Help I need a way out of current situation, feel lost!

[Lizabeth RN]

I am currently an RN on a Med surg rehab floor, it is a medical floor with a specialty of rehab. We get many neuro patient, postop, strokes, spinal cord injuries etc. I do a lot of IV meds, Tube feeds, ostomys, dressing changes, bowel and bladder training. I will occasionally have a trach rearely blood trasfusion or platelet infusion.

I am not to happy on the floor. I have been there 13 months and feel like all I do is a lot of busy work. My job also would pay for me to get my masters but I feel so exhauted I dont think I could handle it or enjoy it at alll while working full time. I work a tough rotaing schedule. I REALLY want to travel nurse soo bad. I have spoken with recruiters and they say they could send me on med surg asssignments. I realize my floor is med surg but I am wondering since it is a rehab flooor is thera lot of things I dont see? I just dont know what the other medical floors are like.

Would I be better off transferring to an ICU and waiting a whole other 1 to two years with the risk of not knowing if I willl like it. I am basically just concerned about succeeding in the traveling world and having stability, whats the best route to take. As I said I work at a big teaching hospital with some options.

[79Tango]

Honestly I think you should hold off for now.. At least until you get some more confidence. Travel nursing is something you need to be 100% ready to hit the ground running. What about ACLS and PALS? You might want to look into those.

[wanderlust99]

I'm not sure what to tell you. You could start traveling now, take a med surg assignment and try to pick one where you won't be floated to other floors so it's a little easier. Get your experience there.

You could transfer to ICU, I love ICU so I'm biased. But there's a lot of opportunity for ICU nurses b/c we can work ICU, tele, and floors. I'm not a m/s nurse so I'm not sure how many assignments you can get as a m/s nurse...

If it's really something you want to do, go for it. You can always go back to your current hospital. My first travel assignment was a completely different population than I'm use to...and I still see a lot of populations where it's new to me. But you learn as you go. The charting, the basic skills, the giving meds, the protocols are all somewhat the same in a sense. You seem like you have a lot of skills. Maybe start your 1st travel job somewhere with a really great reputation from other travelers.

[Lizabeth RN]

Thanks for your supportive answer, that is basically what my recruiter said. 2/4 agencies I spoke to said they would start me. I figure why wait. I may just wait until I hit my 18 month mark and then be out.

[RNewbie]

I did my first travel assignment with just a year of med surg exp. There were other way more experienced travelers at the same hosp and some of them could not keep up with the work load. I did fine. It was a good exp and the charge nurse complimented me on what a good nurse I was. Since I look very young ppl assumed that I was a newer nurse but no one had a clue that I only had a year of exp until I told them. They were shocked that I was bold enough to begin traveling that soon. I believe if you have a strong skill set, are adaptable, have knowledge of common disease processes and critical thinking skills then you will be fine. I came from a large teaching hospital and had seen/done pretty much anything you could think of so I felt prepared.

I would suggest researching the facility that you will be placed at before accepting a contract. Some of the hospitals across this country are horrible enough to make even an experienced traveler pack their bags running!

As far as staying and possibly getting ICU exp, I think that's a great idea. You will be more marketable as a nurse with specialty exp. If you do decide to travel after that, you will have more opportunites like the above person stated.

Good luck with whatever you decide!