There are a lot of questions regarding older nurses getting back into the hospital so I thought I'd start a thread about my experience. I used to work on med/surg and also a tele unit many years ago. I've been working at a desk job. I realized if I didn't get my skills back I was never going to be able to and so I applied for some positions.
I interviewed on a tele floor with three very young nurses asking me the questions and I really did poorly. Things like me saying, "I love to work alone" - which is true but not what to say in a job interview on a unit where "teamwork" is "the thing". I could tell by their faces. Then, since they were working short- a code was called in the middle of the interview and the managers ran out of the room and left me to find my own way out of the large medical center. So, I had reviewed all my old tele strips, meds etc, and was definitely qualified but was not hired. Sigh
Evidently the nurse recruiter likes me and so she contacted me about another unit and miraculously, this unit was way more laid back in the way they interviewed. They didn't appear to be writing down a number based on my answers. I had asked HR "what kind of metrics are they using to score the candidates?" and of course I couldn't get any info. I have no idea how I was scored, but no one was writing down anything and so I said, "I love to teach young nurses" at which point all their faces lit up and they told me their unit had 40% new grads and pretty much, when do I want to start.
So, I am pretty much terrified. In fact, I realized how out of the loop I am when I took one of my kids this week to the ER and they hooked up an IV and I exclaimed loudly, "That IV pump is so small"... Like, totally uncool! I should not have said a word but the IV pump was only about a third of the size of the ones I used to use... It also had words scrolling, and the nurse had a pager thing on her shirt and all kinds of stuff I had never seen before. All things I will be careful NOT to exclaim about when I actually start at my new job. Don't want to date myself or anything!
I will try to update this post as I go, but it appears I passed the employee physical yesterday. The physical was 3.5 hours long. It was unbelievably involved and I will not comment from a negative view since I could somehow be identified and loose my new job that I am very excited about, but this is what I had to do in order to pass (keep in mind I am a 50 year old female)
-drug test
- hearing and vision test
-pulmonary function test
-mandatory flu shot and titers taken by a student who I had to instruct
-cardio test
-exam where I was in gown and I had to excercise and measurements were taken of my back, neck, arms, legs, hips etc.
- lifting 100 pounds in a milkcrate off the floor up to my waist and back down (and they wouldn't tell me what the minimum was and I ran over and went through my papers for my job description to read the 100 pounds)(confirmed later)
-moving a 200 pound dummy off of a bed onto another bed and back- with someone minimally helping with the transfer
-lifting a 100 pound dummy up off a bed and into a chair and then back up onto the bed-alone ( I was not allowed to put the bed in lowest position)
I really have no idea how this is all going to go, but I will try to write as candidly as possible without jepordizing my new job. Thanks for any supportive words and we are about to find out if you can in fact "teach an old dog new tricks".
Hello all! Would you believe I am still on orientation? Yep, but just about finished. I will not go into all the shortcuts I have had to learn to care for 6 or 7 acutely ill patients and how many times I thought I would not be able to figure it out. Really embarrassing since I have done the same job in the past! But, the job has evolved into something I barely recognize.
I have a lot of trouble leaving soiled people and calling a tech to come and clean them up but it's the only way I can get from one task to another at lightning speed.
In spite of all of this, I am glad I am doing this because it will make me employable just about everywhere! I am excited to think of that and also of the skills I am getting back into shape. I still suck at IV's but am slowly getting practice. I am learning all the new medications as well.
Another observation I made this week is of how people will steal stuff out of hospitals now. I just don't remember having to watch equipment for this in the past.
I'll make another post after a couple of months on my own. (If I survive it. I still think I could make a huge error or alternately be let go from the hospital because I've been so slow to catch on) Take care everyone!
Thanks for the update! So glad you’re still hanging in there! It gives me hope! I have an interview soon to jump back into the hospital as well so we will see how that goes!
Tiny Dancer did you get back into acute care? Anyhow, I am still working and avoiding errors thus far. I was trying to think of some inspiring things to say! I made it! I never thought I could do it, but here I am.
It is hard for me to get excited yet, because I am like a new grad still. I am terrified of going to work and thankful to make it through a shift. I really enjoy working with the younger nurses. They are like a breath of fresh air to me. They are so smart and know certain things that mystify me like various dating habits these days. The world has changed so much. They caution me about mean doctors and they seem fine to me. The standards have changed. Anyhow, it's been a great experience overall aside from my stress and I hope to put my year in on my unit and then look for something that is higher paying and with better working conditions. And BTW, I still suck at IVs. 15 years is too long for it to come right back...
For everyone wondering, I was offered a position but turned it down. I'm now wondering if the extra money is worth changing retirement plans for now. I don't have much in the deferred comp plan I have but if i stay I'll have a small pension (like $15-20,000 a year for life depending on how long I work so not much). I'm trying to decide if I start over in a different plan if I could have a better retirement or not since I would be making more. I know I can contribute more now but I don't make enough to squeeze out anymore. If i leave i could make $12-15,000 more a year starting out than i do now but I have only 15 or so years to get it built up.That's assuming I could last in acute care til 65!! I do have my husband's retirement that I will continue to get even if he dies before me so I won't be broke by any means. It would just be the difference of struggling to make ends meet or not. Staying home with my babies and then working prn for many years did me no favors financially.
I'll have a small pension (like $15-20,000 a year for life depending on how long I work so not much).
As you get closer to retirement age (or early retirement age) this fact will be more important. 20K a year will make a difference in your life when you consider what you will make from social security.
Check out the social security website online to see how much you will earn on social security. You might even be able to retire early with the addition of extra pension money!
Check out the social security website online to see how much you will earn on social security. You might even be able to retire early with the addition of extra pension money!
Great idea! Thanks so much! I see that it does make a bigger difference than I expected.
Im so thankful for this post I have been a nurse for 20 years and out of bedside nursing for 10 years (care managment administration infection control ) and am returning for a PRN position on a med Surg unit any tips for refreshing my skills?
Are you working days or nights and are you planning on staying at the desk job and working the hospital PRN? I wasn't sure based on some of your posts.
The physical you took was extreme. Like others have said, I also would've refused. The fact you were asked/expected to work 5 and 6 12's in a row and work through breaks you have clocked out for is insane, unsafe and illegal as others have noted.
My story is similar to yours..I am 56 and have been away from bedside nursing for a little over 8 years - slight more. I also work a very boring M-F job, but it pays well, I can wear scrubs or jeans and is very close to my home.
I've been offered a part time night position at a hospital about an hour from where I live. I've completed the onboarding, the pre-employment physical which consisted of a color blind test, UDS, vitals, review of vaccines and N95 fit test. The hourly rate and differentials are excellent, there is a bonus for the part time position.
The physicality of the position doesn't worry me as I'm in great physical shape, everything else you've mentioned does concern me..the exhaustive documentation, nurse to patient ratio, etc. I worked home health for years and left because of the redundant, extremely time consuming documentation and the need to have the computer front and center, like you described in the hospital, always between me and the patient. I am no Florence Nightingale by any means but part of what drew me to nursing was the "human" factor and that seems to have been pushed to the background as technology and documentation requirements are forefront.
If I leave my current job for the hospital there is no way back to it. Though there are things I miss about bedside nursing and working M-F can be a huge drag sometimes and it would be wonderful to have days off during the week, I am not sure it would be worth it with how nursing in the hospital is now to make the leap back into bedside nursing.
Florence Nightingale by any means but part of what drew me to nursing was the "human" factor and that seems to have been pushed to the background as technology and documentation requirements are forefront.
It's what you make of it. Patients still need to be looked at, assessed, turned, cleaned, etc. Technology hasn't stopped that. Patient's complain about a lot of things but not many seem to complain about technology. I like having my computer there to catch medication issues, to answer patient questions, to review their labs with them, etc. So what if I don't calculate a heparin drip and just plug in the lab work and technology does it for me? It's much faster and accurate. I always have my computer facing the patient, and while I'm scanning meds or reviewing something I'm talking to the patient about their meds, asking those questions such as "are you nauseous, when was your last bowel movement", including the patient.
If you're a caring patient focused person technology doesn't take away from that.
Anyway, hope the OP is doing well. I was looking for the "med surg is awful, I go home crying every day, too much to do and management doesn't care......" post.
TinyDancer01
44 Posts
How are things going for you?