Old Dog, New Tricks

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Wrongway Regional Medical Center (WRMC) has a reputation for having a high staff turnover. Recently there has been a mass exodus of staff, including a lot of RNs.

I work Psych and my wife Belinda works Med-Surge. Belinda recently noted that there were openings in Psych and Medical in our hometown at Anomaly Memorial Hospital (AMH), so we both applied. Belinda was told at her first interview that she was "a Godsend" and they couldn't wait to show me to the exit.

Belinda got and accepted the position, and I was depressed for about a half an hour when informed that the Psych position went to another candidate. I was extremely happy for Belinda, believing she will be working at a real hospital where her skills can be appreciated. She will take a slight cut in pay, but will have better benefits and a shorter commute. I was happy for myself, as I would have had had to take nearly a $10 an hour cut in pay at AMH.

I was also happy because I am generally comfortable working at WRMC. As much as AMH is a real hospital, WRMC is, in Belinda's term, a grunge hospital. I feel a certain amount of comfort in dealing with the nonsense and chaos, I feel like an eagle in a flock of turkeys.

However, if I went to AMH, I believe would feel like the turkey in a convocation of eagles and I'd have to learn new "stuff". So I'm kind of content in being a complacent stick-in-the-mud.

So- how about you old dogs- or COBs: Have you, in your golden years, began a new position in a different facility, or had to learn new tricks?

Did your transition go smoothly? Or were you like an old dog learning new tricks, where you could learn new tricks, it just took a longer amount of time than when you were younger?

Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
I've been fortunate to learn from some incredibly wise nurses, including many of the nurses on AN.

As they say, "What goes around, comes around", "We are known by the company we keep", "You are what you eat", and "With friends like you..."

Never mind.

Okay wimp. Do what you want. Be glad I'm not your wife ;)

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Hey, hppygr8ful! You wanna come work at Wrongway with me?

There are lots of openings for People with your kind of talent and skill!

I admit it's a rather cool skill set - but I am happy where I am until the man cub goes off to college in 3 years,

Hppy

Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
Has anybody read William Wright's Born That Way and are aware of the concept of the predisposed genetic template personality?

Mr. Wright did a study of identical twins that were separated in infancy, raised in different families, yet startlingly, as adults, possessed the exact same personality types, proving the personality is more nature than nurture.

The Old Dude and I were participants in Mr. Wright's study.

I hope you don't mind me sharing this fact... Brother.

That's OK, we both knew it couldn't stay a secret forever.

As they say, "What goes around, comes around", "We are known by the company we keep", "You are what you eat", and "With friends like you..."

Never mind.

I recently switched specialities and I look forward to the day when it feels like a bit of a rut! In my younger years, I spent several years in a specialty, would get bored, and then bounce to something new. I liked that and it served me well.

That being said, at my age, I'm ready to plant some roots for a while, get the perks of some real seniority, and hopefully enjoy becoming an expert at some point in this specialty. I've been around the playground long enough to know that my days of adrenaline seeking and pushing myself to the physical limits are slowly winding down. That was part of the massive specialty shift for me, but not all.

Who knows? Maybe I will follow my historical pattern of boredom and move on to more aggressive waters again, but I just don't know. At this point I'm looking forward to the day where I am a senior (seniority wise!!) nurse on the unit and and have the comfort level that comes with being an expert nurse in that unit!

Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
Okay wimp. Do what you want.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
I recently switched specialities and I look forward to the day when it feels like a bit of a rut! In my younger years, I spent several years in a specialty, would get bored, and then bounce to something new. I liked that and it served me well.

That being said, at my age, I'm ready to plant some roots for a while, get the perks of some real seniority, and hopefully enjoy becoming an expert at some point in this specialty. I've been around the playground long enough to know that my days of adrenaline seeking and pushing myself to the physical limits are slowly winding down. That was part of the massive specialty shift for me, but not all.

Who knows? Maybe I will follow my historical pattern of boredom and move on to more aggressive waters again, but I just don't know. At this point I'm looking forward to the day where I am a senior (seniority wise!!) nurse on the unit and and have the comfort level that comes with being an expert nurse in that unit!

I can identify with your entire post, PixieRN, and pulled a piece of an article that I wrote some years ago that correlates with our younger years:

In September 1993, I began a full-time position as a Skilled Nurse doing visits and shifts for a Home Health care agency. I had sporadically worked some midnight shifts for this agency six months prior to joining full-time. Meanwhile, I had been working 12 hour midnight shifts full-time at a small local hospital on the Med/Surg unit and in the ER. I decided to leave that position when the Home Health position was offered. I loved the one-on-one relationship with the patient and family. And, as an added benefit, I would be making a better salary.

After about a month of working full-time as a visiting nurse, I was offered the position of Nursing Supervisor. The Administrator and Director of Nursing noted that they believed me to be "a motivated quick learner". My responsibilities would include management of the cases and the staff providing Skilled Nursing services to the Medicare hourly and visit cases.

Medicare had recently begun authorizing benefits to homebound Psychiatric patients. The Administrator of the Home Health care agency requested that I institute a program to serve this population. Having had a few years of Psychiatric experience, I was qualified to institute and manage such a program, according to Medicare guidelines. To the best of my knowledge, it was the first "At Home Mental Health Care" program in the Midwest.

There have been several Administrative positions at Wrongway I could have bid on, but that's just not where my head is anymore.

Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
Be glad I'm not your wife.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
I don't think I like learning new stuff anyway!!

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
I'm kind of content in being a complacent stick-in-the-mud.

And I found a position in the Want Ads for which I just might be qualified:

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Davey do, you should be a professional comedy writer!

Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
And I found a position in the Want Ads for which I just might be qualified:

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Now there's a job I'm well qualified for! I'm kind of in that boat too. Working at the same place for 20+ years. Did a short stint in management and hated it. Don't like the added paperwork, don't like being the one staff calls for EVERY LITTLE THING. I like going to work, doing my job and going home at the end of the day being able to leave work at work. But every now and then I get that little tickle at the back of my brain, I tell myself I do it by choice and mostly I mean that but there might be a little bit of deadbeat in there too!

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