Career vs. life choices; what is your opinion

[Nursesuzi]

I'm a new nurse (a little over a year) who has a rough start out of the new nursing gates. Hired directly out of school into an L&D unit working nights, I dealt with finalizing a divorce (with 80% custody) and nursing my dying parent. I loved L&D, but the combination of life stress, working nights, and new grad stress, drove me to quit after 10 months. I wasn't able to give it my all and was really struggling.

I was lucky enough to be offered a PACU job (via recommendation of a friend who knew the medical director) in an ambulatory surgical center working days with no weekends and holidays. The pay was good enough I could scale back to .6. I have counted my blessings, believe me. I am the only nurse in this setting without at least 10 years critical care experience. Yes, many of the other nurses do recent me being there due to my inexperience; but that's a small price to pay. This is a sweet job.

My issue now is that I feel I'm going to regret not gathering my basic nursing skills that I would have gotten from working med surg or in a critical care setting. For the most part I feel safe/OK in this job as it is an outpatient environment with prescreened patients, but I am lacking basic knowledge that can only be learned from being in the trenches. I'm enjoying the hours and lack of stress of this job and how it affords me sleep and time with my kids. Will it be too late to move on later and gain my valuable basic nursing skills? I feel like I've skipped a step. I've thought about applying per diem somewhere, but wonder if that is a death wish because I am basically still a new grad. Any advice?

[Q.]

Here's my opinion.

Let's say you stayed in L&D for whatever reason (I'm a former L&D nurse right out of nursing school). Many would argue that you won't learn basic meat and pototoes nursing in that area because it's so specialized. I have always disagreed with that notion because regardless of what area of nursing you are working in, you are learning skills related to that area.

What if you became a school nurse? You wouldn't have years of night shift med/surg experience under you, but would you need it? In a school nurse role, you'd be learning assessment, prioritization, collaboration, developing plans of care, etc - all the same things that a med/surg nurse does too by the way, just in a different way and setting.

The same is true with PACU. You are still learning how to do patient care, how to prioritize care, how to collaborate and manage your patients, etc - all things that nursing does no matter where/what they work. The actual psychomotor skills of inserting IVs or foleys aren't important (to me) ~ what's important is learning those "untouchable" nursing skills that I believe you pick up in any role: day surgery, school nursing, PACU, parish nursing, etc.

And, let's not forget the obvious. Right now this job works for you and your life and that is what is important. There is nothing embarrasing about having almost a year of L&D experience and now current PACU experience. You will have no problem advancing in your career in any direction.

[purplemania, BSN, RN]

learn your job and get comfortable with NURSING. Later you can expand your skills, if you decide to do something else. That is the great thing about nursing. You can stay in one place all your career and become an expert in that area, or you can switch to another area and be challenged again. Your choice.

[angel337, MSN, RN]

i agree with Q. no matter what area of nursing you go in, you are learning and increasing your knowledge. i am happy to see that you found a job you like. unfortunately, new nurses are made to feel guilty if they don't do "real nursing" for a couple of years before venturing off into something else. there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a career that works for your family. the only reason that the other nurses resent you is because most of them probably feel that you haven't earned the right to have a 9-5, no weekends, no holiday job unless you have sweated in the hospital first. the truth is you have every right to be there like anyone else. enjoy your new job and your kids. you deserve it.

[babynurselsa, RN]

You just have to do what is right for you and your family. That is one of the nice things about nursing is that it is so wide open nearly everyone can find the niche that is what they want or need.

[humglum, BSN, RN]

I agree with the majority opinion here. You're *not* still a new grad, you've gained valuable nursing knowledge in L&D and in PACU. You're always learning, and the non-practical skills are far and away more important than the practical, physical skills you may have learned in the year or more you think you should have spent somewhere else. That was a wordy sentence. Basically, you're learning to prioritize, assess and manage pain, manage post-anesthesia complications (that's a biggie); you are honing your assessment and documentation skills, communicating with other nurses, physicians, and family members. You're definitely moving forward, and when it is right for you to find something different, I'm sure you'll have no problem finding something.

For right now, I'd say stay where you are. You sound satisfied and it works for you and your family.

You're learning more than you think. Trust me. :)