Help me choose!

[skydancer7, BSN, RN]

Hello all!

I need help deciding on two possible paths:

1) Take what appears to be a fairly low-stress job at outpatient surgery center as pre/post op RN.

Main points:

- $3 less per hour than current hospital job

- never get our breaks, only a lunch

- They need me 5 days a week which I HATE

- Hours are texted to you the day before; I never know which days of the week I will be working late

- co-workers seem good, atmosphere seems good

- REALLY bad reviews on Glassdoor

- Gets extremely busy in fall and winter, and with people not getting their breaks and rumors of 12-14 hour days in winter, this worries me.

- I could possibly become bored to death as this seems like repetitive work with lots of slow times.

2) Stay as only per-diem at the above job (what I have been doing the last 3 weeks) AND stay at high-stress Med-Surg/Tele hospital job I have been at for 10 months.

Main points:

- Have health insurance at hospital with only 24 hours per week

- would only need to work 2 days at hospital and 1 day at per-diem each week to meet financial goals, travel $$ goals

- Flexible schedule for travel plans and summer adventures

- SO high stress that I am in therapy, on meds, had a mini-nervous breakdown and recently had to take a leave of absence.

- If I can hang in there another 2 months, I can transfer to another, less stressful unit at hospital and keep my resume from looking like a job-hoppers, any more than it already is

- Good company, lots of learning opportunities, good pay

What's important to me right now is schedule flexibility for my sanity and for travel dreams. So Option 2 seems best but I have to assume I can get through another 2 months of med-surg without another nervous breakdown hahaaaa!!

Thoughts?

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

If the stress of your current job comes from being busy and out of your comfort zone, then I think you need to continue to work with your therapist and develop some coping strategies. Job-related stress- when you are working as little as you describe and have the benefits you listed- should never cause the mental anguish you seem to be experiencing. It's going to be important for your career and your adult life that you figure out how to manage stress instead of running from it.

Plus, having no knowledge of your schedule in advance, not being able to plan appointments or social activities, working for a poorly rated company may not be the stress-free environment you're imagining. And if you're not getting paid enough to take vacations, how are you going to get away from it?

While nothing is worth your health, I personally feel you'll be better served in the long run staying in your current position for now and transferring to another unit or continuing to look for another job that will help you reach your goals better than Option 1 will. I'm curious what your therapist suggests?

[skydancer7, BSN, RN]

^ I agree. I just happen to be a highly sensitive, very empathic introvert. Noise, people, sensory stimulation, having 4 things to do at once and all of them are important... I just don't cope well with stress. Therapist has suggested the usual deep breathing, exercise, limit caffeine, visualization, yadda yadda yadda. I am always reading books on how to improve myself in these ways, and have made progress. Just seems like a constant battle. Oh, and I have depression/anxiety/bipolar II so I am not wired like most of my peers. It's an uphill struggle but I am highly functioning so most people don't know...

[skydancer7, BSN, RN]

Any other perspectives? It's eating at my brain!!

[HeySis, BSN, RN]

Noise, people, sensory stimulation, having 4 things to do at once and all of them are important... I just don't cope well with stress.

Pre/post op can be all those things, especially if you it's your full time position, it seems likes sometimes the per sim person gets the easiest cases because you don't have the level of experience needed to take on the harder ones.

I work in PACU, so I rub elbows with those pre/post op RN's several times a day, and I can tell... you they get stressed. And yes the schedule changes daily and then there's the unexpected add on, so you thought you were going to get out at 6pm and know it's going to be more like 9pm. (its the same in PACU)

If your days and non-work commitments are not flexible, you will not like this schedule.

I would stick it our where you are. And if your counselor hasn't seemed to help, I'd be finding a different one.

If you really can't stick it out, then maybe look for an option 3.