New nurse struggling with job...any one work in a drs office?

pagandeva2000, LPN · Feb 12, 2008

I do feel that I would rather be happy with what I am doing than to sacrifice my sanity. However, you do lose skills when working in the clinic. What I would do is apply for a clinic or doctor's office, but try and work per diem on the floors just to keep up with your skills.

CHATSDALE · Feb 12, 2008

i don't believe that , if you give notice, that changing jobs will have any effect on your going on to another job

doctors office usually do not pay on the same scale as hospitals esp on a night shift but this may very well be worth the financial sacrifice if you ae that unhappy with your work

if you start to feel depressed after a few months at new job seek out some help

lorilou22RN · Feb 12, 2008

Stick it out. Hospital work is grueling, but very rewarding, and you LEARN so very much. Perhaps transfer to a diff dept? Or switch to days again. Good luck

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2008

Go where you are comfortable, not everyone needs to be a critical care nurse. I have know many VERY happy nurses who work in doctors offices, in home care, in insurance offices, in outpatient clinics, and a few who have put their license in not active status and work as clerks or in medical records.

pagandeva2000, LPN · Feb 12, 2008

Go where you are comfortable, not everyone needs to be a critical care nurse. I have know many VERY happy nurses who work in doctors offices, in home care, in insurance offices, in outpatient clinics, and a few who have put their license in not active status and work as clerks or in medical records.

I actually think about that very often. I would like to have an option to work somewhere else and do nursing on the side. I do enjoy nursing, but the politics is really a pain in the rear end. Or, since I am a phlebotomist, I may do side jobs doing that alone, without all of the hoopla of patient care.

miko014 · Feb 13, 2008

I dunno if I would call it quits just now. You might have to look long and hard to find a non-hospital job that will take you with so little experience. And yes, you could be limiting yourself in the future. There are several non-hospital nursing jobs (the last I ran across was a case management job) that require more than a few months of clinical background. If you apply to a place like the one I am thinking of in the future, it won't matter how many years you have been doing whatever else you might end up doing - they won't be able to hire you because they are accredited by an organization which requires each of their nurses to have at least 3 years of acute inpt clinical experience. I would be more worried about that than the whole "will I be able to get back into it later if I quit now" mentality. I think most hospitals have RN re-entry programs to get your skills back up to snuff. No matter what though, if you do go, the idea to stay contingent or per diem somewhere is a good one.

Try not to focus on the bad stuff - why did you leave days anyway? If you're a day/night rotator, then you should be back on days soon. I would just wait for that. If you won't be going back to days, try for a transfer to a floor that WILL let you do days. I know the night shift money can be fantastic, but you would have to give up that money to go to a doc's office anyway. If you really loved it before, try to go back to that!

Good luck!!!

RNperdiem, RN · Feb 13, 2008

I understand what you are going through as a new nurse. I often dreamed about finding a "hospital escape route" where the work was less demanding. Many nurses still are seeking these few and far between (often lower paying) jobs.

Unless you are so unhappy you cannot function, are being mistreated or being pushed into unsafe practice, stay a bit longer. Stay long enough so you do not quit without having another job waiting.

I believe that medical assistants have most of the doctor's office jobs.

Roseyposey · Feb 13, 2008

Wow, I could have written this post myself. I was in the exact same position a few short weeks ago. I too was worried about how leaving the hospital would affect my future. After some soul-searching, I realized that the hospital is not where I want to make my career and if I were to stay, I most likely would not be in nursing much longer. I worked too hard and put my family through too much to abandon the profession altogether. I was able to find a public health position that pays almost the same as I was making in the hospital, and I will not again have to watch my children cry as I leave them on Christmas to go to work. I didn't think that I would qualify for the position with 8 months of hospital experience and an ADN, but they hired me. Keep your chin up, there are other jobs out there.

giannaRN · Feb 15, 2008

I was on days because the @ the hospital Im at, the new grad orientation is a few months on days then you go to nights if you have a night position.

giannaRN · Feb 15, 2008

Thanks for all your replies! I talked to my manager about my options-i told her I need to be on days, that I don't think I can wait it out. She was very understanding & said she had the same experience herself as a nurse! She said she doesn't want to loose me, and shes going to look into what can be done.

I do feel that maybe it is too early for me to know if I like hospitals or not, but even if they can give me PT/PD on days, I can find something else PT @ an office. I get a knot in my stomach everytime I pull into the parking lot and just want to turn around and quit...and it probably will keep happening until I feel comfortable...but oh man do I hate it!

I'm taking one day at a time, still looking for other jobs & trying to go with the flow!