Alararn89

Hey everyone! I’m really struggling right now and would love any input you other nurses have. I worked for 6 years as a NICU nurse. When my daughter was born, I wasn’t able to get on day shifts and the nights were killing me. I finally decided to stay home with my kids for a while. I ended up getting my MSN while I was home. During that time, I also started a business as a health and life coach helping other women make their mental health a priority. So far I have helped several women and love coaching because it gives me the flexibility to be home. My struggle is that I got reached out to by a NICU and they FInALLY offered me a day shift position. (I have tried to get a day shift NICU spot forever). It’s full time (3 12 hour shifts)…The NICU also told me there is an opportunity to move into an educator position down the road. I also found a day shift PRN job working as a hospital nurse coordinator (2 shifts a month). I’m really feeling torn. Torn between going back and advancing my NICU career or working on my business and working PRN. My kids are 3 and 5 now so I know they will be okay if I go back, but it’s been so long…any input would be great!

I’ve been a nurse for 7 years. My background is in NICU. I worked for several years on the unit and then took some time off when my son was born due to being burned out. During that time I went back and got my MSN. For the last year I started my own small business as a health coach teaching new moms how to practice self-care. I really enjoy my small business especially because I get to be home with my kids. Recently, my husbands job has not been as stable, so we need me to return to work. I have a full-time offer at a NICU with great pay and benefits. I also have a per diem offer at a college as a clinical instructor, but this job has no health benefits. We currently do not have any benefits because my husband’s job does not offer them. I’m so nervous about what job to take. One of them has more guaranteed hours and great benefits. The other one offers me more time to be home with my kids but less stability and no benefits. Ultimately, I really want to grow my business and I’m just trying to figure out how to balance it all. I left nursing due to burn out and missing my kids so I’m nervous about going back. Any advice would be helpful!

So recently I just started a new nursing job last month working from home as a telehealth nurse. So far I love the job but it’s taking a toll on my two children at home. I have a 3.5 year old and a 15 month old and I have been working three 8 hour shifts a week and one 6 hour shift. The hours are all over the place. Sometimes I work 1:30pm-10pm, 9am-5pm, 5pm-11pm and 10am-630pm.. I thought working from home I would be able to see them more often and that it wouldn’t be hard for them. There’s been so many changes for them recently and I feel like this is really hard on them with my schedule being so different everyday . Now that my husband is back at work I’m trying to decide whether I should go back to being home with them or not. I love being a nurse but Things were just going so much better when I was home with the kids and not working

Thank you all so much for the great input and advice. Childcare for me is my husband. With the stay at home position, the hours I would be required to work would work around his schedule so he would be able to be with them while I work from home. I would be able to work from 5 am to 1pm three days a week and then 5am to 11 am one day a week to get my 30 hours which would be full time. Then my husband works from 2pm-8pm.

I have been a nurse for six years. I currently work in the NICU at a hospital and I graduated last August with my MSN in nurse education. I love being in a NICU nurse, But the hospital that I work at doesn’t offer very many advancement opportunities especially something using my masters degree in nursing. I recently applied for two positions and was offered both jobs and I am torn between what I should do. The first job is a job as a nurse clinical coordinator/educator. This job will be working at a college and I would be supervising the other clinical instructors and also helping as an educator and mentor for the students. This is a full-time salaried position and they offer amazing benefits. The schedule would mostly be Mon-Fri. The other position is a nurse triage position where I have the ability after two months to work from home. I would be taking phone calls from patients and educating them and helping them with whatever they are needing at the time. This position offers advancement opportunities to a nursing supervisor and also nursing a nurse educator if I wanted to move into that role. These would also be work from hone positions. The hours are extremely flexible. You can work almost any hours at any time of the day. They also have amazing benefits that you don’t have to even pay for. Both positions are comparable as far as pay goes. The reason I’m struggling with deciding is because at my current job I usually work two 12 hour night shifts, and they have been very hard on me. I have two little kids at home one 3 1/2-year-old and a 1-year-old. I don’t usually sleep which is rough. Both of these positions are dayshift but they are also full-time. My husband has a super flexible schedule to help out which is nice. I just don’t know long-term which is a better option. One offers the flexibility of working from home which sounds amazing long term, but I would be new to triage nursing. The other would be working at a college and being over the other nurse educators. I don’t know why am struggling so much I just really want to make the best decision for my family and for my career.

I just got an interview for a same day surgery unit in a hospital and was wondering what hours the nurses usually work? I know it’s a Mon-Fri position with no nights, but was just wondering what hours and how long the shifts usually are in same day surgery

Thank you everyone for your responses, I really appreciate it. I decided to take the job, and I start next week. I am going to give it a good chance and see how I feel after working there for at least six months to a year. I am actually really excited now and feeling so much better about this opportunity and my decision, so thank you guys for all your input!

Thank you so much for your input! I really appreciate it. That sounds like a great plan.

I am a nurse who just finished my bachelor's degree online this month. I am 28 years old, and I have been a NICU nurse for the past 4 years. I started as a new grad in the NICU and I have been there ever since. I love being a NICU nurse, but recently I have been wondering if I should look into other areas and get more experience in a different field. I love working with the babies, but there is a part of me that wants to work with adults or possibly Pediatrics. Being a NICU nurse has been an amazing experience and I love my job. It is very rewarding and I feel very confident in my skills as a NICU nurse. When I was a CNA I worked in an orthopedic unit and I really enjoyed the interaction with the adult patients and all of the people that I met. In the NICU sometimes I miss interacting with my patients the way I did in Orthopedics. I do get to interact with the parents and so that part is nice. I want to become a nurse practitioner, but I don't think that I want to be a neonatal nurse practitioner. I don't see myself wanting to work in a hospital as a practitioner. I don't think having to take call shifts or work 24 hour shifts would be a good fit for me. I would love to be a family nurse practitioner who sees patients in a clinic or possibly a pediatric nurse practitioner. I also have been looking into just getting my masters in nursing education. My dilemma is that I just moved to Texas and I have been offered a position in a level 3 NICU. This would be an amazing NICU to work in, and if I decided to get my Master's degree, I could eventually become a nurse educator working in the NICU and I know I would be very good at it. Part of me feels like I should take this opportunity, but another Part of Me is thinking about looking into other positions and possibly taking a job getting experience with adults or children. Then from there, I could apply to become a family nurse practitioner, and eventually care for patients in a practice like I have envisioned myself. It is hard because I could see myself being an educator as well. My only fear with this is throwing away an amazing opportunity with this NICU position and regretting my decision and realizing what a great job I had. I love nursing because there are so many opportunities and experiences, but sometimes I feel like I wind up getting confused about what I want to do. I feel like I am at a Crossroads between possibly losing an amazing job opportunity, or possibly limiting myself and not stepping out of my comfort zone to see what other opportunities are out there. Any input or advice would be really appreciated. Thank you so much!