Ok to apply for transfer while on LOA?

Nurses Professionalism

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Specializes in Psychiatry/Mental Health.

Hi,

I am a new grad, currently working 1st shift on a busy surgical floor of a hospital, that is in a hospital group with other hospitals. I am also in school for my BSN, full-time, and I graduate in a few months. I was planning on applying to start my master's in the fall, while continuing to work, part-time. I have no children, yet. Because I am only working part-time, most of my income goes to paying off debt from nursing school.

I have been at this job for 6 months and I am already starting to feel burned out, and I only work part-time. Most of the nurses only work part-time, and even many of the veteran nurses have told me that they could never work 40+ hours on this floor, and that I should not feel like it is just because I am a new grad.

Initially, I intended to try and stay a year and then try and transfer elsewhere within the hospital group to keep my retirement benefits that are not fully vested. However, I had to have surgery recently and I am out on medical leave. When I return, I will most likely have 2 weeks of light duty. I have been told by other nurses that there is nothing on the floor I can do "light-duty", so I am not sure where they are going to put me. My fear is that they will tell me to "get help when needed", but we are almost always understaffed, so I don't see that going well.

On my floor, we basically care for patients before or after surgery, but often times, the PACU will sometimes send patients that are not stable because they need beds. I often have 5 patients, which wouldn't be as bad if 1-2 of them were not new post-op patients. Many days I find myself running in between patient rooms to try and save time and not spend a ton of time charting, afterwards. I am still working on improving my time management skills, but I am never the only one there charting, after, either. A lot of my time loss comes from days when we have no CNA, and I try and do everything for a patient, before moving on to the next room. I am learning prioritization.

I am now eligible for transfer, and a job was just listed within the hospital group for an ASC position, and I was eyeing it before my procedure. The center is connected to a different hospital. Last week, I decided not to apply because it is a longer commute, more hours, and also, I felt bad for leaving my current position so soon. I have never been a "job jumper".

However, after my procedure, I spoke with a fertility doctor who strongly suggested that I start trying to conceive in October of this year. If possible, we want to avoid starting off in debt with a newborn, so my SO is suggesting that I postpone grad school and start working full-time, as soon as possible so that we (I) can get our (my) debt paid off, and start saving for a potential baby.

I am not sure how long the position will be available and I am still on leave. Is it ok to apply while I am on leave, or should I wait? Anyone have any pros and cons that I may not have considered? Do I need to contact my manager, first, since it would be a transfer within the organization? Am I wrong to think that 32-40 hours of ASC work might be less stressful and physically demanding than my busy surgical floor at the hospital?

Thank you!

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Specializes in Psychiatry/Mental Health.

I spoke with HR and applied.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.

Due to your current situation, your surgical floor job does not sound sustainable. And neither does grad school. If you're wanting to pay off debt and start a family, you do need a job that you can tolerate closer to full time.

I think ambulatory surgery will have a more measured pace than a break-neck surgical floor.

Hopefully you can negotiate a start date for your new job based on when you'll be medically cleared to resume work. Wishing you luck.

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Hello Jamillah,

I hope the application to your new position was successful and you were able to make that transfer! I just had a question since you are a new RN and you were hopefully able to transfer successfully. I just graduated yesterday and was offered a position in a RN residency program with a large hospital that has many affiliate hospitals. It requires a 24 month commitment which I wouldn’t have an issue with, but my husband is in the military and I worry he may get orders somewhere else before my 24 month commitment is up. Since it sounds like you may have been in a similar commitment possibly, do you know if transferring to another affiliate hospital still meets those requirements of the commitment? I would just hate for my husband to get orders and me still have time left on my commitment and have no idea what I should do....thank you for your help and insight!

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Specializes in Psychiatry/Mental Health.
On 5/4/2019 at 2:50 PM, TriciaJ said:

Due to your current situation, your surgical floor job does not sound sustainable. And neither does grad school. If you're wanting to pay off debt and start a family, you do need a job that you can tolerate closer to full time.

I think ambulatory surgery will have a more measured pace than a break-neck surgical floor.

Hopefully you can negotiate a start date for your new job based on when you'll be medically cleared to resume work. Wishing you luck.

Thank you! I don't think I will get it, because they usually respond within a couple of days. I really want to stay on medsurg for at least a year, for the experience, but I am considering transferring since my initial goal was actually to work in a doctor's office, preferably cardiology. The vets on my floor say they hate it and want to quit, which makes the work environment difficult as a novice nurse, who sometimes looks to them as I learn.

The last time I worked, I had a septic medical patient (probably should have been in the ICU, but was pending transfer to a hospital with more resources) who was trending down quickly, one POD #1, one fresh post-op, who was screaming in pain and had vitals due every 15 min, and a medical patient who was stable, but was diabetic ac+hs and had other meds due q2h. We had no aid and no transport, so I was actually the one who took my patient to the OR.

Nurses on other shifts have encouraged me to change shifts, and the medical floor nurses have said there is more support on the medical floor. I may end up trying one of those options, first. I really do enjoy my job, it is just really difficult managing 1-2 fresh post-ops with an already heavy assignment.

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Specializes in Psychiatry/Mental Health.
On 5/4/2019 at 3:13 PM, LoveDogsAndNursing said:

Hello Jamillah,

I hope the application to your new position was successful and you were able to make that transfer! I just had a question since you are a new RN and you were hopefully able to transfer successfully. I just graduated yesterday and was offered a position in a RN residency program with a large hospital that has many affiliate hospitals. It requires a 24 month commitment which I wouldn’t have an issue with, but my husband is in the military and I worry he may get orders somewhere else before my 24 month commitment is up. Since it sounds like you may have been in a similar commitment possibly, do you know if transferring to another affiliate hospital still meets those requirements of the commitment? I would just hate for my husband to get orders and me still have time left on my commitment and have no idea what I should do....thank you for your help and insight!

Hi, we actually did not have a commitment requirement. I just want to stay for the experience, because I like the hospital group, and my retirement contribution will be matched. It was my first choice and I just got lucky to get hired there.

I would check with HR. During my search, all of the HR offices I spoke to were very helpful and informative. You don't have to say who you are or that you already were offered the position.

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On 5/4/2019 at 9:13 PM, LoveDogsAndNursing said:

Hello Jamillah,

I hope the application to your new position was successful and you were able to make that transfer! I just had a question since you are a new RN and you were hopefully able to transfer successfully. I just graduated yesterday and was offered a position in a RN residency program with a large hospital that has many affiliate hospitals. It requires a 24 month commitment which I wouldn’t have an issue with, but my husband is in the military and I worry he may get orders somewhere else before my 24 month commitment is up. Since it sounds like you may have been in a similar commitment possibly, do you know if transferring to another affiliate hospital still meets those requirements of the commitment? I would just hate for my husband to get orders and me still have time left on my commitment and have no idea what I should do....thank you for your help and insight!

Look at the Soldiers and Sailors relief act. This is a federal law. If your spouse receives official orders that will move his duty station and you move to follow him they are required to release you from your contract without penalty. This act applies to all contracts. If the hospital gives you any trouble make a call to the military legal aid office, they will be happy to help educate the hospital on your legal rights.

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