Triage Nurse, No Experience

[lmh112]

I graduated with my BSN Fall 2011. I began to apply for jobs however I had no bites after 3 months. Finally I snagged a job as a Triage nurse. I said I would stay there for a year and move on to a hospital job however it's been almost two and I cannot find anything! The new grad positions are looking for newly graduated RN's with less than 6-12 months of experience and the RN I jobs are looking for nurses who have clinical experience within that specialty! I am currently stuck and have no idea who I should apply to, where to look, etc.

Help! Has anyone else had this issue?

[CrossCountryRN2008]

What kind of triage?

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

Yikes.

I'm guessing you're probably doing telephone triage for a service/medical office?

Do they at least have decision trees/protocols for you to follow, or are they relying on your nursing judgment?

Are you willing to relocate? That might be helpful in securing a job.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

Can you transfer within the company you currently work for to a more clinical, hands on position? Can you find a PRN in a hospital setting?

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

What are we talking about when we're discussing "triage"? You couldn't do much in the way of ER triage without some sense of patient care. Agree; seek a PRN job in a low-care-level facility and work your way into better credentials for other kinds of work. Do NOT expect this to happen in less than two years. But hey-- those years will go by anyway, so you might as well get started.

And meanwhile....thank your lucky stars you have any job at all.