Needing some advice or maybe just a swift kick in the butt.

[RyanMC, BSN, RN]

Hello:

Long time lurker here, so thanks for reading. I have been a nurse since 2006 and have worked in a variety of settings. However for the past year and a half, I have been working as a postal employee, and other than lower pay, I have enjoyed it.

With everything that is going on with COVID-19, the postal service has sent out a call for anyone with experience in the medical field to help out the occupational health nurses. Your duties would vary depending on your license. I feel that since I am a registered nurse that I should step up and help out. The only problem is that I don't feel competent to do any real nursing anymore. I don't want to step on any toes here. I know that nurses work in a variety of settings, but before starting at the postal service, I worked at a home care/medical staffing agency. I worked as the office manager and also did supervisory nurse visits to ensure requirements were being met for the Medicaid and VA programs. Before that I worked in wound and ostomy care, which feels like forever and a day ago. That's around about way of saying that I haven't had to do any critical thinking in some time. I definitely couldn't work on a floor without a...how do people get back into clinical nursing?

Should I throw my name into the hat, so to speak? I feel like I'll be doing a lot chart review and case management type activities. I really don't know though. How can I build up confidence now? Are there specific things that I could be reviewing? Any constructive advice is appreciated.

Thanks again,

Ryan