I am an RN with 1.5 years of Medical Telemetry experience in a hospital and 2 months of additional experience in an Internal Medicine clinic. Currently, I am unemployed but have several job offers to consider. I need to make a decision but not sure which one(s) to work for. My offers are as follow:
1. Telemetry unit at a small, 100-bed hospital, 5 minute commute from my home, 6a-6p shift
2. Telemetry unit at a larger, nicer, 300+ bed hospital, 30-mile commute, 7a-7:30p shift
3. Per diem position at Los Angeles County juvenile correctional facilities and camps via a registry, 8-hr shifts, possibly in a psych unit
4. Los Angeles County clinic, 15-mile commute, 8-hr shifts
5. Urgent care center with an independent medical group, 15-mile commute, 8-hr shifts
Here are my likes and dislikes of being an RN:
Likes:
- Working the least amount of days per week as possible, so I can have more off days
- Short commutes
- Low stress and low workload
- Doing as little as possible in terms of work, tasks, procedures, talking to patients, family members, patient teaching, etc.
- Caring for low acuity patients (the walky-talkies)
- The pay of the RN profession
- The self-scheduling at the hospital (I get to pick which days I want to work)
- Get the patient in, do what you need to do, and get the patient out (fast patient turnover)
- A 12-hr, 3-day workweek, as opposed to 8-hrs 5 days a week (this means I'm working 3 days, not 5 days.)
Dislikes:
- Exposure to infectious disease patients, such as MRSA, VRE, TB, etc.
- Caring for confused, psych, terminally ill, or very high acuity patients (I work in tele, not ICU or LTC)
- Getting up super early in the morning, like 5 am
- Codes and patient deaths
- Giving and receiving report at beginning, during, and end of a hospital shift
- Starting IV's
- Per diem positions (I want a set schedule so I will be forced to go in to work. If I had to pick and choose, I'd choose not to work at all.)
- Customer service (this is a hospital, not a hotel)
- Meetings, performance improvement activities, and the boss' "numbers" (I don't care about your numbers, at all. My job is to care for my patients, not sell the facility or come up with new ways of doing things. That's management's job. You want my suggestion boss? My suggestion is to get rid of customer service altogether. This is a hospital, not a hotel or restaurant. That way, the nurses will have more time for patient care and documentation. Of course, if I actually say what's on my mind every time I'm at work, I'd get fired.)
- Socializing while at work (I'm here to work and get paid, not make friends or talk about your children or personal life or problems)
- Birthday parties or any kind of party (see point above)
- Questions about my personal life, including whether I'm married, have a girlfriend, have kids, who I live with, who makes my lunch, etc. My personal life is no one's business.
So, which of the above 5 offers should I take? No negative comments or comments about how I should not be in nursing please. I'm not here to be judged. Just looking for an answer of which of the above 5 offers you think I should take. List in order from first choice to last choice which offer you think I should take.
Yosemite, RN, ASN, EMT-I
194 Posts
I applaud your goals, unfortunately almost all are not reasonable given today's political/economic situation. If it was up to me, I'd choose option #1, hands down, and deal with the for certain disappointments in your expectations. I can't see the others as even being options. Good luck and keep up the good fight!