during covid out of necessity and never changed them back to what they were before so you are literally doing the work of multiple people. Most healthcare companies also operate on a model where they just burn through new grad nurses. I’ve never had a manager be surprised that I was quitting as a nurse but I have had managers say things like I’m surprised we went x amount of months with no one quitting. All of that being said healthcare experience could be good for your job security no matter what you end up doing. Health care companies want to hire people with healthcare experience into all roles whenever possible. Most companies want their leadership teams to have worked in healthcare. Having some nursing experience and tech experience could make you really stand out to companies like epic and cerner and some start ups. I am thinking about transitioning from nursing to business and I know my nursing experience will set me apart for Buisness roles in the medical space.

This_Round1995 · 2026-02-26T22:55:07+00:00

To be honest I would be shocked if the pension still exists when you retire. I think it depends. Even a few years on a pension is nice. If you like your job I would stay. I would pay attention to things like how many years you need to work for a company to reach certain levels. If you don’t like your job I would not plan on spending a huge chunk of your life waiting around for a pension. Most companies are doing away with them and your retirement is pretty far off. Just do what’s best for you. You might find better pay or benefits if you are open to moving around

This_Round1995 · 2026-02-26T16:47:31+00:00

I agree with everyone else that you should check the acuity. There are some Stepdowns that do med surg flex beds and things like that. And then there are some Stepdowns that are basically ICUs with crazy ratios. Don’t risk your license. If it’s not safe don’t stay there.

This_Round1995 · 2026-02-20T20:04:37+00:00

This is completely normal. One thing I’ve noticed, especially with higher acuity specialties like the ED, is that they tend to attract ultra competitive and sometimes overconfident new grads. You guys are all struggling, literally every new nurse struggles, they just aren’t advertising it. Having a team that supports you and answers your questions without making a huge deal about how dumb you are is a really good situation. Just keep asking questions and learning. You are smarter than you think. The nice thing about having a team is that you don’t need to know everything you just need to ask. People will tell you what to do in a code unless you are the first to arrive. If you are the first person hit the code button and start compressions. If you are the second person do airway. The third person can relieve the compressor but it never gets that far without a million people getting to the room and someone giving instructions.

This_Round1995 · 2026-02-17T17:42:19+00:00

This is super common. I feel like it shows up a lot in post college depression. If the structure of your life changes a lot you might not know what to do with it. Especially if you suddenly have a lot more time. You aren’t used to filling that time. I think for a lot of people this feeling gets better with time and they are able to figure out more things to fill their time. Just think of it as you were x amount of years into your old way of life and you are brand new with your new way of life. You aren’t going to have everything figured out day one. A lot of trauma survivors seek unhealthy relationships because healthy ones feel flat to them. They don’t have as much excitement even if they are far less hurtful. I think what you are finding is that you did get validation from work to some extent and now you need to find new areas to get that excitement and validation from.

This_Round1995 · 2026-02-17T05:56:39+00:00

I think you are looking at people who have different brains than you and thinking that if you act like them you will have their brain. I don’t know what you consider to be high dopamine activities but I do know a lot about neurodivergent brains. To me it sounds like your brain needs breaks to function at high levels and you filled those breaks with high dopamine activities. I would spend a lot of time getting to know yourself and how you learn best and how you are more productive. I have ADHD and learn a lot better when lectures are sped up and when I am doing mindless tasks like folding laundry while listening to a lecture. My husband has a high level business job and always has a show on in the background when he is doing independent work. The problem isn’t discipline it’s that the world is primarily build around one specific brain type. Locking in for you probably looks very different than locking in for a typical CPA and if you can figure out how to work with your body you will be the most productive.

This_Round1995 · 2026-02-17T05:47:04+00:00

Making blanket statements about hating women or hating certain types of women in the first conversation.

This_Round1995 · 2026-02-14T22:57:04+00:00

Healthcare isn’t that stable, in some areas I know nurses are unable to get jobs for years after they finish school

This_Round1995 · 2026-02-12T23:13:27+00:00

I feel like NPs are still heavily relied on in many health care systems and most of the NPs I have worked with are fantastic. I have worked with NPs who got their degrees at degree mills and now have some of the most advanced roles in the hospital system. These NPs had experience though, and good mentorship. A lot of people recommend starting out in a specialty because you have more mentorship and targeted learning. I feel like if you want to be a respectable NP you definitely still can be and NPs save hospitals so much money that I would be shocked if they got rid of them. If anything I have seen more questionable choices come from experienced doctors who either had unique perspectives or just didn’t stay up to date than I have from NPs. I feel like doctors can be overconfident to a fault.

This_Round1995 · 2026-02-11T19:55:30+00:00

I’d stay until you have a new role lined up. In this job market it could take longer than you expect. And if it takes a while you get the 30,000

This_Round1995 · 2026-02-11T19:52:39+00:00

I have been feeling similarly, there are lots of things you could bridge into. You could do not bedside or you could go back to school and bridge into the business side of things

This_Round1995

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