Nurses with Aspergers, how do you cope?

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Also, talk to your doctor? If you are having trouble working and it is disrupting your health, you may qualify for some assistance.

Thank you both for the responses.

What field are you going into? For now I've completely given up on the social thing. I don't even attempt to appear "normal" while at work. I stim, don't try to engage in conversations, don't even bother with eye contact. It doesn't matter how hard I try at this stuff anyway. I still fail. I might as well be my autistic self. Quite a few co workers have asked if I'm okay and I don't care. All of this social stuff is too much work for nothing .

My psychologist is trying to prevent me from going on disability. He wants me to be as independent and work as much as I can. I'm trying. In the US I hear it's very hard to get on disability. It can take years.

I'm probably going for Biology, but I don't know. I'm really second guessing myself. The positions/jobs available at the end of the bachelor's is totally not what I have ever had a lasting interest in. My general interests have lied more in English/literature, Psychology, or studies that would revolutionize treatments in neonatal assessment or in psychiatric diagnostics and/or treatments. Even an advocacy role working with others would work better.

But that's hard to look up.

As far as disability goes, my DVR office (division of vocational rehabilitation) thinks I should apply. Between my social issues (that cause my firings), how dysfunctional I am in many situations (can't handle yelling, conflict, or working full time without becoming incredibly fatigued), and the co-morbidities of PTSD, ADHD (which I doubt), and the social anxiety, and the medical s**t of PCOS and Hashimoto's (which I don't think the DVR counselor understands), they think it covers enough of a disability to grant me some income.

BUT I went in there because I can't get a nursing job, or keep one once I have one. Any job, really. And the ones I DO get for any point in time exhaust me enough that I cannot function outside of the job. But I don't present with most Autistic signs. I don't visibly stim, I engage in conversation (too much, I info dump), and make eye contact (regardless of the strain).

I'm in the US too

I see you are in Jersey. Lol. I don't know why I thought you were in the UK.

I can't work full time either without lots of physical and mental issues. I'm now down to 2x a week. When was the last time you worked a nursing job? What happened? I am interested in medical billing and coding. What do you think of medical billing and coding?

What do you plan on doing with the biology degree? I minored in biology and majored in nursing.

Everything I'm interested in requires a PhD. Neuroscience, Obstetrics (but not--more the research side of it), Psychology, etc. It all requires a PhD and not a bachelor's. I'm very stuck, personally.

Medical billing and coding is a vo-tech degree here. Or it was. Makes me snore. Basic data entry? I have the capacity to do more. I want to do more. I dread being bored or disinterested in a job. I can't function in a mind numbing environment. Being an LPN was both mind numbing and overstimulating.

Note: I think Medical Billing and Coding is fantastic for the right person. I just know that, for me, that is not it.

Not sure if this thread is still active or not, but I just now made a post about having a similar problem coping as a nurse over here: http://wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=338758

If you're still around OP, I'd love to talk to you! I think we have a lot in common! Hope you're still out there! Seeing your thread gave me the courage to finally make an account on this site to see if I could talk to someone in similar situation!

I have been thinking about going to nursing school (I annihilated the TEAS entrance exam, math and reading FTW!). I do think (as someone above mentioned) that I might not be best in an environment changing minute-by-minute, so I have been thinking that a nursing home path would be much more ideal for me than one in an ER. I'm great with the "keep calm and carry on" pace of what I understand is typical of a nursing home but tend to get overwhelmed if I am constantly pulled around and told, "get that scalpel, No, wait, get two, no, the left-handed kind, no wait, nevermind, go get the large size IV's, don't you remember where they are, and hurry up!"

Anyone have any thoughts along those lines?

A nursing home can be chaotic because you have to pass all your medications and take vitals at a certain time and be done by a certain time (some patients need their blood sugars checked first thing in the morning or before eating to see if they will need their insulin or not, people taking antibiotics must have those at the same time everyday, and some people need to get their meds before they go to their appointments like physical therapy), and you'll always get interrupted when you're doing it (especially during day shifts) by other staff, patients wanting something, a Dr calling you back, etc. Then you have to do all your treatments if the facility doesn't have a treatment nurse, call Drs/the pharmacy for refills/the lab to get results back to give to the Dr, and then do your charting. You will also be in charge of supervising the aides, and God forbid a patient falls during your shift because you will have to literally drop everything to stay with them and decide if they need to go to the hospital or not and write an incident report.

If you're lucky, you'll finish all your documentation by the end of your shift.
I've only worked in a nursing home as an aide (before I was a nurse) and I couldn't keep up with the fast pace and couldn't deal with the constant stimulation and noise. Then I went into home care which was one on one and easier for me. Granted as an aide, the care was basic and was usually companionship, supervision, ADL's, and errands. Non-medical stuff.

After becoming a nurse I decided to stay in the home health care environment because I personally can't handle working on the floor with my anxiety issues and ADD (along with the damn AS), but the job is very different as it is focused on actual medical care (still doing ADL's, giving medication, doing treatments, making assessments, and documentation). I do 8 hour shifts at night with one patient. It can still be quite stressful and sometimes it's boring and the pay isn't great, but I'd rather be responsible for one patient vs 30 and having to work in a facility.

Honestly sometimes I wish I could get out of doing bedside nursing completely, but I'm only an LPN with a technical degree so my job options are pretty limited. I'd have to go back to school and and at least get an AS degree for an RN, which would 1) take me a while because I have to finish all my math and science classes and I'm at the bottom level for math and I need to get up to at least intermediate algebra to even get into the science classes I need and 2) nursing school was a horrible experience for me (the clinical part anyway) and I really don't know if I'd want to put myself through that again.

I wish you luck though! Everyone is different, and you probably would be able to handle working in a nursing home from the sound of your post.

Hi, Stardust Parade. Sorry for the late reply because I hardly log on. I haven't worked since December of last year because I had a baby. Money is starting to get tight so I plan on doing home health. My last job was at a nursing home/assisted living facility.

Hospital nursing sucks too due to less flexible hours. At this point I can only work no more than once or twice a week and 8 hour shifts only. I hate the job that much. The hospitals in my area want you to work at least 3 or 4 days a week including 12 hours and being mandated to stay over.

You described the nursing home environment very well. All of the patients, meds, charting, trying to call doctors, etc. sucks. I had malpractice insurance while I worked in the nursing home last year. I want to get out of nursing. I want a simple desk job. I have been applying for non nursing related and nursing jobs but only keep getting calls back for various nursing positions, particularly travel nursing and home health.

It seems that unless you know the right people it's hard to escape bedside nursing. I want one of those telephonic nursing jobs. Or health informatics.

Sometimes my anxiety is so bad and I feel like such a loser when I think about going back to work.

How is everything?

hi Dreamsea, I wondered if you would consider working in an operating department? I find that the endless checklists and rigid procedures that annoy the hell out of everyone else actually make my working day easier. In anaesthetics and recovery, the nursing is 1:1 so relatively low stress and although it still involves social skills to interact with each patient, there is a lot of repetition between conversations, so less having to think about appropriate responses.

I applied for a job in the recovery room and didn't even get an interview. I rarely see postings for these jobs. The good "low stress" nursing jobs are hard to get.

I'm now hired at a home health agency. I'm totally dreading this but money is running out. I've applied for a few desk jobs but am not getting them due to being over qualified. I feel like I'm being forced to do bedside care. I wish I could go in disability.

What about being a veterinary technician instead?

This is exactly what I am going through right now! I have been a nurse for 18 years now and I have lost 2 jobs in the past year and a half because I don't fit in. With both jobs I ended up feeling like I was being watched under a microscope, I was even called into the office a few times when nurses tried to pin things on me. The last time it happened I just gave up and let them fire me. Now I have to sell my home to make ends meet and have to find a new job. I've worked in the NICU for the past 12 years which can be both very high stress as well as nurses who think they are princesses who eventually turn on me when they decide I don't "fit" with them. Now I'm unsure if I should stay with my specialty or not. On top of that I am struggling to get my son services through his school. They dropped all of his services last May and even failing all year they refuse to test him for autism. I am so beyond overwhelmed and frustrated with my life in general right now. ANY advice is welcome on both the job front as well as my son!! !

NICU can be catty b***h clique heaven. They have like 3 queen bees and then wonder why no one wants to work in that hell hole.

How about OR or ER, where there are more men, and a less possibility of mean girl cliques? You have critical care skills. Are you at a children's hospital already?

I think nursing and teaching are the two worse jobs for the average Aspie. sh***y coworkers will break you faster than than actual jobs.

Hello, I really have problems in acute medical admissions. It's the constant noise, the crowds of people waiting for beds, the lack of space, the three urgent jobs I have on all at once, and the knowlage that if I fail to get it done someone will suffer, maybe die. Its so hard. Anxiety builds before the shift starts, you see the ambulances outside ED. I can't face the canteen and spend my lunch break in the car park.