My new dilemma...a follow up

[snappycindy]

Hello....just wanted to follow up....

So I took the full time med-surg job at the local hospital, but I quickly realized that it is not AT ALL the type of nursing I want to practice. While I am learning a lot and getting experience, I am drained and unhappy. I have also started my BSN online.

Today, the manager at the pediatric office, who I interviewed with last summer, wants me to come in this week for another interview. The position would be for a triage RN, also doing some nurse visits throughout the week.

Here's my dilemma....I ultimately want to work in maternal/child health or peds, but I don't want to sell myself short with only 6 months of acute care experience, especially if I ever wanted to go back to a hospital setting.

It seems like "1 year acute care experience" is the magic formula to have if you want to be marketable. Is this true everywhere or just in my area? If I took this triage job and ever wanted to return to acute care, will 6 months of experience cause me to have to apply for graduate nurse positions again, even if I have my BSN?

I know ultimately no one can tell me what to do, but the posts I read here and the feedback really do help me.

TIA!

[ArtClassRN, ADN, RN]

It seems like "1 year acute care experience" is the magic formula to have if you want to be marketable.

That's actually the bare minimum, nothing magic about it. You have been on your own in this job a very short time, what is happening that makes you dislike it so?

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

One year acute care is the bare minimum, as mentioned above.

It is pretty common for a new grad to be unhappy right about where you are. I would stick with it, personally.

[snappycindy]

I work on a very busy respiratory/medical floor with a high turnover rate for RNs. This is my 1st job after graduation and I received about 6 weeks of orientation and then was put on the schedule alone....not one of my managers even met with me to give feedback or ask if I was ready, needed help, etc.. Our floor is equivalent to a step-down unit in a larger hospital...we receive all the ICU transfers. We also take TBI's and vented patients. It's a difficult floor in terms of patient acuity. I feel like all I do is run around all day passing meds, charting, and trying to keep my head above water. So many days, I never actually have the time I need to truly see the big picture with each of my patients much less have the time to give them the attention they deserve. And then there's the constant worry about making a med error or some other mistake that could cause me to lose the license I worked so hard to get.

Like I said in my original post, I am learning and getting experience and for that I am grateful. But when I look at the bigger picture, I wonder how much of what I am learning will help me with my ultimate goal which is to work with babies and/or children, not adults. The chance to work in a large peds practice will expose me to more of the type of population I want to work with long term.

I am just trying to do what will benefit me most in the long run.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

What you are learning is time management, keeping cool and able to think critically under pressure and dealing with difficult patients and family members. Those things translate across the age spectrum and are far more valuable for your long term goals than working in a clinic.

I encourage you to go read under the "Career" forum - the subforum titled First Year After Licensure or something along those lines. You will find your situation is standard for new nurses, your work load pretty much typical as you describe it and there is a lot of advice there as well as those who can relate and commiserate.

Your job now isn't your dream job. I get it. Few get to have their dream job straight out of school. Acute care is going to get you further than a clinic job, even if the clinic job is in peds. That is, unless working in a pediatric clinic would satisfy your ambitions. Then by all means take it.

[Emergent, RN]

I feel strongly that a triage RN should have several years of solid experience under his or her belt. I don't think it's a good job for a new grad.