Outpatient back to hospital? Am I crazy?

[ivyleaf]

I am contemplating switching jobs from outpatient primary care back to the hospital

I did psych nursing for about 8 years but got burned out and have always wished I tried med surg and wanted to work in the ED

Last summer I applied to a bunch of jobs, outpatient and inpatient medical. I got an interview and shadow at a small local ED that deals with a lot of substances abusers and psych, but only got an offer at the primary care/internal medicine group. About a month after I started, I got a callback from the ED w/an opportunity to shadow, and received a tentative offer- since it is the same organization I had to get special approval from the HR managers to transfer depts before 6 mo, and this was denied. The nurse manager told me to apply in the future/when my 6 mo was up

At the internal medicine group Im a float and go to different offices, which is nice bc I love the variety and get bored easily, and the hours are great-- M-F 8:30-5p, schedule is flexible (OK to leave for 2 hrs during the day for a PT intake), I get pretty much any time off I ask for as long as I have the ET, pretty low stress, I like my boss and most of my coworkers.

Although Ive learned and am learning a lot, I get tired of sitting at a desk all day making phone calls and still want to try something more medically acute, esp the ED. The ED where I got the offer has a fair amount of turnover because the hospital/ED will be closing and consolidating at the bigger trauma center in the town over in 2-5 years. It will likely turn into an urgent care, which is a lot of what they receive anyways.

I see postings every so often and keep thinking about applying, but I am comfortable here and it is so hard to think about giving up 830-5 (I am not a morning/7a or nights person), M-F schedule, no holidays, low stress. ED/hospital nursing is much more stressful and there would be a huge learning curve as I have had no med surg. I also think I will get burned out in a year or 2 since they have so much psych and substance abuse, but from what I heard it is a great learning environment compared to the bigger ED if you dont have experience, esp as they are willing to hire ppl without experience.

Whenever an 11a-11p shift pops up I think about applying-- just saw days w 11-11 rotation -- part of me wants to apply but the other part of me says what am I thinking?? My last job was eves and I picked up some nights, and my schedule was so crazy, although I did 8s not 12s (I prefer the idea of 12s)

Any thoughts? just looking for opinions ..

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

You are crazy, but boredom can be as bad as stress. You can always go back to outpatient care most likely if you leave gracefully.

[bugya90, ASN, BSN, LVN, RN]

You are crazy! But you have to do what makes you happy. I'm in a family med clinic so I get the boredom and making phone calls part. I will say the outpatient is much more family friendly for the most part if you are at that point in your life. If you are already past that or don't want kids for a few more years then go for it.