Best way to go from non bedside nursing to bedside nursing

Nurses Career Support

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I believe hospitals have completly written me off.

I've been a nurse for 9 years,and never stepped foot on a hospital floor.

All 9 years were done doing private duty(with agencies),with some experience with ltc and sub school nursing.

I'm an Adn Rn.

What's the best way to make myself more attractive to hospitals?

At this point,I'm assuming if I get the Bsn I would still look unemployable to hospitals

Ltc facilities won't even hire me anymore,as the bulk of my experience is private duty peds.

One manager mentioned something about time management,and the fact the last time I've worked in a nursing home was 2009.

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You've made it to the promised land, why would you want to leave? I can't wait to get out of hospital nursing. What state are you in? I would suggest applying for intern and new grad positions at local hospitals. You will look more attractive than someone with no experience and they usually pay less but offer more training. And be willing to work the night shift, that will get you in the door.

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Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

You need to find a nursing refresher course. Many colleges have nice refresher programs and they have clinical components as well.

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Specializes in Rehab, critical care.

lol, yes, as a previous poster mentioned, your question is not the typical one. Usually, it's..."How do I get out of bedside nursing?" Though I do understand where you're coming from, just one of those things. You're curious to try it since you never have; I would probably be the same way (I'm working in a hospital now). And, I enjoy my work, and a nurse's experience in hospital nursing is dependent on numerous things: 1). quality of hospital/nurse/patient ratios 2). quality of management on unit 3). quality of nurses on unit, are they dependable, team players, non-toxic/gossipy types. 4). emotional intelligence of the nurse (can they handle the stress, is the unit they are on the best fit for them? etc). 5). Some people forget that nursing is hard work, just is.

So, if you find a unit that suits you, and the management/people on the unit are good to work with, you can have an enjoyable time. Most nurses just get tired of shift work/weekends over time. I'm mainly just ready to be off night shift so I can sleep well again, but I have no other complaints. Just waiting my turn for days on my unit, should be in the near future.

What I would suggest to you: take a nursing refresher course as the PP mentioned. Also, make sure your BLS is up to date, and also get your ACLS if you don't have it already. (or PALS if you're interested in peds). Yes, it's not cheap, but it will make you more marketable. Also, do some CEU's in an area that you're interested in...if interested in oncology, then take a CEU course in oncology, and add it to the old resume. Also, make sure your resume is flawless, concise. Best of luck! :)

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

^^^^^ Agree with this ^^^^^

Also, I can see why time management would be a concern since the workload in acute care has increased dramatically over the last few years. Most larger urban hospitals are focusing on achieving an 80% BSN mix of their RN staff to meet IOM/Magnet characteristics, so this may also be causing some problems for you as an ADN. Have you thought about applying at LTACHs? They are a good transition into the acute care environment.

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I would encourage you to start on your BSN/BS, many hospitals wants bachelors nurses and even if they see you have started the program they will give you some consideration.

On your resume can you highlight some daily tasks that you did in ltc, home care, school nursing? For instance did you give medications? do some for of physical assessments, what is the most amount of patients you have had under your care, did you have cna's and/or lpn's under your supervision?,did you do any tube feeding or IV medications? when I moved from ltc to acute care I made my resume as detailed as possible.

Take bls, acls, pals, maybe even do your med-surg certification

Everything helps, good look! I've been there before *hugs*

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