Long term med surg to outpatient surgery adjustment

Specialties Med-Surg

Published

Does anyone work in an outpatient eye surgery center?  After 39 yrs of bedside nursing on a very busy stressful med- surg unit, I decided to look for an easier job to transition to as poor staffing, (new nurses leaving in droves), management changes and 12 hr shifts are slowly killing my 61 yr old body. I feel fortunate that I landed a pre/PACU job in an outpatient eye surgery center open M->Th.  Finally no weekends or holidays. Everyone seems nice and relaxed and they actually get 3 uninterrupted breaks per 9 hr shift!  While I feel relieved to be escaping hospital madness, I’m finding myself very anxious about the transition.  I’m fearful I’ll miss being the competent, experienced problem solver on the floor….and just not jiving with the limited patient contact other than some teaching and applying eye drops…. For those “ mature nurses” who wound down to a much less complex job, was it a difficult adjustment ?  I’m hoping I’ll hear that I’ll regret not making the move much sooner!

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