There is and there is not. Here is a test question. You have a pt who's blood presure is 112/58. Heart rate is 54. You have orders to give digitalis, several blood presure pills and lasix 40 IV. Lung sounds are decreased with coarse sonds right mid lobe. The pt is 96 years old, with a history of CHF, COPD,HTN, swallowing issues and is currently hospitalized with a UTI, dehydration and gangreenous right foot. You have had her as a pt for 2 days. She is alert and oridented, pleasent. These vital signs are tipical of her time here with you. What do you give her and what do you hold in these morning medications based on what I have told you? What teaching do you have for her? Would you call a Dr. with this set of vitals? If this is the type of stimulation you are looking for, then yes. There are problems to be solved. Some times it is a good deal more indepth, sometimes not. It is more a peopleware thing than a hardware. I recommend trying to be a nurses aid for a while. See if you like the transition from machines to people first. Good luck.

Yes, your brain is constantly stimulated. Sometimes too much. I am working in critical care for over 15 years, currently in a Cardio-vascular ICU. These types of pt's are post Open Heart Surgery Pt.'s There is a lot of hemodynamic monitoring to optimize their BP; minimize their bleeding; adjusting the different types of iv drips to decrease the workload of the heart by using a Swan Ganz catheter which sits in the pt. hearty and you monitor their cardiac output which tells you how well the pt's heart is pumping,etc.... I've also done Emergency Department; which is very fast paced and stimulating. You get quite of a variety of patients. You need to know what every med you give can do or if it can cause detrimental effects. Besides dealing with these task oriented jobs, you need to incorporate family dynamics in to your care. The psychosocial aspects come into play with every patient you deal with as well as their family and some can be very disfunctional and challenging to deal with. Probably the hardest part of the job for me is dealing with difficult personalities whether it be co workers or pt. or families. There are many different types of nursing investigate. I
have also done a pharmaceutical job which was very boring. I do like feeling fulfilled by doing my job.