Anyone changing positions?

Nurses New Nurse

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Specializes in cardiology, hospice, core measures audit.

Hi,

Well, my first year is over and I am changing positions from telemetry to hospice. Anyone else leaving your floor?

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Specializes in ICU, PACU, Cath Lab.

My first year has just come to an end...and I am changing hospitals..I am sticking with the ICU..but moving across country, hopefully to facilitate my future goals!!

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

You betcha. I was an LPN for 14 yrs, went back to get my RN, to prove to myself I coud do it and felt I needed to get some M/S expeience. It's been 6 months and I dread it. Gave my 2 week notice this past week and am going back to LTC where I feel more comfortable. The hospital is fairly new, 5 years old, understaffed, and what they expect out of their nurses is crazy. This last month I have been berated by a Nurse Practitioner twice and have been in tears on the job 3 times. :cry: My time off I spend sleeping, or thinking about what I should have done or should know and I have never, never, ever felt so incompetant in all my life. Now I dread these last shifts I have to work. 4, 12 hour shifts left and I hope I don't miss something that could lead to someones demise. I'm even thinking of giving up my RN license. I wanted to get a couple of years experience in the MS area, but not here. I don't know if other hospitals are the same? I just felt there was a big lack of support and somewhat disorganized. Also the moodiness of the staff. In the AM I'd say Good mornng Ladies to the Unit Clerks and they'd look at me like I was freakin nuts. Anyways Good Luck to you, there is a job out there with your name on it.

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No, I've got a whole year to go practically. But I do notice that those with their year are leaving, one by one -- for a lot of the reasons we all discuss here daily -- bad managers, no support, terrible co-workers, disorganization -- you name it.

I will be limping to the finish line once my 1st year is up -- no doubt. And then I'll be looking for a change as well.

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I thought I was going to leave mine but to tell you the truth after all the horror stories I have heard I am staying. My unit is awsome, everyone supports me and I love it! Hope you find a good place tho!

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I am...I will have had 8 months on a med-oncology floor by the time I start my new job (in home infusion nursing). I have always wanted to be involved in some aspect of IV nursing, and now I will get to have more regular hours...I have been working evenings, and the patient load and and everything else is simply STAGGERING, unsafe and overwhelming. If I stay at this job I will soon have nothing to offer my patients. I am an extremely hard worker and proud of that, but now nursing is pretty much my every waking and sleeping moment, with nothing to refresh or replenish me. As much as I love bedside care, I cannot continue this way or I will leave nursing altogther. NO WAY!!! There are too many possibilities and nursing is simply too important to stay in a job that's unsafe or misery-inducing.

So try to find a niche...be patient and keep your eyes, mind and heart open. I never would have thought this opportunity was coming my way six months ago. Stay encouraged...you will be surprised. And all of your experience is valuable, no matter how much or little you have. :redbeathe

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Specializes in Med-Surg, ER, Mental Health.

Well...I am only 2 months into my first RN job and I am thinking of switching.

What do other new grads think about this: I went to my job on a med/surg floor, because I wanted that type of experience. Before I even arrived, the manager knew that the acuity level of the floor was changing to a "hospitalist/community health" floor -- basically, patients will no longer be med/surg, they will be people who are frail and we are trying to get them back home or to a nursing home.

The past few weeks, most of my patients have been people with diagnoses like "functional decline" and "caregiver burnout" (i.e. the patient has dementia and cannot live at home any more". This is not the type of experience I wanted from my first job, and this isn't what this floor was supposed to be. But the staff on my floor are very good to work with -- supportive, friendly, knowledgeable. I don't know what to do!

Advice?

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I am only three weeks into my first job as an RN. I worked in ICU as a PCA for over a year and I thought that is where I wanted to work as an RN because I loved the people I work with. I am afraid I have made a horrible mistake. I feel totally incompetent to care for critically ill patients. IN nursing school I absolutely loved being in the NICU and Pediatrics, but was afraid to work there because I was afraid I would become too attached to my patients. Now I wonder if the dread for going to work is because I am a new nurse trying to learn the profession or because I chose the wrong area. I'm afraid three weeks is not enough time to know, yet I feel I do not have and am not getting the proper training to be able to take care of critically ill patients. In three weeks I can honestly say I have only had one good day. I have yet to be assigned the same preceptor or the same patients two days in a row. I wonder should I try to look somewhere else, or am I being too hasty in wanting to change positions? Please send some advice.:banghead:

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hi, bbrown06,

maybe it might be a good idea to see if there are any in-house transfer positions in med-surg available. i am going full-time into a completely different venue, but i will be looking to work per diem back at the bedside as soon as i am settled into the new job. i probably could echo some of your frustration with preceptors/orientation; it is just so shabby in so many places---almost as if you're set up to fail and/or hate the job. try to separate out in your mind all the different pieces---e.g., bad precepting; personal fear; too much stress dealing with that patient population, etc.----then look at what your gut is persistently churning about. decide based on that. it is not wrong to find out that you want to do nursing differently so soon after getting the first job. we are continually told (rather smugly, i might add) how "the reality" of working as a nurse doesn't correspond to anything we learned in school (that's another thread---inadequate prep in school, but enough stress there to choke a few horses); so now that we've seen "the reality" for which we were (purposely?) not prepared while in training, why not change while we can? if you simply cannot stand it, then make the move as soon as you can. don't linger, but be proactive and find your niche. i feel "the willies" when i think of leaving the bedside after only 8 months, but i will die if i don't find a different way to be in this precious profession that i love and want to stay in. if you decide to change to something else, chalk up your 3 weeks to that much more experience and move ahead. we can't keep bleeding nurses out of the profession by enabling the dysfunction and lack of support. leave so you can stay, if your gut tells you it's the right thing to do. hope this helps. :redpinkhe

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

I think that before you conclude that you've made a huge mistake, you set about getting a real picture of the work and your abilities. You haven't had that. Request a meeting with the nurse educator and the manager. Tell them that you're feeling overwhelmed because you haven't been given the chance to find a rhythm to the work and a sense of accomplishment because you've been shifted around so much. Ask for a consistent preceptor and a consistent patient assignment so that you can actually have some successes. When you're with the same person for several days in a row and you develop a flow to your work the times when things go sideways are a little easier to cope with. I've been working in an ICU for 11 years and on my first day with a new assignment I'm often a bit disorganized at first, a bit overwhelmed sometimes. For the last 3 years because of my rotation, I seldom have the same patient two shifts in a row, so I have had to adjust to that mild discomfort. Learning the ropes in an ICU isn't easy for anyone, never mind a brand new nurse, so cut yourself some slack. But be proactive. Ask for what you need to make an informed decision. Then if it still isn't working out for you, you'll have at least given it a real try.

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Specializes in Oncology, Med-Surg, Nursery.

I am still a newbie myself - but I thought I would reply anyway. I like the area I am in, but I think I'd rather try my hand with the younger crowd. One of the nurses I currently work with also does PRN work at a Children's Hospital and she has told me to work a year, see how I feel then, and do it if I really want to. As of now, I think I'll probably end up trying to make the switch. It can't hurt to try and I really want to get settled in a place where I can say "Yeah, I'd like to be here in 20+ years." But I guess we'll see - the thing about this job is...your feelings constantly change. I guess we're just lucky that we have the option to. :)

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