Career path dilema: did I just make a big mistake?

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I feel like I just made a huge mistake.

I'm a new grad LVN. I Graduated in August 2007. I worked for 3 weeks on a med/surg floor. I just moved towns.

After a bunch of applications and resume faxing, I had 3 main choices.

1. Doctor's office - mainly office work, call backs, take hx, working with a med aid who can do everything I can, so I was told. Money was OK. They paid 50% of health ins. And the Doc said there would be opportunity for me as an RN in about a years time (when I'll be done with my RN).

2. Hospital med/surg - looked like hell. The discussion on preceptors for me between the director and "head nurse" wasn't very promising. In fact, it was very worrying. Basically I'd be having a new preceptor maybe every shift and I'd be changing from 12's to 8's and back and so on. Just looked like hell, and it looked like I was gonna get dumped. Scary.

3. Rehab - working nights 3x12's/week not acute care, so less stress. Still, somewhere I can do IV's, pass meds, mess with PEG, NGT's breathing treatments etc. Plus its nights, so I can attend nursing school for my RN easy.

The Doctor's office is the one I just turned down. I met the med aid they had just hired on my interview day and her first work day. She was wearing a hoody? Yeah it's 8-5 M-F but it's probably gonna be near 30 mins-hour in traffic each way, and my wife's routine is nearly the same, so our son would be on his own most school nights till 6-7. Weekends would be our get stuff done days. I cannot see how I'd schedule in RN school around a 9-5 schedule. The rehab is looking like my best bet, its like a 15 min drive, and I know it will be much slower pace than the hospital.

The Doctor for the doc office job even told me when I declined his offer that a position for an RN may still open up next year if I was inerested. He seemed more interested in my wife who's already an RN, because the RN position coming up is coming up in January...not something I could have made anyway. The RN position is going to be being his or another Doctor's nurse -it's a cardiolgoy practice- and working mainly in the hospital. He was only offering 36-40K/year for this RN position, which is low IMO. My wife earns just under double that right now.

Anyway, I figured a year or so down the line if something comes up, say I never got round to completeing RN school, I'll be an LVN with just office experience. I told him I really wanted to get some clinical experience.

It just feels like I made mistake, because I've heard its good to "get in" with a Doc because they'll take care of you especially if you're a guy etc... I dunno I just felt it was a risk and that a good foundation of clinical experience and time to complete my RN was a safer bet.

help:uhoh21:

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Specializes in ER; HBOT- lots others.

I think you need to look at it from another standpoint. from the point of going to school. you need to work things around your school. it sounds like you dont have to worry about the money part of having the bills and stuff pd for. i would get whatever i could to work around school, esp for those days/weeks that you need to work and worry about school more than the job.

Yeah, MD's will take care of you if you do them right, but they also expect 100% from you all the time. there are always other opprotunities, esp for nursing..

U didnt make a big mistake, you are thinking about what is best.

Good Luck!

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i think you made a good choice : )

it sounds to me as if Rehab is your best bet. the way the med/surg job already sounds iffy is a clear signal to 'run away quickly'! spending some initial time working on your assessments and skills is always to your benefit, albeit at a slower pace in Rehab. besides, the drive is not bad and u said that the hours work with your plans of continuing on in school for your RN degree.

good luck !

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Plus its nights, so I can attend nursing school for my RN easy.

Yikes, I just had to comment on that. Just exactly when are you planning to sleep? I'm assuming you'd need at least several more semesters of work to get your RN, and it's intense school work. Is your school during the day? When would you have time to do your night before clin prep? Would you be going from working all night to a day of clinicals? I'm just wondering when you'd have time to sleep.

I wish you the best of luck. The hospital RNcardiology job sounds nice down the road, but that doesn't sound like much $ for full time.

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Specializes in ER, Occupational Health, Cardiology.

I think you made the right choice. That is not to say that you can't stay in touch w/this MD, if you or your wife really want to work w/him. Getting your skills sharp and finishing your RN and spending as little time away from your son sound like serious priorities to me!

BTW, what state do you all live in, and what kind of nursing does your wife do that she can make 75-80K a year? Does she work agency, or travel, or get a lot of OT?

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

It doesn't sound like a mistake to me.

Nurses don't need to "get in" with a doc. We do just fine on our own.

Good luck!

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It doesn't sound like a mistake to me.

Nurses don't need to "get in" with a doc. We do just fine on our own.

Good luck!

I agree.

steph

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I worked at nights for a while while I was in school. I thought it would be great because the floor wasn't too busy at 2-4 am, I could get in some studying. That did not work out so well for me, I would get a sentence or two in an be just about asleep. I couldn't remember anything I read at all. Well, that's just my experience.

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Specializes in Day Surgery, Agency, Cath Lab, LTC/Psych.

I was so worried when I read your post that you took the Doctor's office job. I think doctor's offices are great places for MAs and experienced RNs or LPNs who want to work a set schedule Monday-Friday. I don't think they are a good place for a new grad.

I think you made the best decision and I am so happy for you. Rehab is an awesome job. It really gets down to the core of nursing--helping patients to care for themselves. It is so rewarding to watch patients go from helpless to independent. Plus, you will use lots and lots of nursing skills.

Good choice! Quit beating yourself up. I think you will do great.

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Specializes in ICU.

The real question is what do you want to do down the road. What is your plan for after you get finished with NS? Is there a area that you have an interest for? I'm sure after talking to your wife you have some sort of an idea what you would want to do down the line.

The point being, set your sights on something that interest you and base your decisions on that point. If it was your life long dream to work in a dr. office then yes I'd say you screwed up..........on the other hand if your interested in a job in OR (or any place other than a dr's office) then I'd say you made the right decision. But set your sights on something. Once your in NS and are exposed to many other aspects of nursing you can always modify the plan...............but plan for something.

If you have been on this forum for more than 3 days you can read post after post of people who aren't happy with their jobs. Too many people enter a profession (any profession) without any idea what they want to do other than be a nurse (or whatever). They take the first job they can get out of NS and find out that they aren't really happy doing that job, but they have no plan to do anything other than merely work as a nurse. So they sit and complain about how bad the job is without taking the responsibility of accepting the first job they got. This process leads to unhappy individuals and unhappy work areas......it's a cancer. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of jobs that do just suck, but with an interest in a peticular aspect of healthcare you have a plan for change if you decide to make the move. But first and foremost comes "da plan". I wish you luck in your decision, this one and all future ones.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Peds, LDRP.
I think you need to look at it from another standpoint. from the point of going to school. you need to work things around your school. it sounds like you dont have to worry about the money part of having the bills and stuff pd for. i would get whatever i could to work around school, esp for those days/weeks that you need to work and worry about school more than the job.

Yeah, MD's will take care of you if you do them right, but they also expect 100% from you all the time. there are always other opprotunities, esp for nursing..

U didnt make a big mistake, you are thinking about what is best.

Good Luck!

I agree! I graduated LPN school in the fall of 05 and Ive only worked in peds homecare (basically Im a glorified babysitter!). I looked at it from the standpoint of it was an easy job that could pay my bills while I went to school for my RN. It worked out very well, and Ill finish the RN program in December!:balloons:

You will be just fine. Good luck!

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I think you made the right choice too! BUT....Please don't think that rehab is gonna be easier than acute;) Not sure what type of rehab, but you will be running your butt off and get good experience too!

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