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I have been working on the hospital floor for 5 of the 8 years that I’ve been a nurse. I am burned out. I am done with bedside care. I have also worked in LTC and home care. I am looking for a change. I have applied for several positions for case management and telephonic nursing to no avail. I am at a loss. What other areas have you former floor nurses branched out to? What interview skills helped you get the job? TIA. PS - I have my BSN.

It's the PA Criminal Background Check that is coming up as "Under Review". When the head of HR told me it was under review, I told her the whole story. I believe honesty is the best policy. Thanks for the response :)

I am wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and can give me some insight. I am a RN in the state of PA. Last June, I was involved in an altercation and was charged with simple assault (misdemeanor). Booked. Fingerprinted. The DA said that if I went through an anger management course, they would reduce the charge to harassment (summary offense). I told the public defender that I was a nurse and that I could not have a record. The public defender told me that the summary offense was just like getting a speeding ticket and that it would be fine. So I went through the anger management course, paid a fine and was on my way. Now, I'm applying for a job and they said the criminal background check is coming up "under review". It sounds like now the summary offense is going to show as me having a record?? Has anyone had a similar experience where they were charged with a summary offense and how did you go about getting a job afterwards? I don't think I can have the arrest expunged for 3 years. Thanks in advance.

The instructor is not responsible for the patient. The instructor is responsible for the STUDENT. RNs should document anything and everything relevant to their patient. When I was a student, the hospital where we did clinicals had electronic charting. Each student had their own login. We charted our I/Os, assessments, vitals, etc. as well as any procedure/treatment we may have done. We only did treatments if the nurse agreed to LET us do it. That RN was never "let off the hook" because they had a student nurse.... because they were just that... a student. And... any charting that a student did had to be signed off by our instructor. Being a RN now, I would never assume that someone else has documented anything on one of my patients and not at least reference it in my documentation. My preceptor told me "When I do my charting, I write it as if I am saying it right to the judge". And that was very wise advice.

I did a short stint in the ED shortly after graduation (ADN), but quickly discovered it wasn't for me. As getting a position right out of school is extremely difficult (first job obtained through advisor at school). Shortly after that, I took a non clinical job doing vaccinations. I've done that for over a year. It was per diem. At the same time I started working for a staffing agency doing home visits and now have been helping out filling in for a case manager that is out on disability. However, that is per diem as well. I need a full time job!!! I live in the suburbs of Philly. I will travel up to an hour. So my questions are: Have you done agency work and been able to get a FT position elsewhere? Does it make sense to stay in the suburbs where I am or would I have better luck like in the Lehigh Valley area or somewhere else? What areas have the higher level of demand for RNs currently? Would home care experience count as "credit" if applying for a hospice position? And would there be a higher demand for hospice over home care? Does anyone have any suggestions on what my best route is for getting a job? I am so frustrated. I can't tell you how many jobs I have applied for and can't even get a call. HELLLLP!!!!

I never in a million years thought I would need to seek advice on this subject, but here it goes: As background, I lost my mom a few months ago. Then, a few days before this situation happened someone else that I know passed away. And it hit me hard. Not making any excuses for what follows but I just want to put that out there. I have no past run ins with the law. So, I was driving my kids to school, and as we got closer to school, my teenager started instigating with my 8 year old. She was told numerous times to knock it off and she just kept going. Things escalated and we are now arguing as I am on school property. I told her to give me her phone and she refused. Livid, I told her again to give me the phone and she again refused. We are now just about in front of the school and out of nowhere I smacked her. And she hit me back. I can not explain to you how out of character this is for us. Regardless, I saw red, drove over to the side parking lot with her still in the car, parked, went over to her side of the car and started smacking her. Needless to say, teachers saw it, came over, pulled me away and she went into school. The principal came out and informed me she called the cops. So the cops come, interview me, interview my daughter, she has a scratch on her neck and they put me in handcuffs and take me to the station. I am charged with simple assault. The cop asks my daughter if she wants to go to her father's house and she says no. She wants to come home to my house. Because what has happened is so ridiculous and out of character. I came home, we talked and 2 hours later you would never have known anything happened. Anyway, Child Services was called. They came out to the school the next day and talked to her. Then they had to come to my house to talk to me. The rep said that typically the school would call CFS and if CFS deemed it necessary (that's not the word I'm looking for, but it escapes me), then CFS would call the cops and an arrest would be made. She said that in this case, the cops never would have been called. So, they pretty much opened and closed the case on the same day. No child abuse. But now I have to go to court to answer to the charges of assault. So I go to court and the judge says if I pay a fine and take anger management classes then the charge will be reduced to harassment which is a summary offense. However, my next hearing is not until mid October. My license expires 10/31. I need to answer the following question on my renewal request: Since your initial application or last renewal, whichever is later, have you been convicted, found guilty or pleaded nolo contendere, or received probation without verdict, or accelerated rehabilitative disposition(ARD) as to any felony or misdemeanor, including any drug law violations, or do you have any criminal charges pending and unresolved in any state or jurisdiction? You are not required to disclose any ARD or other criminal matter that has been expunged by order of a court. Do I have to answer this question as "yes"? And then what happens? I'm so afraid I'm not going to get my license renewed because I freaked out one time. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Yeah, I totally get that and I appreciate your honesty. I don't want whoever looks at my resume to think, no duh, every nurse can do what you have listed here. But, I don't have other certifications like ACLS or IVs to list. I am struggling to come up with what sets me apart. I worked in an ED for a few months, so although I'm not IV certified, I did start IVs and then hung drips and pushed meds as needed. So I was going to list that? I have also been working in travel medicine where I administer vaccines via IM and SQ injections. I was going to list that? Now I'm thinking those are both basic skills that should not be included because every nurse can do that. I have listed: Wound care, 12 lead EKG interpretation (nurses did their own EKGs in the ER), IV starts, pushes and drips, SQ/IM injections, safety precautions, patient and family education, computerized charting and supervisory experience (my supervisory experience comes from a past life, but I have it titled Skill Highlights, not Nursing Skills so I thought I could throw that in there). I truly appreciate your feedback. I welcome any other thoughts you may have.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. It seemed like a good idea at first but not so much now. Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it :)

I am quickly approaching having a full year of nursing experience (thank GOD). I am rebuilding my resume and need some advice. I have looked at different resume formats and I like the "Skill Highlights" section, so I added it. I included "head to toe assessments" to the list. Two questions regarding that. #1, should I list that, because every single nurse has to know how to do head to toe assessments and #2, I am listing it when I describe the jobs that I have done? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated :)

Ok.. so I graduated with my ASN last May. I have been working on getting my year of experience under my belt and I'm getting there. I'm trying to update my resume in an effort to secure ONE job where I can hopefully get some decent hours. Anyway, nursing is my second career and so I'm not sure what I should and should NOT be including on my resume at this point. Do I keep my clinical rotation experience? And how much of my former jobs do I keep? I was in finance/banking in my past life so that gave me customer service experience, but it's not like I have previous experience in the medical field. Any input would be greatly appreciated :)

Thank you to everyone for your feedback!! Keep it coming.... it's awesome!!!

My Med Surg clinical instructor during my last semester of school is the Director of the ED at another somewhat local hospital. I worked my @ss off, took her up on the offer to come observe some of her RNs and when a position opened up, I applied and was very fortunate to get hired. Two of my classmates were hired too... which is really cool because we get to go through all of our orientation together. But... let me say this. From April through the beginning of August when I was offered the job, I probably applied for at least 250 jobs. Nursing homes, home care, hospitals, doctors offices.... CNA, unit clerk, RN. You name the job and I applied for it. It was so completely frustrating to me. There were people that were in another section of our program and worked at the hospital where we did clinicals as CNAs. The one girl put ALL of her work on the student nurses (you wouldn't think they would do that to one of their own, right?). In fact, our last day of clinicals, she said to my classmate, "Oh, you guys are done for the semester? Now I'm going to have to actually work!". Guess what? She got hired as an RN. I worked 15 times harder than her, but because she had her foot in the door... she got a job. All I can say is.... NETWORK!! Have friends from school gotten jobs? If so, are their employers hiring now? Could your friend pass your resume along for you? My girlfriend got a job and she was going to give them my resume to hopefully get an interview... but fortunately, I landed my dream job in the ED before then. Maybe reach out to clinical instructors and see if they could give you any leads? Where are you located? I am outside of Philly. The market is downright viscious. Now, the company that I hired to write my resume accidentally sent it to the entire east coast instead of the tri state area. I couldn't believe the calls I was getting from Florida, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York State.... basically EVERYWHERE but the tri state area. If I didn't have kids, I would have considered relocating, but.... I digress. Just keep pushing on... I truly believe everything happens for a reason. The right job for you just isn't out there yet. Good luck!!

Hi all, I graduated in May and will be starting my first job as an ED nurse next week. I was wondering if any of you experienced ED nurses could share with me initial assessments that you have found to prove helpful over the years. I had the opportunity to shadow a RN before I accepted the position and he had a really good flow with his questions that he asked his patients. After 6 years in the ED, he made it look like it was as simple as putting on your pants in the morning. Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated!

Hi all,I recently graduated from nursing school and will be starting my first job as a RN. I vaguely remember a professor talking about liability insurance. Can someone give me some advice on why I need it and who is a good company to go with?Thanks in advance.

I have applied for several different RN positions at different local hospitals. What is the best way to follow up with HR without being pushy or putting them off? I am sure they receive hundreds of resumes for each position but I want to make sure that mine has not fallen to the bottom of the pile. There are several different positions that I have applied for online and when I check the status, it says that the position is still open and they are still accepting applications. So, I know I'm "still in the running", or at least they haven't eliminated me yet. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.