First job for second career nurse planning on starting a family

[Cate1987]

Hi!

I would love to hear from any second degree/ career nurses about their advice/ experience the first few years after graduation.

I left my first career because I wanted to find something where I felt like I was helping people and making a difference (my first career paid well but was totally meaningless). I was inspired to go into nursing after watching an amazing team of hospice nurses care for my grandfather.

My med surg rotations have been good, however I don't feel like I get to really interact with my patients ( I just feel like its, IV start Med Pass, check tele e.t.c with really minimal patient interaction).

I am graduating in a few months from an ELMSN program and am interested in PHN, Home Health and Hospice. I want to start a family in the next couple years and want to build a career where I feel like I am providing both excellent and personal care while also balancing my family life. I hear from so many people that I need to spend a year or two in Med Surg before moving onto something else. Has this been true in your experience?

I would love to hear anyone's experience going into nursing as a second career who was concerned about balancing family and doing a good job at work.

[Nei77, MSN]

Hi Cate1987. By your OP name, I am going to assume you are 10 years younger than me :). I am 39 years old now, this is my second career. I have a bachelor's in business and decided to go into nursing for two reasons. This is my personal opinion, everybody is different. I won't fluffy it up. One because I went trough a horrible divorce and found myself not making ends meet for me and my pets (7 of them inlcuding an american bulldog with a wheelchair). Two because I wanted something that I did not have to sit in front of a desk every day from mon-fri, I needed some variety. So there I went into nursing for job security. I come from a country where nursing doesn't exist, so I kinda had an idea of what it was because I was administrator of a home health agency for several years, but I did not know how much nurses did. Before starting nursing school I volunteered at a hospital to get an idea. And I really liked it. I started nursing school at 34 and finished at 36. My first job was at the famous very busy, med surg floor. It was a step down unit. Within 3 weeks off orientation I was completely regreting my decision. I couldn't sleep, did not have a chance to eat, got UTIs because I did not have a change to empty my bladder in 10-12 hours. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and call the night shift and told them stuff I thought I had missed on report. I guess I was too dedicated. I lost 10 lbs (not a bad thing), was sick all the time although I never called out sick until I got the flu. I was there for 7 months and decided I could not do it anymore. I just followed everybody elses advice on getting into med surg first. I decided I was never going to work in the hospital setting ever! But in the middle of everything that I hated about the hospital there was something I realized I loved, and that is patient care. The gratification I felt when making a difference in someone's life is incredible. Mind you, not every patient is nice or gratefull, but the other ones make up for it. I was lucky enough to go to a speed interview session at a hospital, and met the Cath Lab manager. She gave me the opportunity. She said that despite the fact I did not have that much experience she knew experience could be acquired at any moment on any floor as long as you have the attitute and the willingess. I read some post here that said otherwise. I was afraid to take that job because of that. Well, I have been in that unit 2 years and I love it. It is true, that there are some med surg things that I might not know, but there are always resources. In my hospital they are hiring new grads in every unit, trough the nurse residency program. Even PACU and ICU. Now, on a regular unit you might not find the work life balance you want, weekends, holidays, long hours. But there are other units like mine, or ambulatory surgery, clinics, PACU, that you won't have that problem. I love nursing because opportunities are endless, you can try so many things. Right now I am working PRN at the cath lab and PRN at an asthma and allergy clinic. I also work as a health coach 2 a month. I love the variety. So, my personal experience, you don't have to start on a med surg floor. It would give you the foundation needed for any other floor for sure, but it is not necessary. Sorry for my long post, I wish I had found somebody that could have help me out with this issue when I started, although I don't regret going into med surg because now I know I will never go back to it. PM me if you have any more questions.