Advice on job change for a new RN NEEDED!

[Kinley_Y]

Hi everyone, My name is Kinley and I will be coming up on my ONE YEAR anniversary as a RN! I take a lot of pride in my job and worked very hard to get where I am today. I started my career a little late in life or as some would say, I took the long road to get where I wanted to be, but that was never my plan. I have been in the medical field, one way or another since I graduated high school, either being a "gofer" in a medical office, an office assistant, or working my way to lab tech and so on. I always wanted to eventually be a RN, but like I said, I went the long road. I got married, had a beautiful son and then went through a civil but hard and painful divorce. I am no stranger to hard work and dedication, I put myself through school as a single mom and although it was VERY HARD, I was driven by such determination to make not only myself happy, but my son as well, with a career that we could really benefit from.

With all that being said, right after I graduated, I was accepted into a New Grad Intern program at a very well known and highly accredited hospital right here in my home town. The program was for 6 months in a critical care unit and I absolutely loved the facility and staff. I had an awesome preceptor that gave me wonderful guidance and taught me quite a bit. I also received a lot of additional training and classes through this program. The only issue was that the hours, 7p-7a. I would work 3-4 days in a row and I began to get spread pretty thin between work and taking care of my son. I always had to make arrangements for him while I was working which added quite a bit of stress, not to mention guilt. My days felt so hectic and it began to show very quickly. So when the opportunity came through a close friend of mine to transfer to a hospital where she worked, I began to debate what to do. This position WAS DAY SHIFT as a PRN, but it was about 20-30 minutes away from my house. I knew there would be a slight pay cut due to the loss of hours, but after thinking it over, I decided to make the move at the end of my 6 months.

When I began at this hospital everything seemed great! I was able to be there for my son more and didn't have the stress of making sure he was taken care of at night while I was gone. I was able to work things out with my ex-husband to fill in and work a few weekends while my son was with him. But then, I began to feel like I was on the set of a soap opera, a very unorganized and unprofessional one at that! It seemed that the nurses got absolutely no respect and most of them were more interested in sitting around gossiping than taking care of patients. It became a "who is cheating with whom" kind of thing or a competition of sorts with the "new girls" especially the "new grads". Suddenly I found myself not so happy with my decision. So now here I am at a place where the hours fit my "LIFE" but I hate going into work because of the environment. I left a place that I LOVED and a staff I LOVED because it didn't fit my "LIFE". So now, I am wondering what should I do. I have barely been a RN for a year and already switched jobs or hospitals ONCE, what would it look like on my resume' to switch AGAIN!? I really do NOT want to make a mistake and mess up my future as a RN.

Does anyone have any advice, I would gladly appreciate anything anyone has to offer.