Want to switch from psych to ED and just accepted a clinic/outpatient job offer--help!!

[ivyleaf]

I graduated in 2007 with an associate's degree in nursing; I also have a BA in psych. I have been working for 8 years in various psych nursing roles; it was a good fit for a while, but I have always wanted to work in the ED and always wondered "what if?" I live in a city with a lot of nursing schools/competition for hospital jobs.

Over the past few years I've applied off and on to various ED and med/surg positions with no luck. My current job is on a psych floor of a general hospital-- besides one per diem job, I had only worked as a staff nurse in freestanding psych units or in the community, although I did work as a psych case manager within a hospital. This summer I also applied to ambulatory/primary care clinics. I did a bit of networking and got an interview at the ED at my hospital's "sister" hospital (our ED doesn't hire nurses without med/surg), but was told they already had too many new grads/new ED nurses.

I was going to use the same connection to try to get an interview on a med/surg floor, but before I could, I got an offer for a floating position within our hospital's outpatient clinics, including the urgent care center. It was a hard decision, as I could have kept applying to med surg jobs within the hospital and elsewhere, but I had applied to 15-20+ already (cover letter and everything) with no luck. I have also been frustrated with a lot of things going on at my unit, and figured that at least this job would get me out of psych. I am interested in learning new things and I think the urgent care exp will be helpful in applying to ED jobs.

The problem is that I'm becoming worried that I've made the wrong decision-- A bunch of new med/surg positions have been posted at our hospital and a friend of mine on my psych unit is applying to med surg jobs too. I feel like if I worked my connections, I could possibly get a m/s job in our hospital. However, I've already accepted this position (which is part of our hospital's network), am supposed to start in 3 weeks, and have already given notice at my current job.

I'm worried that working in outpatient will take me a step away from ED/med surg (I've accepted that the only way I'm going to get a job in the ED is through med/surg, or by going back for my BSN or doing a refresher course, and doing a clinical in the ED). I also don't want to start the job already having doubts. I have had a lot of job changes over the past 5 years, as well as a lot of per diem jobs-- I have already had people comment on this negatively and don't want to add to it by staying at another job I'm not happy with for just 1 year.

That being said, I don't want to burn any bridges and I will have no full time/benefitted job in 3 wks.

Any advice??