Are any of you loyal?

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I am a 26 year old nursing student about to graduate with my AD in May. A nurse recruiter from a large hospital I'm interested in (Peds) just talked to my clinical group. The point that she kept stressing over and over and over was that things were not looking the best for new grads right now and we would have a much better shot at getting hired if we got experience somewhere else (even other than peds) then applied. I'm sorry but I see a serious problem with this. I am a very loyal person and I do not get frustrated with easily. I do no not plan on job hopping. I do not plan on staying with the job same forever, but I would love to see myself grow and build a relationship with the staff in one place over many years. Yes I want to work to kids but more importantly, I just want to work with people. Does anyone else feel the same way?

i don't think that it has anything to do with loyalty, rather that experience is the expectation for employment. this is the reality of the job market.

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To an employer, you're more like a hooker than a wife. They're paying you for your services, not bonding with you eternally. Feel free to move on when it's all over, because I guarantee you they will do the same.;)

:eek:

:lol2:

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I'm loyal to my unit and direct management. I'm blessed that my direct manager is awesome and if she leaves before I do, I would strongly consider following her. But the humungous corporation I work for? No.

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Specializes in LTC, MDS.
I can understand the position of the hiring hospital. And with pediatrics, I have personal experience that helps me understand it a bit. (as do many others). Pediatrics is not about all kids coming in and getting better after their tonsillectomies. The floor I worked on was about 80% frequent fliers from growing NICU kids (some were teenagers- but had permanent disabilities d/t prematurity), DD kids, kids needing livers that glowed in the dark an unearthly color of green, babies/kids being taken away from their homes d/t abuse, MVAs with bad outcomes, s/p multi-organ transplant kids, kids with ALL manner of genetic issues, an unexpected number of ambiguous genitalia with more organ deformities, etc. We didn't do pediatric oncology on that floor, but just about everything else.

Not everyone can handle what REALLY is involved with pediatrics...nothing wrong with that- but the hospital needs to do what it can to make sure someone at least can deal with nursing in general before hiring for some really fragile patients.

Can you handle the sound of a parent's indescribable cries when their baby dies (5 months old- didn't get a liver)? Or the same sound when a toddler dies after an MVA? The toddler who has been submerged in scalding water and knows at age 2 that crying is pointless- nobody will come- even during dressing changes? A 10-wk old with a broken femur thanks to mom's boyfriend? A 6 pound 1 month old who has dropped weight- had open heart surgery 3 weeks before r/t Downs syndrome issues- and mom left it to get infected....she sent the DOG in to check the diapers- if the dog barked, she'd change the baby....If it's on the evening news, you know your assignment list? What about the kid with bowel issues that requires Q6h "irrigations" to avoid becoming impacted- and throws things at you (which isn't inappropriate for a 3 year old- especially one who is treated "special" because of the physical issues).

Can you hold down a 3 day old for a spinal tap, I&O cath, and sepsis work-up labs while the mom stands outside the procedure room sobbing (and she's an easy parent to deal with- just still reeling from having had a kid 72 hours before, and scared to death something is BAD wrong because the kid isn't eating what she thinks it should) - thinking she's making a mistake for "letting you hurt" her baby? Can you look the parent who abused/allowed abuse in the eyes when social services brings them up for a supervised visit? Can you spend half of the shift in isolation garb while RSV or the flu are r/o- after you've inserted a wire "brush" into the nose of a newborn to get the swab for lab to find out if they're infectious? Can you float to NICU and feed a baby missing the back half of its head? Can you float to PICU, to be assigned the patient who you can't hurt- because they're already actively dying?

It's not about the cute little kids (there were some- but not that many). And, are you ready for your hours to be cut by 1/3 over the summer with low census? And no adult floor willing to let you pick up hours there for some unknown reason, even though you've had a LOT of experience there? Pedi nurses generally stay if it's their thing. Openings aren't as easy to find unless you live near a Childrens Hospital- and even then, in this market, you're going to need experience.

Adult experience is NOT a waste with pediatrics. You need a solid base- and not all pedi patients are little (300 pound diabetic 14 year old?) You don't get to pick just the little ones :) You need to know what is "normal" with assessing patients who can cooperate before you tackle the ones who can't give you any info but a scream. Will you know what to look for with a suicidal teenage girl who just ate 40 Tylenol, and give her the nasty Mucomyst- that she can end up in liver failure if she spits any of it out? (teenage ODs are a dime a dozen on a pedi floor- psych can't take them until they're medically stable).

Can you deal with the parent who wants you to give the post-appy kid more morphine when he's desating- and tells the charge nurse you are refusing to keep their kid comfortable (and the kid nods off when you're not in the room), when you are on the phone non-stop with the tired hosptalist trying to get more orders for O2/various analgesics so you CAN medicate the kid while not causing brain damage from low sats? What about the Jehovah's Witness kid, who needs a transfusion to live- and the ethics department is involved in getting custody to "force" a transfusion that the parents are refusing (which is their right...but the hospital is trying to protect the life of the kid)? How about the 1 year old new diabetic who can't understand why YOU are coming in every 4 hours to do blood sugar sticks and insulin? Or the 6 month old who can't understand that you're squeezing his/her foot for blood- lab doesn't always do pedi labs; nurses do that. Pedi nurses also do pedi IVs. Got good IV skills? . Co-workers help- but they can't pick up all of your IVs because you don't know the tricks that come with experience :)

I loved the time I had in pedi - I also loved the kids I took care of on regular floors before most hospitals had floors just for kids (mid-80s, if you worked neuro, you got the neuro kids; smaller hospitals still put the kids on regular floors-even now, in smaller towns- OR if the hospital doesn't get that many kids to dedicate a whole staff/floor to them...maybe look for one of those :)).

Loyalty is great when it doesn't interfere with getting walked on. If an employer sniffs out someone who shouts their loyalty from the rooftops, they OWN you. You need to be loyal to yourself- and do the best job you can no matter where you work. But don't tell any employer how "loyal" you are- you will be on the top of that call-list before you can take your next breath. :o

My peds rotation was on the pediatric burn unit. There are no words to describe it, but I left every day there feeling ill. I remember holding the 3 year old in the body cast while she screamed in pain and just rocking her for a couple hours. Or the kid with severe burns who shivered in the shower and cried and BEGGED for us to stop. I realized then that peds was not for me.

My ultimate goal when I graduated was to work in the ER, but the only place I could get hired at was a SNF. Any of my classmates who decided to wait til they got hired at their dream jobs ended up still unemployed years later. Hopefully your nursing career is a long one, so even if you want to put in a few years at some place out of loyalty and work to pay off your "debt" to them, you still have a long life ahead of you when you decide to leave there. Any experience you get anywhere will only benefit your "dream" patients in the long run.

I used to have rose colored glasses when I graduated, and sometimes still feel guilty for leaving a job, but I have to take care of myself and my family so that I can take care of my patients. And the only reason, I realized, that I felt guilty was because I was leaving a few good coworkers and the patients there to fend for themselves. I am hugely loyal, but like respect, it has to go both ways. My loyalty is for the people who have my back and who depend on me, not to someone just out for a buck.

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.
I am another person who is only as loyal to my employer as they are to me. I have seen how loyal most places are and I will watch out for myself. I go in, I do my best, and then I leave. If they expect more than I am being compensated for or they are treating me poorly I am out of there ASAP. I am always looking for a better job even if I like the place that I am working.

I do the same thing without realizing it. Anytime I take a class, I think how good it will look on my resume.

To the OP. I get the loyalty part. I wasn't 'loyal' to a job I worked at for 16 yrs but hated. I only stayed because I was in a total rut.

My current job, I love and I have to say I feel loyal to it. I do because they seem to care. If that ever changes and work becomes a living hell, I will be out of there, unless it's a retirement issue.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

Yeah, I do feel loyalty to my coworkers and immediate boss. They're a great group.

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Loyalty? Nope. Took the first thing that was offered to me as a new grad. I'm getting experience, learning all I can and am hoping to be out of here in 6 mo. or so. New grad residencies are coming up for Dec. graduates and hopefully my experience will give me an upper edge. For now, I consider myself lucky and am thankful to have what I got. My picky classmates are still looking.

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And xtxrn that reality is the reason I won't do peds, even though I love kids with all my heart. One day in the ER with a 22 week preemie who was approaching 3 years old was enough. I couldn't stop thinking about the care of that child when caregivers could no longer carry him easily.

Very nice, honest, and well stated post. If I could give you more kudos I would!

Thank you. Even though I had some idea about chronic kids, it was a real eye-opener, and I had 17 years of experience when I got the peds-only job. I took care of a 4 year-old near drowning my first year of nursing in neuro; also a deaf-blind 7 y/o- who seemed to know when I was on....I was told he would go to sleep when the other nurses worked 3-11 & 11-7- but he'd stay awake when I was on...he knew I'd take him for a walk around the floor before 'turning out the lights' so to speak (he had no vision). Little stinker!! And the 16 y/o Guillan-Barre that was sent home by the ED twice before she started in with the ascending paralysis; within 16 hours of admission, she was on a vent. I could go on and on.... I love that I had the experiences I did- but I was a lot more solid in IVs, NGs, etc and basic skills from working LTC. Fast forward 17 years to the peds-only job, and I had more 'tricks' up my sleeve that I had no clue about as a new grad.

I learned a LONG time ago that there a LOT of things worse than death- and that parents of the chronic kids live in constant hypervigilence (which will rearrange their neurotransmitters over time, being in constant fight or flight- they will be permanently physically effected by their kids' condition). Their decisions to "do everything" were SO understandable...who can say "no" to saving a kid? But some kids are never going to be ok (and true- nobody knows who those kids are, so I absolutely understand why the parents make those decisions). But when it goes south, it REALLY goes south- for years and years and years. Some of those kids will never be beyond the developmental age of a new baby- even at 16 years old. Or 21, 30, .....

I really did enjoy taking care of the kids (even the surly teenage girls who wanted to end it all over some dopey boyfriend :uhoh3:- but it was very real and painful to them- and since I had adolescent psych experience, they were generally "mine"...- I wouldn't have minded sharing, really :o).

When it comes to babies and kids, hospitals have to be extra careful - OR be extremely well staffed to spare someone for a preceptorship. I was my preceptors first "assignment"....and she was great- I shadowed her for a day, she shadowed me for 2, and we stared at each other as needed the rest of the 6 LONG weeks :) She knew I knew enough to know what I didn't know :D So, she was always available when I had peds specific questions. But I wasn't a new grad re: supervision needed.

OP- it's not personal about you.:heartbeat...it's about the kids, and the hospital. Get some experience, and go back if you still want to do pedi nursing; but know what you're getting into. Watch some YouTube videos memorializing kids who died. Look at the ones about the preemies who ended up a mess- not the "little miracles" that are wonderful- but by no means the guarantee. Look at the rehab videos of kids with severe disorders. "Children's rehab" will get you to some tear-jerker clips...and guide you to more.

Ask yourself if you can get an IV into the thumb of a 6# baby in the dark, with a co-worker holding a flashlight under the baby's hand because that's the only way you can see the veins...:up:

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My peds rotation was on the pediatric burn unit. There are no words to describe it, but I left every day there feeling ill. I remember holding the 3 year old in the body cast while she screamed in pain and just rocking her for a couple hours. Or the kid with severe burns who shivered in the shower and cried and BEGGED for us to stop. I realized then that peds was not for me.

My ultimate goal when I graduated was to work in the ER, but the only place I could get hired at was a SNF. Any of my classmates who decided to wait til they got hired at their dream jobs ended up still unemployed years later. Hopefully your nursing career is a long one, so even if you want to put in a few years at some place out of loyalty and work to pay off your "debt" to them, you still have a long life ahead of you when you decide to leave there. Any experience you get anywhere will only benefit your "dream" patients in the long run.

I used to have rose colored glasses when I graduated, and sometimes still feel guilty for leaving a job, but I have to take care of myself and my family so that I can take care of my patients. And the only reason, I realized, that I felt guilty was because I was leaving a few good coworkers and the patients there to fend for themselves. I am hugely loyal, but like respect, it has to go both ways. My loyalty is for the people who have my back and who depend on me, not to someone just out for a buck.

I couldn't do that. I spent a couple of days in the regular burn unit (with a couple of lightening strike patients with holes in their feet, and one really, really bad one). That is the ultimate agony (anything with the skin blistered off is bad). The needed treatments made all the sense in the world in my head- but I couldn't reconcile it in my heart- so I knew I could never do burns. Kudos to you for even getting through that in school :heartbeat

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I list loyalty as one of my biggest faults. I have stayed in jobs and done way too much for employers because of this fault. It is one thing to be loyal to your family, your patients, yourself. It is quite another to place any degree of trust in an employer and in return present yourself as loyal to that employer. Employers are not trustworthy. They are bottom line people in a bottom line business.

As a new nurse you are expensive. You may be earning less than the maintenance staff but you require a preceptor. That means paying for two nurses to do one job. They are betting you will stay long enough to make it worthwhile. You are betting you will do right enough times not to get fired. My personal belief is that no new grad is ready for any specialty unit. Flame me if you want but every specialty area requires a great deal of wisdom. Wisdom is acquired not taught.

There is also another reality in this day and age. The peds units that survive are even more specialized. If you needed to move (relationship, health, wander lust) would you have the skills to transfer to a regular area? Not likely if all you have done is a specialized peds area. There are many places that do not have peds units. You might find yourself becoming unemployable not for lack of experience, but lack of relevant experience.

Your loyalty belongs first with God (if you believe) then yourself and family. Employer is very low on this measuring stick.

To answer your question. Yes, I am loyal. It is not a desirable trait unless you can keep it within your control. Lots of others will try to push your loyalty button. Keep in mind where they land on your measuring stick. This was a hard lesson for me to learn. You don't have to learn it the same way.

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Specializes in Operating Room.
And xtxrn that reality is the reason I won't do peds, even though I love kids with all my heart. One day in the ER with a 22 week preemie who was approaching 3 years old was enough. I couldn't stop thinking about the care of that child when caregivers could no longer carry him easily.

Very nice, honest, and well stated post. If I could give you more kudos I would!

I loved peds when I was in nursing school. But, I also knew myself enough that I realized that my soul and heart would have been crushed on a daily basis if I worked peds long term. I get peds OR patients occasionally- usually nothing serious( broken bones) and am good with that..

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I totally get where you're coming from. But, a lot of the people I graduated with has showed persistence, keeping in contact with recruiters and nurse managers, and applied to certain places and were hired as new grads with no experience. I graduated with an ASN, no nursing experience and got hired on an Obstetrics unit in the hospital. The same thing happened to a friend of mine who got hired at the ICU, and another on an Oncology unit. All 3 positions stated that they did not want new grads. But, with a great resume, multiple nerve wrecking interviews and tremendous persistence, we all got called back and hired. Some people also say it's "who you know" but I personally didn't know anyone prior to working with them. Don't be discouraged.

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