help- bored stiff at current job!!

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hi everyone,

I need advice. I worked for 5 years in a hospital and then one year in an internal medicine office. The next two years I essentially took off from work to care for aging parents and lived off of savings. When my father died three years ago I only had my mother left to care for and it was so stressful with her I went to work in a low stress nursing job in an assisted living facility (I know there is no such thing as a low stress nursing job-LOL) for three years till the present time. My mother passed last August and now feel I am finally able to go back to a more acute setting as the stress from the years of caretaking has abated and I am bored stiff at my job now.

My problem is that I can not get a hospital to take a chance on me. It has been 5 years but I still know how to assess, read labs, call MDs when needed and how to use a pyxsis and computer scanning of meds. Of course I will be rusty with the IV pumps and have to learn a new computer medical record charting but it is doable with some training.

How can I get a hospital to hire me on? I have even offered to volunteer or start out as a nursing assistant. Should I take a refresher course at a nursing school? I still have my nursing license so not even sure if the college would take me on for a refresher course.

any advice would be appreciated. Thank you, Heather

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

All you can do is keep applying. Are you open to relocating? Commuting to a rural area? Those are going to be your best options. Apply for the locations and shifts that nobody else wants. Night shift. Rural community hospitals.

You have been away from acute care for 5 years. That means you will need a pretty significant orientation period in the eyes of the hospital and that you may be out of touch with current protocols and standards. From their perspective, you are a potential liability. You will need to find a potential employer who has a high level of need. You will be more likely to find that if you are willing to work where and when others are not.

You have the additional challenge right now of COVID-19. Many to most hospitals have a hiring freeze, pay cuts, cuts in benefits and even layoffs going on. Not having the most desirable experience greatly lowers your chances for the time being. Keep applying, but do it smart. Your best bet is going to be doing a year or two somewhere remote and on night or rotating shifts.

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Hi Nurse SMS, Thank you,

So true about Covid. I had an interview scheduled at a hospital about a month ago and the hospital cancelled it and I heard the next day about their lay offs. Your advice is great. What do you think about doing a refresher course? I am going to look into some in my area and see what the costs are.

I wanted to help out in this crisis.

Heather

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
On 5/12/2020 at 11:42 AM, Heather Winer said:

Hi Nurse SMS, Thank you,

So true about Covid. I had an interview scheduled at a hospital about a month ago and the hospital cancelled it and I heard the next day about their lay offs. Your advice is great. What do you think about doing a refresher course? I am going to look into some in my area and see what the costs are.

I wanted to help out in this crisis.

Heather

Hi Heather. A refresher course is a good idea.

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