In Need of Career Advice

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

Hey everyone, its been a while since I've posted here on All Nurses. I've had some big changes in my personal life and so I have been putting my career issues on the back burner. Currently, I am out of work on Medical Leave (I had Gastric Bypass Surgery last week) and I will be out of work for the next 5 weeks. I am recovering well and just taking my time trying to get my strength back. I am a new RN (grad. last May) and I work as a Psych RN at this time. The problem I have is that I really need to get some Med/Surg experience or experience working in the ED or something similar. I like my coworkers and even my patients but in the long-term Psych is not for me. I am worried because I don't want to become stuck in Psych because I am a new nurse without any sort of Med/Surg experience. I have recently been looking at the employment pages of other hospital websites and I have noticed a position for an ED RN at a local community hospital that is almost full time and its nights (I currently work 20 hr. nights because that's all that's available at my currently employer). I am a little unsure of what I should do right now. I realize that I have a lot going on at the moment but I feel like this position is a potential opportunity that I would hate to miss out on.

Does anyone think I should try to contact the department manager and speak to them about the position? I could explain my current situation and find out more about the position. I could also find out if I would be a potential candidate (or does my lack of experience not work for this position)? Or should I focus on my recovery and wait until I return to my current position before I begin expanding my career search?

I would really like some experienced staff nurses, nurse managers or anyone with insight to offer me their thoughts on this issue.

Thank you,

Chris :specs:

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Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

Moved to Nursing Career Advice where hopefully you will get some helpful suggestions and comments.

Good luck with your recovery and your job search.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

Thank you for moving it to the right forum. I was trying to find the Nursing Career Advice forum but I couldn't seem to find it.

:specs: Chris

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

You're experiencing a lot of change in your life right now. I would advise you to remain with your current job until you recover from your surgery and establish stability in your nutritional status.

Based on my clinical experience with post gastric-bypass patients, there are many issues that can arise in the first 6 months after surgery. It just takes a while to learn how to manage with your new 'plumbing'. Dumping can be a serious problem, and one that significantly varies. There is also the very real issue of obstruction that may need follow up intervention or gastroscopy to correct. You don't need to be dealing with all this while trying to cope with a career transition... give yourself a bit of recovery time first.

Congrats on taking such a major step. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

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