Frustrated...job hopping

noc_owl · Feb 27, 2006

Well, I don't know that I have any good advice, as I have been employed in the same place since graduation. But I do know how it feels to work in a job that you hate, I did it prior to becoming a nurse. I really think that you have to find out where you really want to be. You spend a great portion of your waking time at work, and it takes a lot out of you to be miserable for that time.

Do you want to go back to the ER? Do you miss it? Maybe that move will be the right one. I don't think the job hopping will look too bad if it is just a case of not finding the right niche.

I wish you the best of luck in your job hunt. I hope you find something that makes you enjoy going to work again.

mydesygn · Feb 27, 2006

I will have been a nurse for 5 years this summer. (How the heck has it been so long now?)
I worked in the same ER for the first 4 years. The past year, I've moved around quite a bit.
I got pretty burned out and frustrated in the ER...the usual frustrations of any ER nurse, plus a lot of management and staff drama that became intolerable.
I then went to an outpatient recovery room...did that for a couple months but didn't like it. Then I went to a Level I ER, but I didn't feel it was safe at all for patients or for staff, so I left after a couple months there too. Then I got a job in a speciality hospital ER, but I didn't want to do that particular specialty all the time, so I dropped down to prn status there (I do like working there) and got a full time job in Level I OR.
I've been in the OR now for a couple months, and I don't like it either. I had thought that it would be a nice fit for me b/c I could still get a lot of variety but I would only have to worry about one patient at a time.
I don't know if it's just the particular environment that I'm in, but I feel like a glorified gopher b/c the residents and docs do everything. I see a lot of disrespect towards nurses by the docs...one doc even shoved a nurse last week.
I'm looking into another ER position in the same network of the ER I originally worked in, although they aren't actively hiring right now. I don't want to not give the current job a chance since I have had so many jobs lately, but I don't want to stick around somewhere where I don't see a future, wasting my time when I could be doing something else.
I am just so frustrated and disheartened by all of this. I'm tired of job hopping, and I'm afraid it's going to start looking bad. Rather, it probably already does look bad. I am a good nurse and I don't want this to hurt my career. But I don't want to work in jobs I basically hate, either.
Anyone have any advice or words of encouragement?

Before you go, ask yourself a couple of questions. Before I leave a position, I do a few pros and cons. I know that no patient care job will leave me fully satisfied. If I gain less patient care contact then I will usually lose respect since I am not in a position that is in dire need of my skills. If I work in an area where I am valued and needed, I may find myself overworked and burned out. What I decided to do was look at where I wanted to be in a few years and accept positions where I would gain those skills. I wanted a role in education. I worked in a ICU not my choice for a long term job but I felt the skills would be valuable if I were to teach. I worked as a manager in order to gain valuable networking and administrative skills. I knew I would hate managing nurses (worked with them so I know the mess a manager has to deal with) but ultimately it was an asset to my resume. My quick answer is to decide where you want to be before you decide where you want to go. Just an aside, as a manager, if I saw a nurse who had changed jobs (all lateral moves) that often in a two year time I would hesitant to hire her.

llg, PhD, RN · Feb 27, 2006

My initial thoughts on reading the OP were similar to those of mydesygn. Can you envision a long-term goal for yourself? Can you imagine using a current job as a learning experience to help you gain skills that will help you achieve your long-term goals?

llg

mees65 · May 23, 2006

Since you are a new grad you have a lot of options. I enjoyed taking a career class from Donna Cardillo. Her web site is http://www.dcardillo.com/

I hope you find this helpful

What did you not like about working in the outpatient recovery room? I am looking into working in that area.

Good luck.

ERNurse752, RN · May 23, 2006

Since you are a new grad you have a lot of options. I enjoyed taking a career class from Donna Cardillo. Her web site is http://www.dcardillo.com/
I hope you find this helpful
What did you not like about working in the outpatient recovery room? I am looking into working in that area.
Good luck.

Well, I'm not a new grad, but there are still a lot of options, hehe. I have been interviewing, but haven't really found anything I want yet. I have a couple coming up this week as well.

The main things I didn't like about the outpatient recovery room were no excitement/drama, and I felt like we tried to push patients out the door too soon. But the second example depends on the facility, I'm sure.

Thanks for the website, I'm going to check it out.

I volunteered as an EMT when I was in nursing school...I've been thinking of getting my certification back and going to paramedic school. EMS was a lot more fun than the ER, so maybe that's what I need to do.