Babynurse1992

Hi everyone! My fiance and I are relocating to Covington, LA and I am STRUGGLING to find a job. I have been a nurse since 2017 with experience in adult ICU and PACU (all ages infant to elderly) at a major hospital in Louisiana. The first interview went really well. It was for a PACU position and when I called to thank the supervisor for the opportunity to interview she told me she "could not fill the position right now" and wanted to keep my application for the future. The next two jobs I applied for (pre-op and employee health) told me they wanted to seek candidates that would better fit the position. So now I am at a loss. I have applied to three more jobs at a hospital in Hammond because the commute is not too bad, but I did not think it would be this difficult to find a job when relocating! I have disclosed that we already have a place to live so that isn't a factor either. Any suggestions?

I am currently trying to relocate within the same state, but different cities. I am trying to be able to give my current job notice, but be able to start in March so as not to keep any new jobs waiting. So far I have had zero luck with any of my interviews or applications even with experience. So my best advice is to apply and be honest about relocating! I have even heard that some hospitals will offer a relocation bonus. I hope you have better luck than I have had!

If i were to decide on NP, it would be outpatient setting.. possibly FNP and not completely against specializing in pediatrics (I do pretty well with children and pediatric patients are what steered me to becoming a nurse in the first place). For education, I considered becoming a nursing professor at a local university.

interesting... the ones I have looked in to require "1 year clinical experience" but I was unsure about whether or not a clinic position as a BSN would be adequate or if that means more hospital setting. thanks for the response!

Hi! I am a recent BSN graduate (May 2017) and I am currently working in an ICU! I have an opportunity to take a position in a pediatric allergy clinic with better hours/similar pay to the job I have now, but I am worried it won't be enough experience for an online NP school when I decide to go back! Does anyone have experience with this? I also have an interview in a PACU that I am considering as well, but the allergy clinic is something I am a little more interested in! thank you!!

I have asked my manager about the potential to switch to day shift, which would take a few years to be able to do. I have also asked about having consecutive nights in a row and was told that as a new nurse, they have to put us where we are needed because of seniority. Granted, I do think the schedule would get better as time went on, but I am just not convinced that ICU is my niche! Also, the clinic that has asked me to interview is within a hospital and the supervisor told me it would be the same base pay as the hospital but without the dif for the weekends because there are no weekends/holidays. It is a pediatric allergy clinic where I would be administering allergy shots and titrating the doses/monitoring for anaphylaxis among other things. Another question I have run across is whether or not clinic experience with a BSN where I will still have to utilize critical thinking skills will be enough experience for potentially going to graduate school to become an NP or a nurse educator! Thank you for your response!

Hi everyone! a little background before I get started... I graduated with my BSN in May 2017, so I have been working in ICU for about 6 months or so and I have decided that ICU is not for me. My manager and coworkers say I do a great job and I feel good about my skills and nursing judgement, but I don't particularly like ICU. I work night shift, almost every holiday, and every other weekend, but because I'm new my schedule is all over the place and I tend to work every other night with no time to really catch up on sleep or time for myself. I have recently applied to a few clinic jobs that are M-Fri with normal work day hours. My biggest concern is taking a huge pay cut. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thank you!

Also, in now way did I want the patient to be in pain or feel like I wasn't doing my best to help him. I just felt so hopeless because no matter what I offered, he was not happy with it. I am just worried to get into trouble for not managing his pain adequately or for him to come back and complain about me (typical new nurse worries I guess). I am just constantly overwhelmed at work right now and even though I am trying my best, there are still so many things I don't know how to handle just yet. I absolutely hate the idea of making a patient upset, so I guess with this being my first upset patient I am overly concerned.

Hi everyone! So I am a brand new nurse about a week out of orientation in an ICU. Last night I had my first admit and he was in pain even with his PCA. We gave him the prescribed clinician bolus, and he continued to press his button, but the pain was still unrelieved. I called the doctor and she gave me the option to Discontinue the PCA and start him on Percocet orally along with iv morphine. When I told the patient, he refused discontinuing the PCA pump and claimed that Percocet would not do anything to help. I obtained his home medication list to find that he takes a substantial amount of pain medication on a daily basis. I called the doctor back and she gave me the option to D.C. The PCA again and start him on his PO medications. When I presented this option to the patient he still refused and asked if we could give him pain medication on top of his PCA, which was not allowed. So he refused removing the PCA and continued to press his button. He was very pleasant after this for the rest of the night. When the oncoming nurse came in he told her he was never given the option to take his home medications and that he had been miserable all night. I told him that we had discussed starting PO pain medication twice that night, but he was still unhappy. As a new nurse, I Am just wondering if this is something that will fall back on me. I did my best to control his pain and give him options, but nothing worked out. I feel like I did what I could, but naturally as a new nurse I get nervous that I could have done more or didn't do enough. I feel like there is a fine line between doing what I could do and him just being a disgruntled patient. I don't think the nurse coming on was upset with me, which makes me feel a little better, but I also don't like leaving the oncoming nurse with difficult situations. Any advice? Being a a brand new nurse is proving to be very challenging, and I feel as though I am constantly worried about messing up when I don't always know what to do. I ask for help (a ton), but sometimes help isn't available or I feel like I am not handling situations in the most efficient way. I try to make sure I document every little thing, but sometimes I worry I forget details. Thanks in advance!

0Hi! I am new to the site, so I'm sorry if I am posting this in the wrong section! I graduated from nursing school in May and have started a job in the ICU. I LOVE my coworkers and manager, but I am extremely stressed with my lack of knowledge. My orientation ends soon, and the hours (night shift, every other weekend, holidays, etc) make me wonder if I should be doing something that would allow me more time with my family. I want to stay in ICU for at least a year because it is really great experience, but I am also in search of jobs with better hours. I also know I need to work the not so great shifts to get to what I really want. Nursing is so vast and diverse, so I'm really not sure which route to take! I've looked into school nursing, PACU, outpatient surgery centers, and doctors offices, even considered going back for NP school online, but I'm not sure how to go about making these changes when the time comes or what a typical day would look like for these options! I'm also not opposed to insurance nursing, telephone nursing, or anything like that! Any advice would be greatly appreciated! thank you!!!

Hi! I would love to have more information about what telephone triage nursing is like (typical schedule/day, hours, etc). Thank you in advance! I am I new nurse looking into different options with a few months of ICU experience!

Hi! I am interested in school nursing but have no idea where to search for jobs! Any advice would be appreciated!!!!

How would you go about doing this?? I am also interested!

Yeah like I mentioned, I want to get as much from this experience as possible, so I plan on staying for at least a year. I just want more information about what else is out there! I guess I'm looking more for advice about what nurses can do that would allow for a more normal schedule! Thanks for the advice!

0Hi! I am new to the site, so I'm sorry if I am posting this in the wrong section! I graduated from nursing school in May and have started a job in the ICU. I LOVE my coworkers and manager, but I am extremely stressed with my lack of knowledge. My orientation ends soon, and the hours (night shift, every other weekend, holidays, etc) make me wonder if I should be doing something that would allow me more time with my family. I want to stay in ICU for at least a year because it is really great experience, but I am also in search of jobs with better hours. Nursing is so vast and diverse, so I'm really not sure which route to take! I've looked into school nursing, PACU, outpatient surgery centers, and doctors offices, even considered going back for NP school online, but I'm not sure how to go about making these changes when the time comes! Any advice would be greatly appreciated! thank you!!!