New Nurse considering home care

[caw0408]

Hey guys,

I'm a new nurse 6 months into my first job. I work in a pediatric ICU. I love working with the patients but am unsure about whether or not I should stay at my job. They hired 6 new grads at the same time, and 3 other nurses who have no ICU experience. A lot of nights I'm left hanging out to dry with little help. Most of the time I'm scheduled with mostly new nurses because we get the shifts that the senior nurses request off. We are the only pediatric ICU for a large area, we have mercyflight etc so our patients are from benign cases like obs for ingestion to VERY sick.

After orientation (10 weeks at bedside) I was told that I would have a resource nurse which hasn't happened once. I feel like I get thrown into things I'm not comfortable with or have little experience with. Usually there isn't even a senior nurse on to schedule as a resource nurse. There's also a problem with organizational culture. Everyone, including the manager seems to be very gossipy or mean at times. There's been multiple times where I walk into a conversation where they are talking about me or one of the other new nurses.

I'm going back to school in the summer to be a Psych NP but I'm generally unhappy with my job and can't see myself there for 3 more years while I finish school. I'm not sure what to do. I love pediatrics and neonatal but I'm afraid of taking another job and hating it.

I wanted to hear other peoples experiences and also wanted to know about the pro's and cons of homecare. I was wondering what hours are like and scheduling for holidays. I would love to get off of night shift! Any encouragement is appreciated! :)

[Libby1987]

Private duty shifts or skilled intermittent?

I'd think 6 mos in peds icu is good and relevant experience for peds private duty.

But not relevant for skilled intermittent which has a huge learning curve and doesn't mesh well with going to school the first year. And the general population is usually adult with chronic illness or post op.