Am I limiting myself?

Published

Sorry this is long...So I took the NClex-PN in the beginning of this year and passed. I ended up being offered a job in the place I worked as an Aide. The facility is one of the highest paid in the area. I make around $10-15 more an hour than other places in my area. I am scheduled as weekend option but I am able to pick up as many shifts as I like when people are on vacation or sick. The nurse to patient ratio is 1:25

I worry that I may not be getting the experience that I should be. We almost always have a treatment nurse that does all the treatments for the day and even when we don't they are usually done on first shift and I work 2nd. I do take care of skin tears and anything else that happens on my shift.

We also always have a supervisor whose job it is to call the doctor, take off new orders for admissions, etc. I only have one or two diabetics depending which hall I am on, one foley, and I am not currently IV certified so when we do have someone on an IV I am unable to touch it.

I rarely have to do admissions or discharges. We also have the nice med times (am, midday, pm,HS) so I don't really have to be concerned with the hour before and hour after.

I am not trying to complain at all because I know I am very lucky to have this job esp. Because it is so well paid. My concern is that this is more of a dream job where nurses end up once they busted their rumps and are looking to be paid for their experience and have a little less stress.

There are other facilities is my area where I would gain a lot more experience (mostly due to unsafe staffing) and I feel I may be selling myself short. I want to gain as much experience as I can and I want to feel like I can handle working anywhere. Right now I feel if I were to go to another facility that I might not be able to handle the demands of the job as well. I feel like I can't go backwards though. This is the place I'd like to work in the end, I'd just prefer to be able to gain more experience than I am able to at this facility.

What would you all do? I really want to be the best nurse I can be, even if that means getting paid less and stressing more. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Dang, good staffing, high pay and reasonable ratios - I'd sit tight. Hang in for a year and then transfer to 1st shift if you want.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Dang good staffing, high pay and reasonable ratios - I'd sit tight. Hang in for a year and then transfer to 1st shift if you want.[/quote']

Thank you for replying! I do plan on staying on for awhile. I just don't wanna miss out on valuable experience. Maybe I'll just start taking classes for my RN in the fall so I can gain the knowledge and experience I am searching for.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!! Seriously....what would you do if you wanted to gain this experience somewhere else where it is unsafe and something happens to your license? You are extremely lucky to have this job :) Lot's of people would die for this experience!! Good luck :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!! Seriously....what would you do if you wanted to gain this experience somewhere else where it is unsafe and something happens to your license? You are extremely lucky to have this job :) Lot's of people would die for this experience!! Good luck :)

Thank you LindseyRN86. I really hope I am not coming across as ungrateful. I really do appreciate how lucky I am that they hired me esp. Because they usually don't hire new grads. Maybe I can find a part-time job during the week where I can gain more experience but keep this job

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in IMC.

Stay right where you are!

Be thankful you have a Tx Nurse

You will get experience and kearn more than you realize. I would live a LTC job like that!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Thoracics, Medicine.

Stay exactly where you are!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

What is this place? It sounds amazing. What will your actual tasks include then?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Could you stay where you are but work at one of the other places PRN?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Could you stay where you are but work at one of the other places PRN?

This is what I have been considering. Then I can gain more experience while staying where I am. Thanks for your input!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Chemical Dependency.

Stay where you at sounds like your learning enough and the ratio and pay is great

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Well I have decided to just be happy where I am because I just found out I'm pregnant and can't risk starting somewhere new!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion