Leaving the floor after 9 months

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well, i finally decided to go with my heart and quit my floor position after 9 months. next week will be my last week on my unit. i was getting burned out with the 5 day a week evening shift and not being able to see my husband very often. i was physically and emotionally drained and getting sick all the time because of it. it wasn't a terrible unit. i just felt i needed to decreased my work/stress load for awhile. the conflict was that i had a contract with my hospital because i had accepted a scholarship to help pay for school. originally, i just wanted to decrease my hours instead of leave my position, but the hospital insisted on holding me to my contract.

in the end, i decided to break my contract and look for a job in public health. i've always been interested in public health. i've done an internship (outside of nursing school) and have been a volunteer at the local health department for the past 3 years plus i'm currently working on my msn in public health nursing administration part-time. i interviewed and after 2 weeks i finally was offered a position at the health department. of course, i accepted and will be starting after i finish my 2 weeks notice at the hospital.

though i still feel a little guilty about leaving i am happy about starting my new position. for me, it's better hours, better pay, no holidays or weekends. i don't know if i should try to find a part-time position (probably just weekends) elsewhere on the floor to try and stay current on my clinical skills or if that might be too much for me with my new transition and going to school. maybe i should wait awhile until after i get comfortable with my new position. any advice?

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wait and work your new job for a while and see how you can hold up to the load b/4 you commit for a w/e job

will yu have to pay back the hosp for the scholarship money???

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Specializes in Med/Surge.

Congratulations on being able to do what you truly wanted to do in nursing.

I think I would maybe go PRN at your floor job after you have seen how tough it is going to be at your new place of employment. For sure, don't burn any bridges just in case the new job doesn't turn out to be what you had hoped it would be.

Good luck with the new position!! Let us know how it is working in public health. I don't think I have read very much from anyone who went into that field.

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Good for you!! I've been in a job since June 05 and really have never been thrilled. I feel a lot better than I did in the beginning and have come a long way, but I don't feel that bedside nursing is for me. There are things I feel I should know and still have trouble with at times, although I"m told I'm doing a great job. I think most nurses are like that, but no one wants to admit to not knowing everything. Another three months and I'll be at a year, but would like to just finish out until the holidays and start a new job the beginning of next year. I have quite a bit of earned time and would love to take off the weekends in the summer, but being so many RNs are leaving, I'll be lucky to get any time off, thus just added frustration.

Your new job sounds great. I work in a large hospital and don't make good money at all. I'd love to do something other than bedside nursing, but just don't know what's out there. I've been stuck working every holiday since beginning and hate working EOW. I'm glad to hear I'm not alone. In the end, I think you're making a good choice.

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thanks for the well wishes! i'm excited about starting. everyone seems great so far. i've known most of the nurses there for over 3 years now because of my internship/volunteer work and all my time there has just been great. that was actually the reason i became a nurse to begin with. when i first started there i was graduating with a degree in another field.

yes, chatsdale, i do have to pay the money back to my hospital. it's a prorated amount based on the amount of time i've worked there. it's more than worth it for me in order to have my freedom and do what i need to do. i anticipated that this time would probably come, so i did save up the money to pay them back just in case.

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Best Wishes to each of you.

Angels'

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Not trying to rain on any parades, but I thought when you broke a contract you had to pay it back, a friend of mine did the same thing, put in about a year on a horrible floor then tried to leave...not only did she owe them over 10,000 but they DNR her too. she was not a bad employee, just could not handle the floor and the manager refused to let her transfer. Now she is up a creek because the hospital owns many other hospitals in our area and her option are so limited. the worst part is her "loan" from the hospital was not even prorated. so its like she put all that time in for nothing.

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not trying to rain on any parades, but i thought when you broke a contract you had to pay it back, a friend of mine did the same thing, put in about a year on a horrible floor then tried to leave...not only did she owe them over 10,000 but they dnr her too. she was not a bad employee, just could not handle the floor and the manager refused to let her transfer. now she is up a creek because the hospital owns many other hospitals in our area and her option are so limited. the worst part is her "loan" from the hospital was not even prorated. so its like she put all that time in for nothing.

sounds like a bad situation for your friend. i'm sorry things turned out so bad. my hospital is a small independent community hospital, they don't own anything else in the area (at least not hospitals). i opted in the beginning not to work in the big hospital system. as for being recommended, i'm not sure if my new job spoke to my current one about me, but it was listed on my application/resume with contact information. i'm assuming they did though since i had to sign a release form so they could get info. from the hospital about me. i'm also assuming the hospital didn't bad mouth me since i was able to get this new position. either that or my new employer doesn't care. the terms of paying the money back differ from contract to contract. it was in my contract that i pay back a prorated amount based on the amount of time i was employed.

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Specializes in NICU.

Good for you for going for what you want to do!! It sounds like you know public health is the right thing for you. No sense in staying at the hospital if it's making you miserable. 5 days a week on the floor is rough, I can't imagine doing 5 days like that ..... 3 days a week is enough for me, and I'm able to enjoy the other 4 days to refresh myself.

I wish you all the best of luck! :) Let us know how it goes!

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