Is it too soon to go back? Need advice.

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Hi there-

While new to posting, I've had the pleasure of taking in everyone's knowledge and browsing the posts on this site for a few years now-something I greatly appreciate.

That being said, I've found myself stuck in my current job situation. To start, I'm a 24 year old male RN and have been an ER nurse for the past three years in a moderately busy center city emergency room. On average, we see about 60,000 patients per year. We're not a trauma center, but see some pretty high acute patients. Prior to finishing school, I worked as an ER tech in the same department for two years.

Over the past year, it's safe to say I've started to experience the "ER burnout" that so many people speak about. I love the staff in the department, love the fast pace, and strive to continually expand my nursing knowledge. However, as the burnout crept up, I routinely found myself checking out our HR job postings in the same facility.

Ultimately, I applied for a few jobs, interviewed, and eventually excepted a full time position upstairs in our PACU. I loved the idea of day shift, no weekends/holidays, and a slightly less stressful environment. Coming from weekend nights, this seemed like the perfect gig! I even shadowed for a few hours, and could see myself doing the job without any huge negatives standing out.

Fast forward to the transition, and I absolutely hate it. I remember the overwhelming feeling when orienting as a brand new ER nurse, and having thoughts of quitting/dreading going to work-but this feels different. I've only been there a week, and I truly think I just don't like the job. I'm not used to sitting around between cases having nothing to do, and would die to be back downstairs running around in organized chaos. I think this experience is a perfect example of "the grass isn't always greener", and while no job is perfect, I think it's truly made me realize my passion for ER nursing.

I didn't leave the ER on bad terms, was routinely precepting and put in charge, gave a months notice, and have a good track record regarding work effort/attendance/etc. While I fully understand my prior position could've already been filled, would it be wrong to go speak to my prior manager? Our facility has a policy that employees must remain in their positions for a year prior to transferring to a new position. While I understand this rule, I'd hate to continue wasting the PACUs time orienting a new employee, eventually getting me on the call schedule, only to up and leave in a year. This has nothing to do with the PACUs manager/staff/work environment, for they have all been lovely, very educational, and welcoming. I truly believe it just isn't a good fit.

Advice? Thanks.

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A single week? Lol.

You don't know what color the grass is yet.

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I would tell those involved what you've told us here and see what comes of it (emphasizing the last sentence of your last paragraph); start with your former manager and feel it out.

That said, there's no use attempting to go back without some introspection regarding the things that made you feel burned out to begin with, and I would expect the ED manager to (rightfully) ask questions related to that. You should give this enough thought to understand and be able to put into words a plan to not end up immediately feeling the same way again.

Best of luck ~

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A single week? Lol.

You don't know what color the grass is yet.

I don't know...ED nurses are "specially trained" to make quick assessments (or snap judgments, if you must) that end up being fairly accurate... ;)

Sick/Not sick.

Place I want to work/Nope, not for me.

Easy. Probably would have known better if she had been able to shadow a whole shift.

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Specializes in CVICU, MICU, Burn ICU.

What JKL33 said. Also, you stated you are a male but your avatar is female, so forgive any confusion posters may have in addressing you.

The other thought I have is that if you are still on orientation in PACU then maybe the transfer isn't really a done deal? It sounds like you are in good standing from every perspective (ED likes you, PACU hired you....) -- seems like everyone would prefer to cut losses sooner than later. But I agree.... you need to be able to show that you can commit to the ED fully. I doubt they'll have trouble filling that PACU spot, but that's not really the point.

If you find you really can't extricate out of this new position without burning bridges that are too important to burn, then I would suggest sticking it out and learning everything you can learn through it. Use that time sitting around to look through appropriately assigned patient charts and learn more about how hospital courses evolve (that is not something you have time for in the ED). And then after a year figure out how your combined ED/PACU experience will prepare you for the next thing you want to do (or maybe you'll be loving PACU) --- maybe ICU? Procedural Sedation? OR? The ED again?

Your 24. You have time to try new things and unless you are in a toxic environment, a year is not that long. :)

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Could you work per diem in the ER to get your chaos fix while working in PACU?

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