New Grad, New Mom, & ICU Offer?

maxthecat · Mar 28, 2014

From my perspective....I think the timing is all wrong. You have a 6-week-old baby and a stable Monday-Friday day job. Now is not the time to search for challenging work opportunities! Your current job may be boring, but that is just what you need right now while you handle the physical and psychological challenges of a new baby. There will be plenty of time down the road to try your hand at other nursing opportunities.

I wouldn't worry about losing skills. They can be relearned. There will be a lot of learning involved any time you switch specialties and you may feel as if you are a new grad, back to square one. And that's OK. Just concentrate on learning what you need to for the job at hand and don't worry whether you are learning fast enough or whether you are as smart as the nurse next to you. I can tell you from experience that trying to learn new information while simultaneously monitoring whether you are learning it fast enough or well enough in comparison to somebody else will guarantee that you WON'T learn it as fast or as well as you could. But all this is for down the road.

I don't know if you're ICU material. But I do know that now is not the time to find out.

cp2012 · Mar 28, 2014

Thanks for your input! I turned down a med/surg nights position right out of school bc I was extremely sick during my pregnancy. I just feel like if I keep turning things down because of bad timing that eventually I will stop receiving offers.

My job right now isn't M-F; it's PRN about two shifts a week. I know it sounds perfect for a new Mom, and it might be...But again, I'm afraid I'm losing skill and knowledge.

Question...would your response be different if I said I had an offer from a Med/Surg floor? I just got an email today saying that a different hospital would be setting up an interview with me for a nights med/surg position "here soon". Would that make a difference or are you saying you think it's bad timing to be starting a new job period? Thanks so much for you advice.

OCRN3 · Mar 28, 2014

Is the only reason you want to go to the floor is because you will lose skills? In all honesty being a mom changed the way I thought about work. Working 12s on the floor with very sick people didn't let me come home and relax and play with my kids. Now my kids are older and I have more time with them having a M-F job. The 12s are great for a single person, not too much a family. 12s sound great, but they are usually not an easy 12 hour shift. 3 days a week are great but usually you need 1 day to recover. With a new baby you won't have the luxury of sitting around on your day off.

I do see your point in possibly losing skills, but if you want women's health you should try applying on those areas. Getting your foot in the door is a good idea too though as long as you don't stay too long in departments you hate.

No solid advice except that I wouldn't do it with a new baby.

maxthecat · Mar 28, 2014

I think that now isn't the right time to be taking on the challenges of a new job of any kind. Enjoy your baby.

Caffeine_IV · Mar 28, 2014

Calm down because they haven't offered you a position yet. Ask about the orientation if you are truly interested.

I would seek out part time vs full time because if you have not worked nights, this will be a totally different ball game for you.

I went back after 10 weeks of leave to a job I knew well and had a difficult time adjusting with a newborn, breastfeeding, sleep etc. How does your husband feel? Who will watch baby while you rest? You need real sleep not cat naps.

I have no idea of how you would fair in ICU or on a general floor as both require critical thinking and various skills but the actual clinical things (iv starts, ng tube, catheters, etc) are things that can be retaught and mastered.

kiszi, RN · Mar 28, 2014

ICU is not the place to get a "foot in the door". The facility is not going to want to spend 3 to 6 months training you for the unit if it is not what you truly want to do. Med surg might be a better fit. But I feel you have the right idea about getting that experience now. It may be tougher to get a foot in the door later. You will figure out how to make it work with a baby. It can be done, trust me. Good luck!

p.s. I have two kids and love 12s! Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Wrench Party · Mar 29, 2014

I'll be the optimist here: if you have the family support and the drive to do it, I don't see why a small community ICU would be a bad place to work for a few years with a newborn. Even though we know there are many different fields of nursing, I still think the mentality of "all nurses need to do some time in the hospital" exists. The benefits I can think of are:

1) challenging learning environment

2) reduced childcare costs on 3 12s

3) a network of other working moms at work

4) young children have more relaxed schedules than school age children

msygrnbw · Mar 29, 2014

If you can afford to not work right now, I think you should appreciate the ability to take that time with your child. However, I do not think that isn't something that can go along with working. I'm not sure that a full time ICU position is the best fit right now though, but also I'm not sure (at least I wouldn't feel as comfortable) if part time in ICU is the best learning atmosphere for a new nurse. If you sounded really set on ICU I would probably encourage you.

That's not the case though, from your post. I think that you might benefit from listing the pros/cons of the job and seeing if there are other prospects that might suit your situation a little better. Either way, I think you COULD do it if you want, but you probably wanna give it a careful consideration.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Mar 29, 2014

Thanks for your input! I turned down a med/surg nights position right out of school bc I was extremely sick during my pregnancy. I just feel like if I keep turning things down because of bad timing that eventually I will stop receiving offers.
My job right now isn't M-F; it's PRN about two shifts a week. I know it sounds perfect for a new Mom, and it might be...But again, I'm afraid I'm losing skill and knowledge.
Question...would your response be different if I said I had an offer from a Med/Surg floor? I just got an email today saying that a different hospital would be setting up an interview with me for a nights med/surg position "here soon". Would that make a difference or are you saying you think it's bad timing to be starting a new job period? Thanks so much for you advice.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but you don't really have any skills to lose! A degree and a license only gives you the chance to LEARN skills! You've only been at your job for eight months. Stay a year or two. If you then want to try hospital bedside nursing, go for it. Learning "skills" is the easy part, and you'll be taught the skills you need on orientation.

iluvgusgus · Mar 29, 2014

I say to go for it. I just started in an ICU and some of the pts are not that difficult, and I highly doubt they will give you the most critical of critical pts right off your orientation. The last 2 pts I had were walkie talkies with like 2 meds each due at 9 am which was wayyyy easier than my med/surg pts. I have a 5 month old baby and I think it is just going to get harder raising him so when is the time right, you know? Ask how long their orientation is. If it's like 12-16 weeks , I think that should be plenty of time, you might get sick of being coddled being on orientation at that point. If it is a small hospital their ICU is probably more like a high acuity med-surg floor in a big hospital. You will be fine, it is totally normal to feel this way and it will take time to get that confidence but you will get there.