Out of school 2 years.. now what?

[Imeanreally]

I graduated from a BSN program about 2 years ago. I was offered a partnership at the small company I was working with at the time with a competitive salary to stay. I decided to put nursing on the back burner, I've now been with my current company (having nothing to do with nursing) for 7 years. I'm in an executive type management position, but the owner has seemed to completely lost interest in his company. He never comes in anymore, hes making extremely poor decisions, and burning through piles of cash. I'm worried about the future of the business and my career. Does anyone have any good recommendations for me? I imagine I'd need a refresher course to do any hospital work, I honestly don't know if I'm cut out for bedside nursing (just being honest with myself). Is there anything I can do at night or on weekends? Part time nurse work, will they even consider me with no nursing experience and 2 years out of school? Thanks for any suggestions..

[roser13, ASN, RN]

First of all, for any nursing position, you will be facing very stiff competition from fresh new grads and experienced nurses.You would need to take a refresher course, at the very minimum, to try to be competitive. The job market is very tough right now, more so in certain areas (large cities, for example) than others.

Did you pass the NCLEX? If not, that will be another hurdle. I believe that there are limits on how much time can elapse between graduation and taking the NCLEX.

Certainly part-time work is available, but my experience has been that employers prefer someone with experience to take those part-time roles. Home health could be part-time but would be quite frightening, I would think, for someone who has never practiced nursing. Although I will admit that I've seen new grads lately who are succeeding at it. You would need to be very competent and very sure of yourself to handle everything on your own.

I think you're looking at a big commitment of time and $$ for something that you're not really sure that you want to do.

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

In addition to what the previous poster said, night shift can be a freaking night MARE because there is less staff available to help you if you get into a bind. If you manage to get into a position, you might want to stick to days until you can really gain enough exposure to hold your own. In home health, you should be ok once you learn the ropes because you're only dealing with one patient at a time. Good luck in your search!

[Nola009]

Nursing homes might consider you. I would agree that you might take some refresher courses. In general however, LTC work requires less of the RN-level skill set.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

All you can do is try. A refresher course though would be helpful I think.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

In addition to what the previous poster said, night shift can be a freaking night MARE because there is less staff available to help you if you get into a bind. If you manage to get into a position, you might want to stick to days until you can really gain enough exposure to hold your own. In home health, you should be ok once you learn the ropes because you're only dealing with one patient at a time. Good luck in your search!

Disagree that OP would be okay in home health.

Home health hires nurses with experience because the HH nurse must have superior assessment skills. They are the only one seeing the patient, every thing hinges on their assessment.

[Twinmom06, ASN, APN]

I found that nightshift (as a new grad) provided more learning opportunities with a less hectic atmosphere. True you do have less resources, but I learned quickly that the RRT is your friend. If you land in a large teaching hospital, you will also have the support of mid level providers (hospitalists) and have less docs you're waking in the middle of the night for orders.

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

Disagree that OP would be okay in home health.

Home health hires nurses with experience because the HH nurse must have superior assessment skills. They are the only one seeing the patient, every thing hinges on their assessment.

This is what I meant by, and why I said "once you learn the ropes".

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

I actually learned how to manage my first vent patient in a one-on-one home health situation because the nurse caring for the patient only had that one patient so she had more than enough time to properly train me and this was years before I became an RN, 12 years to be exact.

[MidLifeRN2012]

It took me 2 years post grad and NCLEX to find a job in psych.

It is not as skill intensive as med surg or ER. Mostly PO medications and some IM and subQ injections. That is if it's a predominately psych floor. You do still go through the assessment process and there is a lot if therapeutic communication involved

There are med psych floors where more skills would be needed so it depends where you 'land' as a new nurse.

[firstinfamily, RN]

If you passed your NCLEX, how have you been able to keep your Nursing License active?? It sounds like you might have to take a refresher course to maintain an active nursing license. Jobs are not as easy to get as they once were. You could start out doing PRN although sometimes this is hard as you never really know what area you are going to be assigned to. Home Health does require pretty independent functioning and ability to make clinical decisions, to me someone needs experience to do this. You will be competing with the new nurse graduates as well, what about getting a business degree to take over the business or buy your boss out??