Fell off career path

[mLPN79]

My last preceptorship 2 years ago I had my placement on a day surgery unit. I really enjoyed it there and had spoke to the manager about getting a casual position in which she said "bring in your resume and we'll do an interview". During a planned 2 weeks off after I finished school, I had faced a big decision to move from the city to the country. As we moved over an hour away from the hospital in which I did my placement, I was no longer able/willing to commute that far to work.

I ended up working in a rural hospital, basically working mostly LTC, but had some good medical experience there as well. All the while, I regretted the move and have been desiring ever since to have the opportunity to work on a day surgery unit again. My only experience thus far is LTC, medical and psychiatry. I also haven't worked to full scope, and my IV initiation skills are a bit rusty.

I live in another city now, and it seems that every position available for day surgery, medical dayroom, etc. requires at least 5 years experience here. I realize I have a lot of time and practice ahead of me in order to get to where I want to be. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get myself back to where I was skills and kowledge wise? I am finding it tough to get a surgical/ medical position here and am currently only working in psych casually.

If I would have had the opportunity to move back to where I was I probably wouldn't have had such a hard time as the postings for such units don't "appear" to ask for as much experience (ie: 5 years), and I did my training there as well. Has anyone here made decisions regarding their career and ended up making a change to do something completely different? If so, what kind of "hoops" did you have to jump through to get to where you desired to be?