When is too soon to quit?

[fifiroo]

Two major hospitals in the area. I was on Rehab at Hospital 1 for 7 months, when I got offered an amazing (or so I thought at the time) position in the NICU at the Hospital 2, a Magnet hospital, so I left.

I have been in NICU for 3 months now and am not loving it for several reasons - it's a level 3 but I am not seeing any acuity. It appears they keep their new hires with feeder-growers a long time before they give them anything more complicated. I have asked charge nurses to give me more acuity, but I keep getting put with easy assignments that are mind-numbing! That's why I left Hospital 1 in the first place, as it was my chance to see more acute patients! Feeding babies is fun, but it's not what I want for a career right now.

Mostly, I am really missing Hospital 1 (better pay, better scheduling, better staffing, electronic orders, electronic clock in-which, btw, who does paper time cards anymore? Hospital 2!)

How long would you stick it out? I want to move back to Hospital 1 and stay there for a long time now that I know how the alternative is, and they are hiring like crazy! If you were a hiring manager at Hospital 1, would you think I was crazy for reapplying within the same year that I left?

Thoughts?

[sunmaidliz]

It's interesting what other people like and dislike on the job. I would LOVE to work in a NICU with the feeder-growers, mostly because my son was in the NICU as a feeder-grower because he and I both had infections at his birth. It's such a happy, beautiful part of nursing, to be with babies that are healthy and will go home. To be able to connect with the families of these babies. My NICU nurse actually helped me and toots with his first latch, a full week after he was born. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have been able to breastfeed. I breastfed my son for 13 months. Thanks to that NICU nurse in the feeder-growers.

And yet you call it mind numbing....

I don't know why I find that a bit offensive. I mean, you can't help it if you want to do the super complicated nursing because you find it more interesting. We all have our niches. But since you asked for opinions on a public internet forum, I'll give it to you.

First of all, nursing is more than just being a bad-ass and doing complicated stuff. Second of all, nursing is about paying your dues. Magnet hospitals are magnets because of their nurses and nursing care. It seems to me that putting you with the "easy" assignments is part of how they train their nurses to be magnet nurses. I would think you would use your 'easy' assignments to learn the aspects of nursing that doesn't include operating an Ech-mo machine. Actually caring for your patient's and families heart. You learn from the ground up. Then you can take care of those Micro-preemies with little to no chance at life and actually know how to deal with the families who are dealing with a dying baby. And deal with them in a way that makes them feel positive about their experience. That's what makes a hospital magnet.

Because there is nothing worse for a patient than a nurse who makes you feel icky.

But I understand, you don't care about that part of your career right now. You want to be Super Badass Nurse RIGHT NOW and forget all that easy-peasy stuff.

And on top of that, you are willing to bounce if you just. don't. like. it. Forget about the money they put in training and orienting you. Hiring managers LOVE nurses who will jump if they don't get their way. Great way to be part of the team. (BTW, as someone who went in to nursing because of a 3 week ICU stay for a brain tumor - on top of having a sick baby after giving birth just a few weeks after graduating nursing school - we patients can sniff out the nurses who are being nice to our faces and then gripe behind our backs. Don't think you are fooling anyone. A positive attitude is genuine and a fake one is easily detected)

Suck it up and stick to one job and figure out away to learn with what they give you. Your career is going to span the next 4 decades. Learn to pay your dues. Learn with what you are given. Learn to trust the people who have been there before you and are giving you "easy" assignments in the first place.

Or job hop until you find what you think is happiness. The choice is yours.

[Hygiene Queen]

I don't know...

It's only been 3 months.

It seems to me that the only way to advance to "more complicated" stuff would be to stick it out.

If you leave now, that advancement will never happen.

[or.nurse]

as an instructor, this was a well written opinion. job well done.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

There are 2 major hospitals in the area. Job hopping between them is not a good idea.

If you do go back to rehab, make sure you plan on staying for 3 or more years.

Nothing wrong with learning a NICU position gradually. You could challenge yourself and study he more complicated cases.

Do you really care about paper time cards??

[Wrench Party]

Re-frame your boredom into an opportunity. If you have any 'down time' in the NICU (I honestly have no idea), use it to

study up on more complicated cases, study for your upcoming certs, and ask your more experienced co-workers for advice.

It might be the reason you're bored is because you think you've mastered the basics, and you haven't.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Not only would I think you are crazy, I would throw your application right out.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

All you can do is ask. They may or may not be willing.