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Discussion

Bedside or management?

Hi nurse friends! My name is Paige and I’m an ER nurse looking for advice/input/similar experiences. A little background about me: I am a full time ER nurse for the last 7 months and per diem in substance abuse/addiction. Prior to working in the ER, I was a stepdown IMC nurse for about 1 year and 8 months where I started as a new grad. In that year and a half I also worked as charge nurse and precepted multiple nurses including transfers, per diems and new grads. I was also completing my clinical ladder prior to transferring to the ER. Prior to that, I was a PCT for 4 years. All of these experiences took place in the same hospital. I don’t have any children and I’m not married, but I do have a boyfriend who works a “normal“ M-F job (although that doesn’t really make a difference on my decision, he’s supportive regardless.)

Now here is my dilemma: I applied for and am interviewing for an Assistant Nurse Manager position on my old floor (IMC). While I love being an ER nurse, I feel that the ANM position (if I was offered it) would be something that would be silly to turn down as it is an upwards advancement. Realistically, I have no plans of going back to school (financial reasons and I don’t want student loan debt my whole life). I have made a list of pros and cons that I will share. 

I guess I’m afraid that I would miss the bedside and lose my skills, but at the same time I think I would be a good fit for the position as I enjoy leadership and have taken on different roles on that floor throughout my career. 
 

Anyway, sorry this is a long post. Just looking for some direction or guidance, experiences from current or former ANMs, or any shared experiences! Feel free to even add to the pros and cons if there’s something I may have overlooked. Thanks in advance.

 

Bedside-

Pros:

working 3 days a week (except I usually work 5-6 days anyways because Florida doesn’t pay very well for nurses ?)

Direct involvement in patient care

Skills remain intact

Cons:

Pay

Working 2 jobs to make money

Physically/mentally exhausting

Working holidays 

Working weekends

No upwards movement opportunities

Management-

Pros:

Higher pay (salaried)

8-5 type of job

Holidays off

Weekends off

Easier to transition into higher management with ANM experience and not going back to school

Cons:

5 days a week

No opportunities for overtime

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    • Featured Replies

    I have an MSN in Informatics, but I am still at bedside. I love it and am not ready to leave it. The money is better too. 

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    This is a completely personal choice. As for me, I could NOT wait to get away from the bedside. In covid time.. getting away from bedside is priceless.

    Your only cons for ANM are 5 days a week and no overtime, but your salary is higher and you will have many days off with holidays and PTO.

    Seems like a no- brainer to me, but you do you.

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    Really depends on your situation. Are you the type of person that has to be constantly moving? If you are you probably aren't ready for management yet. People say the cons of ANM is 5 days a week but I just recently switched to 2 12's and 2 8's and I love my 8 hour days. I dunno how it is at your hospital but if we were to ever be super short then the ANM would jump into the numbers. At my old job there were a few times where the ANM stayed late into the numbers because we were really short. 

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    • Author
    1 hour ago, OUxPhys said:

    Really depends on your situation. Are you the type of person that has to be constantly moving? If you are you probably aren't ready for management yet. People say the cons of ANM is 5 days a week but I just recently switched to 2 12's and 2 8's and I love my 8 hour days. I dunno how it is at your hospital but if we were to ever be super short then the ANM would jump into the numbers. At my old job there were a few times where the ANM stayed late into the numbers because we were really short. 

    Thanks for your input! It’s been YEARS since I’ve worked 8 hour days so I guess I forgot what it was like! LOL I know our ANM also helps with staffing but it’s not very common. I wouldn’t mind because that keeps my skills fresh.

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    Yeah I'd just talk to the manager/ another ANM to verify it's truly an 8-5 job...I think a lot of management jobs say they're 8-5 but really aren't.

    I think one of the more respected managers I've ever worked with (he is in the ED) was frequently on the floor helping his staff. His bedside skills stayed intact and there was none of the typical grumbling about how "management doesn't really know what it's like" coming from the staff.

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    • Author
    1 hour ago, MelEpiRN said:

    Yeah I'd just talk to the manager/ another ANM to verify it's truly an 8-5 job...I think a lot of management jobs say they're 8-5 but really aren't.

    I think one of the more respected managers I've ever worked with (he is in the ED) was frequently on the floor helping his staff. His bedside skills stayed intact and there was none of the typical grumbling about how "management doesn't really know what it's like" coming from the staff.

    I love that! Always willing to jump in.

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    • Experts

    In my opinion, no nurse should be a charge nurse or go into management without at least 5 years of experience. Minimum.

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    • Experts

    Good move if you have a supportive boss. At my place you have to have a master’s to become a manager. If you are in a union hospital like in NY you could get your masters or /and doctorate and then get into management debt free. It might work for school esp if you are doing 3 days/ week. 
    I have worked bedside and management and would strongly recommend higher studies for a manager. With your clinical experience you should be clinically strong. I suggest you pray and then make a decision based on your interest, resources and  financial issues. You will be very marketable with both experiences!

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    On 9/23/2020 at 9:14 PM, RN-to- BSN said:

    In my opinion, no nurse should be a charge nurse or go into management without at least 5 years of experience. Minimum.

    Heck , my floor has charge nurses with six months-1yr exp because they have the highest seniority that day

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