Better to Work Several Part-time Positions?

[lpnpgh123]

Just throwing something out there, and toying with the possibilities for me...

I have been mostly unhappy with my nursing career for the past few years. Come May of 2014, I will be a nurse (LPN) for 20 years! I have worked in many specialties... LTC/SNF, Dr.'s offices (within Dr's offices, I have worked Primary Care, Diabetes, briefly in Dermatology , and very briefly in OB/Gyn) , Drug and alcohol, home care, and per diem staffing. The last few years, I have seemed to go from one bad nursing job, to an even worse nursing job.Recently, I did what I had to do to get out of a Dr's office that I absolutely hated. I just did not feel like I was a good fit for this position for many reasons. I won't get into it, but it was awful.

I accepted a position with a staffing agency who is contracted with a school district. My role is to provide 1:1 care to medically fragile and/or ID diagnosis children. I have only done this a few days due to school being cancelled because of inclement weather. I started after the winter break). I have also maintained per-diem status with a home care agency, where I provide private duty care to a client in his home. While neither one of these positions are glamorous, I like the autonomy, and I like not having to deal with negative, disrespectful co-workers. There are not bad ergonomics and bad body mechanics. I'm not on my feet all day, and did I mention there are no disrespectful, confrontational, and unprofessional co-workers?

I am still finishing up with some interviews (most of which are from applications that I submitted, before I resigned my most recent position, although some are from when I got completely paranoid about not being able to pay my bills because school would be cancelled forever...) I recently interviewed as a supervisor for a pediatric practice, which I will be honest... I'm not sure that I want this position if it is offered to me. I'm self aware enough to recognize that my previous position traumatized me, and I'm not sure I will be an ideal fit for this position, either. But, I digress.

But to be honest, I feel like I need this low stress position of working 1:1 right now. I need it to recuperate, and regenerate, and self reflect on what it is I want from life, a job, and myself. I need to re-evaluate my strengths and weaknesses, and remember why I got involved in healthcare in the first place !

So this is my big idea... in addition to the per diem home care position , and the 1:1 school nursing position, I also got hired on as an independent sales rep for a medical company that specializes in pharmacogenetic testing and pharmacy compounding. I haven't formally been trained yet in this position, but figured I could do this part time. In addition, I was also toying with the idea of getting recertified as a CPR instructor (I was a CPR instructor early in my career, but I let it lapse, and never got it renewed).

So I am thinking 3-4 jobs to obtain job satisfaction.

1). School ( working on a school schedule, M-F, summers and holidays off, frequent in-service days off, and home by 3:30 in the afternoon)

2). Home care with my client 1-2 weekend days or days off from school . Maybe an occaisional evening, if they are open to it.

3). Part-time Medical Sales

4). Get re-certified as a CPR Instructor. I could do this part time for schools, churches, community events.

I am at an age where I don't want to deal with the drama and politics that are in the traditional healthcare enviornment . I do love to making a difference, and teaching, but the older I get, the less I want to deal with co-worker shenanigans.

This may seem like a lot, but I think that I can gain some valuable knowledge and experience, have positive interactions, and have enough diverse tasks to keep things interesting. But most importantly, I feel with some combination of these jobs, I may actually be able to make a difference ! (Gasp, imagine that!)

What are your thoughts?

[ceccia]

YES YES YES to working several part-time/flexible jobs! :) I don't have anywhere near the years of experience as you, but I came to the same conclusion- I simply do not want to be at the mercy of one single position and/or tyrant boss and depend on that for my livelihood. And I get burnt out to a crisp coming to the same place every single day and dealing with the same exact people every day full time.

imho it's a myth that one full time job offers stability and security. your job could disappear at any moment or your hours could be cut back for any number of reasons. if you're depending on that one job, you could be SOL. also in my experience, managers take advantage of full-time employees because they know they're dependent on them and it would be harder for them to make a change and go somewhere else. if you've got your hand in 2-3 other ventures, you tend to be treated with more respect because you and your boss both know you're not obligated. one FT job lets the employer have all the power, and I'd rather be in a relationship of equals.

[Alex Egan, LPN, EMT-B]

Yea that's what I do. I have two PDN companies I work with. A camp job in the summer. I also have my own business doing CPR. It works very well for me. I have my own health insurance so I don't have to worry about not getting hours at one job or another.