Nurse in Need of Guidance...

[shawtee]

Hello,

I've been an RN for one year now. Right after I got my licence, ended up in LTC. I know I know, not the smartest thing to do as a new nurse, but when I job is right in front of you and you have no money, you'll take it!!

I got another job as a client services supervisor for a homecare agency. LOVE this job more than anything. It's a 8:30-4:30, paid holiday's, weekends off, everything I could ever ask for. I don't now if I have the opportunity to grow in both salary and experience. To be honest, nursing experience is ZERO... more so administrative experience and doing occurance reports. I still LOVE THE JOB.

My concern is that I am getting to comfortable at this job. It's so ideal, but it's not "nursing". I'm not getting the experience I would get in the hospital which EVERYONE is making me feel like I need. I love this job so much but one day I will want to move on... with my lack of hospital experience, 1 or 2 years down the line, they probably won't even hire me in the hospital because I haven't been. Everyone knows getting a job for TPH, YRPH, CCAC is very difficult.

Another thing, with my weekends OFF... How am I going to get used to a job where I have to work every other weekends. I'm young, I love my weekends, I love my Friday/Saturday parties... it's something I value. But if I ever want to go into the NP program or for my masters, I need that hospital experience... someone guide me. What does one do when they are SOOO happy in the moment, but knows the moment will not last forever....

Sincerely,

Shirin

[shawtee]

I apologize for the grammatical and punctuation errors!! Just heading out!

[Daisy_08, BSN, RN]

It depends what YOU want to do with your career. If you think you could be happy in administrative and supervisor positions forever then I'd stay there. You could become a DOc or NM with some leadership courses. However if you want to work in a hospital then I'd start applying. Take some cardiac, IV or wound care courses somthing versatile to help you get your foot in the door.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Precisely. Whatever makes you happy in nursing, choose that. Not everyone wants to work in a hospital, and we need nurses in all areas. As well, you are going to see a major shift from hospital to home health, palliative, and LTC due to our aging population. Hospital nursing positions are going to diminish over the years, and the nurses who work there will continue to be expected to do more for less.

[flyingchange]

Pick up a PRN casual position in acute care and keep your day job. Problem solved :)

[JessicaG-O]

To get into a NP program you need some type of community experince I believe, but you could try. Also what area do you want to work in. If later you want to work in L&D or the OR, you can take a course for it, and then it wont matter where else you have or have not worked!

[shawtee]

To get into a NP program you need some type of community experince I believe, but you could try. Also what area do you want to work in. If later you want to work in L&D or the OR, you can take a course for it, and then it wont matter where else you have or have not worked!

Thanks for the TIP, I LOVE community nursing to be quite honest.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Actually, to apply for NP school you require 2-3 years minimum nursing experience with 2 written references. The schools also prefer nurses with critical care experience, but that also doesn't matter. I have friends in NP school who have emerg, ICU, and community nursing experiences. There's always a range.