How do you explain experience as a volunteer RN when employeers seek hospital experience?

[cheverisimo]

I have been actively seeking paid employment ever since I started my nursing career as a Registered Nurse, but have had no luck in finding a full-time job due to being delayed 1 year from graduation during nursing school due to a life-threatening / potential fatal birth defect requiring last resort surgery. I was further delayed a further year into work after licensure from breaking my neck and suffering a severe traumatic brain injury 2 weeks after graduation, which requiring 2 major surgeries and resulted in newly diagnosed frontal lobe epilepsy with personality changes during seizures. While paid employment has been difficult to find, I have actively pursued my nursing career by practicing in charity care within both a free clinic internal medicine practice and a volunteer rescue squad.

During this time period, I got a paid hospital job in Fall, 2012 at a cardiothoracic and vascular surgical progressive care unit after about 1 and a half years practicing within the free clinic. However, my job lasted for just 3 months. I was doing well in my job until I was fired from sudden personality changes and bizarre behavior at the end of my shift. These are two of my three main manifestations of seizures and from hypoglycemic emergencies from type 1 diabetes (I have had this for 24 years) as I have hypoglycemia unawareness. The behavior was due to an unrecognized prolonged partial seizure and a glucose level that dropped to 28 mg/dL which turned into a grand mal seizure within 15 minutes of ending my shift (The worst part is that the big seizure occurred within the hospital parking garage away from emergency services and anyone to get me help. I am fortunate that I did not die in my car. Where was the Code Blue // Rapid Response team when I desperately needed them??).

As I have hypoglycemia unawareness, this is a qualifying medical condition under social security disability status, and I have since applied for disability until I can find work. I was just diagnosed in August this year and learned about how my behavioral quirks from simple partial / complex partial seizures which I experience between 10 - 30 times per day. Although hind sight is 20 / 20, if I knew that this experience was due to epilepsy that was diagnosed earlier, I could have sued for unjust job termination.

Since losing my paid job, I returned to working at the free clinic for about a year and currently have changed paths in healthcare. I really am an adrenaline junkie and currently have served for about 1 and a half years as a registered nurse // EMT-B student with a passion for emergency medicine on a volunteer rescue squad. All of my letters of recommendation to the rescue squad were extremely positive from nurses whom I worked with or shared patients with their medical practices, resulting in almost instantly getting the volunteer job.

Although finding work has been difficult, I have followed the sage advice of continuing to pursue further education from close friends including graduate level nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians. I obtained certifications in ACLS, PALS, Moderate Sedation, and a licensed Infection Control officer and just obtained my BSN the last day of July.

My first worry is that the hospital management has blackballed my capacity of being hired at other healthcare facilities, despite my going back to discuss with the hospital's HR management to review how to approach applying for new jobs despite being fired. I was informed by a nursing manager that when I apply for any new job, I legally am able to state and refuse to acknowledge that I was fired from any previous employment on all job applications asking about previous terminations.

Second, when I have applied to hospitals, urgent care centers, medical practices, long-term care facilities, and nursing job contractors, all of these potential employers have stated that all nurses are required to have 1-5 years or more of hospital experience before they would even considering hiring any nurse. This is a huge catch 22 for me despite all I have done. The vast majority of my nursing career, I have provided completely free medical care without a nickel of income in what otherwise would be considered traditional nursing experiences, and I am stumped on how to get credited for my years of experience practicing as a nurse. Surprisingly enough, most agencies I applied to have given me experience credit in healthcare as I previously worked as a night-shift Spanish translator for a managed care department within major mail order pharmacy.

At this point, what else can be recommended in trying to get a job with all my experience despite an unfortunate experience from a short job at a local hospital? Furthermore, how do I explain my delays in graduating my ADN program and my career? Last, since being diagnosed with epilepsy, within my clinical experiences in my BSN program, I have explained exactly what symptoms and behavioral changes will suddenly occur during seizures and hypoglycemic emergencies. Although I do not have to state these under EEO law, how do I explain these if I get hired to prevent losing another job?

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Are you actually medically cleared to resume work as a nurse? Uncontrolled seizures & "unaware" hypoglycemia would appear to pose a significant risk to the safety of patients under your care. Staffing in most organizations is not sufficient to always count on having backup if something were to happen. I really hope that you were never responsible for driving in an emergency response situation.

Nurses with unstable health issues are generally only allowed to practice with stipulations that would rule out some types of settings & job conditions - in order to ensure patient safety. In my state, license renewal requires an attestation of health that would require you to divulge this information & failure to do so would be grounds for fairly significant consequences.

I really wish you the best, but until you get your health issues under control, direct patient care may not be a suitable practice area for you.