HELP!!! <LONG>

Nurses General Nursing

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I've posted different topics in the travel nursing forum, and get little to no answers, so I thought I would put this here, hoping to get more traffic.

I'm trying to decide if I want to take a travel assignment or not. I've been on a peds hem/onc floor for over a year and a half and I'm so burned out it's crazy! I hate coming in to my job, I'm sick most of the time. It's partly because of the patients I deal with, but mostly all the other CRAP I have to deal with (coworkers, management, etc).

I know very well there is crap everywhere you go, but I have to think that somewhere, people actually like their job. All I do is tolerate mine, and I'm not doing a very good job of that. I NEED a change, I NEED to get out of here. I'm completely miserable.

What's the problem you say? Well, some of my coworkers are giving me a VERY hard time about leaving. I've been told that I'm so young (22 yo) that I don't know how to stick with a job through the good and the bad. They say that at the first sign of trouble I pick up and go. How do they know? This is my first nursing job. A more trusted nurse told me it's completely normal to want to change after about a year or so out of school. Many of my other coworkers feel like I'm taking the easy way out. They want me to go somewhere else and be even more miserable so I'll come back here. Granted, I do work in a very nice hospital, but I'm too young to be unhappy, life is too short.

Can anyone give me advice on this?

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Go...go now...yes...leave now and buy clothes when you get to whatever sunny place you end up in.

You are 22...nursing is not a prison sentence where you have to do your time and then you get paroled.

About travel nursing...READ THE CONTRACT.....if anything happens...anyhting...you may end up OWEING the travel company...READ the contract...

Choose short assignments to start ..4 weeks with possibility of extending...if you hate the job escape is close at hand.

Get out of this job before you get too sad to nurse at all...

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Specializes in Emergency.

take a travel/agency assignment close to where you live for a short time.

see if you like it. If you like it then set your horizens higher and really travel!!!! Nursing is such a broad area.........

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Wait, what am I missing here?

22 and able to travel? Why haven't you packed your bags?

Go! Explore! You are young and and free and don't have to worry about bringing children along or keeping a spouse happy. you could work in interesting places or near family you don't see regularly and you will make a ton of friends.

Life is short. Your twenties are even shorter. good advice to go with short local trips at first to see if you like how the agency treats you. Then you don't have to worry about the politics of any particular hospital grinding on you.

Girl, I'd be out of there so quick, nice hospital and all, because in the end we're the ones being taken advantage of. Turn the tables on them. Put your needs first and to hell with the rest of your coworkers.

They are probably just like me, married with responsibilities and just don't want to spend that much time away from their husbands. You know, like jealousy, except that I wouldn't trade my DH for anything. I know of people who have managed the being apart thing well, but I couldn't do it. :chuckle

Pack your bags. Get a beach assignment (preferably for 4 weeks!) and just have some fun.

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Thanks for the encouraging words so far...

If anyone else would like to respond, please do...

Even if what you want to say has already been said!

I REALLY appreciate everyone's kind words.

And by the way, I can't find any assignment shorter than 13 weeks. :o

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Specializes in Rehab, Step-down,Tele,Hospice.

I have heard of "hops" as short as 3 weeks. I suggest subscribing to a travel magazine, they have tons of info in there. Who cares what your co-workers think? they are obviously jealous. Im actually still in nursing school but when my year on Med Surg is up, Im outta here. GO GIRL!! FLY LIKE THE WIND!!!!!

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Hi,

Just thought I would give my opinion. I was in much the same boat you are, hating my job, etc. The stress level was tremendous. My health was being effected by it and I was thinking of quitting nursing. Of course, I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do so I opted to try traveling. My clinical mgr., was nice enough to make me per diem so I could try it. Well....I did my first assignment and went back long enough to quit my job, move out of my apartment and move my things into storage!

My health has improved greatly and I love nursing again. It is so nice to be able to go to work and do patient care to my standards and leave at the end of the day with no excess baggage. You don't get involved with the politics, administration and all the little nit-picking going on.....and you don't have to go back on your days off for "mandatory" meetings.

There are 4 and 8 week assignments out there, just have to look a little harder. You might have to talk with more than one agency. Check out Delphiforums and go under travel nurses & therapists (I think thats what it is called). Also be willing to be flexible in where you want to go. I have taken assignments where I would never have thought of or had a desire, but they have been great. And most of all, if you travel get out and explore! Meet new people! It is wondeful.

Good luck and if you have any questions feel free to PM me or e-mail me.

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Specializes in Medical.

I haven't worked as a travel nurse - in fact, I'm still working at the same hospital, on a variation of the first ward I worked on as an RN (we've changed unit configurations over the years). I've been there for twelve years.

Don't get me wrong, I mostly love my job, but the time goes so fast you don't notice, and the longer you're in one place the harder it is to unroot yourself and move on.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm with the crowd - get out, enjoy yourself, see what else is available. Good luck!

PS and you can access allnurses from anywhere!

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What do you have to lose by not leaving? If you don't try it you will never know.

You have a choice of the entire country, so just enjoy and don't forget to send your old unit a postcard.............!!

:balloons:

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Another option is agency nursing in area you live...it has the same benefits. ....you can work a shift or take a contract after you see that you like a place.

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As others have said, I highly recommend travel nursing. One of my best friends did that as a speech pathologist. She went all over the country for many years before setting roots down on the east coast. When she finally settled down, she had written a letter to everyone saying that she highly recommends working travel jobs if you can, especially when starting out. You're young! Go for it!

As someone else said, read contracts carefully. I've heard of some horror stories in travel, but start out on 4 week assignments.

Good luck and have fun! I sure wish I was in my 20's and able to do something like that! :)

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Go girl! Go like the wind before your tied down with kids and marriage. Not that its bad to be married with kids, I am. But some days, I still feel the wind blowing, calling me.. lol!

Your free! Live like it! YOu will always have a job! That's the benefits of nursing. Who cares what those old biddies at your current job are telling you that you should stay. They are just as miserable as you are, they just don't tell you that! Sounds like they are jealous of you and they want you to stay and be as miserable as they are. DONT! Your young! Your twenties don't last very long. I know, I'm coming up on 30 really fast!

Good luck!

Rhiannon

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