Getting a job after being off two years?

[chiariwarrior]

I graduated in may of 2011. I work in ICU for about 2 months on my own. The rest of the time was orientation. I was forced to quit bc of health problems. Over the last two years I have had 5 surgeries. I had my neck fused to my skull, a tethered cord release, had the hardware from my fusion removed, had a lumbar shunt put in to relieve symptoms from intracranial hypertension, and a shunt revision.

I am doing better now and looking to get back to nursing. But, my dr will only release me for PRN or part time. He says my body couldn't handle full time nursing right now. And I know he is right. But I don't know where to start. Will places hire part time or PRN nurses with very little experience and no recent experience? I feel like I have forgotten everything I learned. Very discouraged and don't know what to do. Any advice would be wonderful! Thanks for reading!

[Wave Watcher]

Have you given thought to School Nursing? Check with your local schools and HR departments. Best of luck.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

Unfortunately, competition is very steep right now. There are tons of new grads and "old" new grads who have not been able to find nursing positions. The best thing you could do is to find an RN refresher course to take. I think that's the minimum that you will have to do in order to be competitive.

I have seen new grads obtain part-time or prn positions. However, they usually were required to work full time for a certain period (weeks or months) in order to fully orient to their position. It's very hard to be new to the facility AND a new grad and pick up everything that you need to in order to function independently.

I agree with the school nursing idea, or perhaps an MD office/clinic.

[chiariwarrior]

In have tried to get on school nursing with no luck so far. I was going to take the refresher course but when I read up on it, the Mississippi board of nursing made it seem like only those who have been out of nursing 5 yrs or more had to take it. I would love to take it and I'm sure I need it. Just literally don't have the $400 laying around to pay for it. I may have to get another job just to pay for the class to get back to a nursing job. Thank y'all for the suggestions! I really appreciate you taking the time to read this and post. Thank you!