New grad nurse looking to switch hospitals - any advice?

[Nurse_Shelly1]

I've been working on the mental health floor at my hospital for about 7-8 months now. Before I was working at an LTC/rehab facility and was there for half a year. I love working on the mental health floor but I want to gain more experience on the medical floors! I want to go back to school to get my master's as soon as I can and become an NP, but I feel like I need at least a year of medical nursing experience to do that.

I was thinking about working at a different hospital and moving to a location closer to home, but I'm afraid I can't do that quite yet since it hasn't been a year. What's your guys' input on this? Should I work at my current job for a full year before I decide to switch locations?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Seeing as you enjoy the work and have already left one job after less than a year, your resume will look better if you can stick it out where you are for the full year, if not two. Most likely, you're also dealing with medical issues in addition to psych, so it's not like you're completely missing out by not yet moving to med/surg.