Advice on which job offer to take!

Nurses General Nursing

Updated:   Published

Hello! 

I am graduating in two weeks & currently have a job offer from a pediatric oncology unit & an adult observation/telemetry unit. The issue I am having is whether I should take the pedi onc job since that is the one I am most excited about & the other was more of a backup in case I did not get other job offers. The pediatric onc job would require me to move to a different city & I am worried I may not be able to afford bills since my parents have been helping me out during school. The adult observation job is in the town I am currently going to school at, so I would already have a place to live & also already have an idea of what my bills would look like. The observation job also starts sooner, has no contract & a higher sign on bonus attached to it, but the overall pay would be less than the pedi onc job. I also did most of my school clinicals in the telemetry & observation units at the hospital I got a job offer from & found it routine-like. 

I would like to get some of y'alls experiences working in either of those units as well as pros & cons to each unit if yall had any! I would really appreciate it!

Thank you in advance! 

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Adult observation will teach you a lot. Pediatric oncology will drain your soul.

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Been there,done that said:

Adult observation will teach you a lot. Pediatric oncology will drain your soul.

Oh wow, Why do you say it's soul draining? 

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Specializes in Critical Care, Capacity/Bed Management.

I would avoid any job that requires you to sign a contract, especially if it has a clause requiring financial penalties for leaving early. Usually indicates issues with staff retention. 

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Okami_CCRN said:

I would avoid any job that requires you to sign a contract, especially if it has a clause requiring financial penalties for leaving early. Usually indicates issues with staff retention. 

I actually talked to my recruiter about the contract & she mentioned to me that I will only need to sign a contract for the pediatric oncology job if I were to take the sign on bonus &/or relocation fee. So it might not even be a contract job either. 

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K. Davis said:

Oh wow, Why do you say it's soul draining? 

Imagine taking care of kids with cancer. That has  to be the worst job of all.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Capacity/Bed Management.

Both jobs are drastically different, you have to think about what patient population you want to be working with?

Pediatric Oncology will most likely be higher acuity, with intense family dynamics. Some of these children will not be getting better and will succumb to their disease process at various stages of childhood. 

Adult Observation will have a lower acuity as these patients will typically remain inpatient for 24-48 hours. You will have a higher patient turnover, lots of discharges followed by lots of admissions. You will see a lot of similar diagnoses (uncomplicated chest pain, abdominal pain, minor surgical complications, etc) 

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Specializes in Cardiac, Telemetry.

I've been a nurse for almost 6 years and when I was a new grad, I was offered a job on an adult oncology unit (apparently a substituting manager hired me) and an adult obs/tele unit. I accepted one but 2 months in, the actual hiring manager told me she was glad I was there but she would've recommended I started in adult jobs/tele for the broad experience. So I left and did that a few months later...so many regrets. I wish I had stayed in oncology. Obs/tele gets you no where fast as far as career progression. Burn out occurs much more rapidly. 

I read the other comments and there is death and horrible family dynamics in both scenarios. The amount of times I've had to stay late to chart family issues and commentary is ridiculous.

 Personally, seeing someone die, regardless of age, bothers me. Nursing will thicken your skin.

From a career progression standpoint, ped/onc may offer you a good foundation/networking later on for careers like Nicu, research nursing, infusion clinics, radiology, adult ICU (-> CRNA if you decide to go back to school). Other nurses without onc exp may also be able to obtain these pathways but your exp would trump theirs; however, in this economy, if its financially feasible for you to do adult obs/tele, def go for it. Just try not to stick around in it as long as I did. After 5 years of torture, I've finally been able to convince someone that I truly want out of it and am worthy LOL. Just recently got into case management.

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Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
K. Davis said:

I actually talked to my recruiter about the contract & she mentioned to me that I will only need to sign a contract for the pediatric oncology job if I were to take the sign on bonus &/or relocation fee. So it might not even be a contract job either. 

Your recruiter gets a bonus for getting you into the job

Take their advise with a large grain of sat

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.
K. Davis said:

The observation job also starts sooner, has no contract & a higher sign on bonus attached to it, but the overall pay would be less than the pedi onc job.

A sign-on bonus for a new graduate may signal high turnover and other issues.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I worked in an infant and toddler step down unit many years ago, and would never do it again. It was a soul sucking job for sure. Having to code infants, babies, watching some die from cancer, seeing a child be admitted with cigarette burns on their bodies along with welts from a belt, dealing with grieving parents, parents that are unrealistic about their child's care, entitled parents among so many other things. I lasted a year, and that time felt like a decade at least. 

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