Help!! Two Job Offers but.......

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I will be graduating from an ADN program in 6 weeks. I set up 2 interviews at a local hospital, and, after interviewing, was offered the choice of either of the positions. Naturally, I was extremely excited BUT after I shadowed in both departments, I was not so impressed. The staff seemed frazzled and very disorganized; assessments were way less than complete, the pts. rooms were not very clean, etc. While the base compensation is competitive, there are no week-end differentials which I though was rather strange..Bottom line is, I'm confused! I keep thinking that maybe I can go in and make a difference because I don't want to compromise the nursing skills and methods that I've been taught. This may be impossible though and the nurses that are there might be very resentful...Location wise, this hospital is relatively close (many other are 50+ miles away....All in all, something about it just doesn't feel right but should I just bite the bullet and take it anyway???? I'm afraid that, once midsummer roles around, there won't be any hospitals willing to hire a new grad without having had an internship! I'd appreciate any advise I could get on this b/c it's all very confusing at this point.......TX!!!!!!!

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Hi,

If the staffed seemed really stressed out and the workload seemed unreasonable, I would be cautious. That being said, nursing is generally very stressfull and the workload can be tough. You probably had only a couple of patients at a time in clinicals and got to spend extra time with them. Probably not going to happen after graduation. The last hospital I worked at gave us 5-6 on days and 6-7 on nights. We were treated well and fairly. It was tough work, though! I would recommend you spend a few moments thinking about what the nurses load/care was like during clinicals and compare it to the 2 positions you've been offered. The students that I worked with at the hospital tended to be idealists, but this faded a bit when they started working the floor. Only you can answer if the place seemed unsafe. What were the nurse/patient ratios? If it is Med/surg, I wouldn't accept more than 6-7, depending on the shift. Oh, also, I have worked places without a weekend diff, but wages were competitive enough for it not to matter. Also, if the other hospitals are 50 miles away, that can really eat into your paycheck with gas and auto maintenance. My current job is about 30 miles each way and I figure it cost me about $10/shift. Last job was a couple miles away and gas/maint. was a non-issue! Good luck!!!!!!!!!

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I'm not going to advise you on whether you should take either position right now, but I did want to let you know something that might help.

When in school, on clinical assignments, we were so focused on what WE had to do that we rarely if ever saw the staff in their truest form. If we HAD, we would have seen them harried, overworked, stressed out, under too heavy a load (no matter the shift), and so on. During school, the stresses placed on us were to get our assessments done to the letter, that is textbook perfect, because our instructors were leaning over us, grading us, grilling us, etc. Looking back, I'm sure many of us were rather smug about how "we wouldn't ever do THAT like THAT nurse did". We also, I remember, were quick to judge the staff nurses based on the skill evaluations we were subjected to. After all, if that was the RIGHT way, shouldn't that BE the way....?

Fast forward a bit of time, working AS a nurse, and I can tell you that I see the floor a bit differently now. That doesn't mean I do shoddy evaluations, it means I'm pretty darned efficient at them, and just because someone doesn't notice me doing each step, doesn't mean I'm not doing them. You'd be surprised at how much you can find out during a physical assessment in five minutes, with some time under your belt. I draw up meds and deliver them WAY faster than I ever did as a student. Doesn't mean I was shoddy in how it was done, just that I'm experienced in getting it done for many patients in short amounts of time. Perhaps, to the student, it appears I'm missing a step, but I can assure them if I did it slow-mo, I wouldn't be. And some things aren't necessary after a time (I can picture the drugbook entries in my head for many of the drugs I now give).

Point is, don't be too quick to judge fast-moving, harried nurses for poor ones. It's possible they are great nurses who can teach you lots about real nursing...the ones that are moving the fastest and seem the most stressed are usually the ones trying to get the most done for their patients ;)

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