Going to have to get hospital job...so depressed

Kim O'Therapy, BSN, RN · Aug 2, 2007

I only have hospital experience as a CNA; however, I wish you the best of luck with your career endeavors. Its hard to work long hours when you have small children at home.

[MOUSE]Take Care[/MOUSE]

SharonH, RN · Aug 2, 2007

The private duty job I've been doing isn't going to keep cutting it and it looks like I will need to go get a hospital job. I've been a nurse going on 7 yrs. and have either worked in the same low skill nursing home or private duty most of the time (with the exception of an 8 month stint in home health which I hope to God I never have to do again, even though the DON has called me several times asking me to come work for her where she is working a new HH agency).
Anyway, I assume the place to learn skills I should have learned long ago is on a med surg floor (making probably $17.00/hr:uhoh3:)
Doesn't seem to be much of a need for hospital nurses around here now, though--I assume a class must have just graduated. So, I applied in a big city 100 miles away. They have started calling to set up interviews. Don't know how to explain I have virtually no skills (never accessed a port-a-cath, never started an IV, I STINK at blood draws) And since I dread the thought of having to leave my 6 week old and I yearn to stay at home it's incredibly hard for me to fake being enthusiastic--it's even more unappealing to be unable to buy food and pay bills, I guess--but I'm so depressed I can hardly hold my head up. I don't want to take antidepressants because I'm breastfeeding...gee whiz I'll have to pump myself at work--my husband can't watch the baby good enough--thinking about working 12 hours and knowing I'll have to turn around and come back in 12 hours makes me want to melt into the ground---beam me up Scotty---wish I was smart and creative and knew how to make money at home--I just feel hopeless and like I'm going to another dead end job that is going nowhere.
Hospital veterans how do you do it year after year?

If you're going to commute to a big city for a job anyway, why not look for something that is not inside the hospital? I know there's something else you can do, I worked in the hospital for 13 years but that was always my sideline, never my main job. I haven't worked full-time at a bedside job since 1992. Have you looked into everything? Have you looked at Monster, Careerbuilder, and the individual websites of different companies? Even inside the hospital there are jobs that are not at the bedside, you don't have to even go on the floor. What about research, telephone triage, preadmission testing, informatics, case management, insurance appeals, or occupational health?

There is no way I'd take a job with the attitude you currently have, you will be miserable and you will not be a good employee. You also won't be able to enjoy your new baby if you're tired and hating on life because of that job. There must be other options.

PM me with the name of the city you are talking about and I'll help you look!

SharonH, RN · Aug 2, 2007

Don't know how to explain I have virtually no skills (never accessed a port-a-cath, never started an IV, I STINK at blood draws)

By the way, I've never accessed a port-a-cath, I haven't started an IV in probably 7 or 8 years and I would never describe myself as unskilled. Those are technical skills which anyone can be trained to do and do not define competent RN practice.

angel337, MSN, RN · Aug 2, 2007

i agree with sharon. there is NO WAY i would take a hospital job with your attitude about bedside nursing. it is perfectly ok that you feel this way, you just shouldn't be at the bedside taking care of people that depend on pleasant competent nurses taking care of them. and its hard to be pleasant at a job you hate. there are other options. try school nursing or an insurance company. they have great hours and you can be with your family weekends and holidays. good luck sweetie and remember......do not take the hospital job:nono:

miko014 · Aug 2, 2007

It doesn't matter that your skills are a bit rusty - you'll have an orientation and a preceptor to help you with that. Someitmes they send our rusty nurses to endo to start IVs for a few hours just for practice. And most places have RN re-entry programs for people who have been away for awhile. They'll make it work!

Are you upset about having to do bedisde, or having to commute so far? And 12 hour shifts wiht a commute like that - are you sure that's safe? I would hate for you to have to get up so early, drive in, and be exhausted after a shift but still have to drive 100 miles back home!

If you're this unhappy about this, why don't you consider doing something else? Even if it means stepping away from nursing for awhile, and maybe coming back to it when positions are open closer to home. There are lots of things you can do, both in nursing and outside of it, and you're not going to make anything better by making yourself miserable. Think about the expense as well - driving 200 miles a day is going to take a toll on your car as well as your wallet (and probably your sanity!). Would it be better to get a job making a bit less money but a lot closer to home? Why don't you want to do that HH job? Is it closer to you? How's the pay? Why did you hate it so much? Think about these things, and know that you don't HAVE to do bedside nursing...if you're afraid you have to take a job you hate for the money, please weigh the risks and benefits of going so far from home!!! I hope this makes sense, and good luck to you!

psalm, RN · Aug 2, 2007

Is it going to be worth it to commute 100 miles one way, work 12+ hours, turn around, go home, try to do what a wife and mom need to do plus sleep, and do it all over again? Is there anything closer you could do at least until your little one isn't so little? Can you put in for the nearest hospital for part time to get your foot in the door and do part time what you are doing now?

Please take time for yourself, we don't want you to burn out! All that driving is $$$ and exhausting.

Mommy TeleRN, RN · Aug 2, 2007

Hey MM....how old is your baby now? Seems just like yday you were preggo :)

I am in your state and I drive about 80 miles each way to work. I work per diem so the $ are well worth it to me.

Like the others said, we NEED nurses in the big cities in this state and I'm sure you can get some good orientation to a new floor. I mean think about it - I work cardiac, if I switched to say L&D I'd definitely need some major orientation!

As far as the commute - I believe Centennial offers some housing assistance for commuters. You might check into that. Could hubby and baby come along for weekends if you had a place to stay?

Once you get a little more used to a certain type of nursing you could do a weekend option. There is a husband/wife team that commutes to Nashville from lower middle TN and they strictly work weekends for like $40/hr.

Do you have any nursing friends who might also like to go to the big city and share a small apartment as a "crash pad" between shifts?

I hope you find the right fit for you and what pays the bills. If you get a little more bedside experience perhaps you could come back close to home doing agency...or can travel nurse in Nashville and make good $ and have housing provided.

I am small town too so I know what it's like to have to look a little further for more $.

How far are you from Columbia? I know a recruiter over there.

santhony44, MSN, RN, NP · Aug 2, 2007

I don't think a 100-mile commute with 12 hour shifts is really do-able for very long.

I've done that commute myself and it got difficult, and I wasn't doing 12 hours. I finally gave up a job I loved because I was spending 15 hours a week on the road.

I could not have done it doing 12 hours. My son, who is 21, now works 12 hour shifts that far away and he stays in a small apartment while he's working. I would far rather help him pay rent than have him on the road that much with those shifts (he works 4 on 4 off).

Another possibility you may not have considered is occupational health. Are there any manufacturing facilities in your area which employ nurses? Meat and poultry facilities, in particular, sometimes have difficulty finding nurses due to the perception that they are such "dirty" places to work.

I personally would find home health the lesser of the evils here- you don't really want to do hospital nursing, and the commute you're considering is a very difficult proposition.

KellNY, RN · Aug 2, 2007

It's not safe.

With such a tiny baby and being pregnant so soon after (and commenting on this and other threads that your dh doesn't help out as much as you feel he should), I don't think you should be driving 100 miles after working 12hours.

Sorry, but not only do you have to think about yourself, but the people you could potentially slam into and kill during your commute.

They have antidepressants that are safe with breastfeeding.

This is a recipe for disaster, on so many levels. I hope you get the help you need.

mediatix8 · Aug 17, 2007

I was VERY nervous to start working at first when I graduated. I didn't have any skills like IV insertion or anything. I would recommend being very honest with your manager and preceptor regarding these issues and ask to be thought of as a new graduate. I really think everyone will understand if you are specific about your lack of experience. Ask for a long orientation- similar in length to a new graduate. I find night shift to be easier- few families, few orders (mostly just reviewing the orders all ready carried out), no discharges, fewer admits (usually), no doctors around except for a couple in the AM, rare for a diagnostic test to be done on nights like a CT or Xray- but I don't know how that would work with your family. Maybe you can get a registry job and get paid more and work less. Or better yet- work at a rehabilitation hospital or rehab unit. The one at my hospital is like a cake walk. Vital signs are taken only twice daily for most patients and they are mainly there just for physical/occupational therapy. If they get a fever they are transfered back to our medical unit. The night nurses aren't even supposed to wake them up for routine assessment so they can rest. I floated there once at night and I didn't see them even wearing stethescopes. (I thought that was scarey!) They weren't required to chart on lung assessment, for example. Just fall risk interventions. Just a lot of toileting. A lot of them didn't even have injection caps (IV's without any fluids going). Some psych units in are similar to where if they have any current medical issues or even need IV fluids they have to be in a medical unit first and are transfered to psych once they are stable.

Sheri257 · Aug 17, 2007

I STINK at blood draws

I thought I sucked at blood draws too but, I just kept doing them until I got comfortable with it ... it didn't take that long. I think my fear of it was more of the problem, actually.

If the hospital has butterly needles, those things are great for hard sticks, btw.