Research assistant opportunity? Advise please.

[ddl77]

I currently have an education in the humanities and after feeling like my current career path was not right for me, I realized though some shadowing and volunteering that I wanted to become a nurse. I'm ready to go for it and apply. I have been planning to leave my current, nearly-full-time job before classes start in the fall to finish my master's thesis (I only have the thesis left so it would be a shame to not finish my MA) and take the remaining prerequisites to prepare for the upcoming cycle of ABSN applications. BUT, I was just offered an opportunity to be a research assistant in a five-week long study (mid-July-mid-August) at a local teaching hospital that would be up to 25 hours/week (unpaid) that begins in less than two weeks.

I would likely have to leave my job now, rather than in mid-August, which is tough, but this opportunity seems like it would give me some wonderful experience that not many pre-nursing students have. In the study, I would work directly under a Nurse Practitioner (which is my ultimate career goal) who is the administrative director of nursing at the hospital. The research would involve me interviewing patients, allowing me to interact with several patients and staff on three separate nursing units. Even more so, this hospital is directly affiliated with the university that is my #1 choice of ABSN programs, so any relationships I can build could definitely help my application. Even the NP running the study said this could be perfect for my nursing application, but she doesn't know about my current job transition/timeline.

I'm just not sure what to do because I don't want to damage my relationship with my current employer by having to give an unexpected two week's notice right away, rather than a month or two from now, and I really do respect and genuinely like my boss and co-workers. But this is the type of opportunity that will really help my nursing application, much more than volunteering, and it could allow me to build relationships with staff at the university's teaching hospital. Any advice/perspectives would be appreciated. My entire professional network is outside of the healthcare field, so I'm really looking for opinions from people who are currently preparing for, or have have gone though, nursing school. Thank you!

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Do it if you can gracefully. Priceless networking. And my summer research experience at a hospital long ago is one of the reasons I now have an RN research job.

[ddl77]

Thank you for the reply. I am leaning towards accepting it. Even though the work I would be doing isn't very sophisticated (just administering a simple, one-page discharge survey repeatedly) it would look great on a resume, give me patient contact experience and would be a good networking opportunity and possibly a recommendation letter. Are experiences like this important and advantageous for nursing school apps? I know a friend who is in medical school said research experience and patient contact was basically required of applicants in his program. I know I wouldn't be doing any high-level research/scientific work here, but it is a study that explores implementing a theoretical nursing/caring model to improve atient experience within three of the hospital's units.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Not really, but if you ever apply for a nurse research job it will give you and edge.