jandkmom

I graduated in 94 with a BSN. I worked for 6 years, in psych for 4 and med surg for 2. Then I took 8 years off and stayed home with my two kids. Last fall, I decided that the time had come for me to return to work. I took a refresher class and got a job not too much after that. :) It took a few months for me to really feel comfortable again, but that's all behind me now. Now I'm doing charge and orienting new grads and it's like I was never away from it, except that now I'm a lot more mature and have a lot more life experience, which I think makes me an even better nurse. :)

I took a refresher class at NOVA last fall and thought that it was very good. Most of it was online, and then we met three weekends for skill lab type stuff, and then you had to have a preceptorship, which was 80 hours. I have talked to a couple of nurses who did the GM one and didn't like it as much. The NOVA is more expensive though.... I actually asked about Inova reimbursing me for the class but they didn't bite. I was able to get a job at Inova at the heart vascular center and went through a 12 week ICU fellowship, which really helped ease me back in to nursing. I'm working on an ICU step down unit. When I applied for jobs and talked to nurse recruiters, I was told that if I had been out of nursing for more than 4 years, they'd expect me to take a refresher class. Good luck to you! I believe that there are jobs out there, but certainly not as many as there were even last summer.

It certainly couldn't hurt, I would think. In my experience, it always seems like there tend to be more openings on nights.... Talk to the recruiter at least. :)

Good luck figuring out what you want to do. Follow your heart. Your kids are only going to be little once. Nursing will always be there. My children are 6 and 8. I quit my last job when I was pregnant with my 8 year old and have been a stay at home mom ever since. I've had a lot of people tell me over the years that I was crazy and that I was wasting my degree, but I knew in my heart that I had to be home with my kids. I kept my license active and had to take CEUS to renew it, so that helped keep my head into it a bit. I decided this past summer that I wanted to go back to work. I took a refresher class at a local community college and was really surprised at how much I actually remembered. :chuckle I was just hired to work part time on a med surg unit and start next week. I'm not all that worried about getting back in to the swing of nursing as much as I'm worried about balancing my job and my family.

Dang, things have changed! When I took the NCLEX, it took me six weeks to get my results. Of course I had to wait for them to be mailed to me. This was back in 1994. We were the first year that they did the NCLEX on computer. :)

That is funny flames9. I was at Fair Oaks yesterday too. I am doing a RN refresher class, and doing a preceptorship there. :)

Have you thought about taking an RN refresher class? I worked in psych for 4 years and then got burned out and wanted to get in to med surg. I took a refresher class and was hired on a surgical unit. :)

joseash- what floor do you work on, out of curiousity? I'm starting to seriously look for a job now and am very interested as to how this all works.... :)

Not a New Jersey nurse here but just saw this topic and thought that I'd give my two cents. Hope you don't mind. I graduated from nursing school in 1994 and worked as on inpatient psych units for four years. I started getting a little burned out and decided that I really wanted to get some other experiences. I actually did not have that easy of a time getting a job in med surg. I took an RN refresher class and then still, it wasn't all that easy to transition back in to the role of a med surg nurse. I did get a job working on an ortho/general surgery floor but I was paid the same as a new grad since they gave me an extra long orientation to get my feet wet again. Granted this was before the whole nursing shortage. Heck when I was a new grad, it was hard to find any job. Now days it might be a totally different story.... I loved being a psych nurse and learned a lot during those four years. Good luck figuring it all out. :)

I don't know where you are, but here in Burke, Kindercare opens at 6:30. I feel for you. I'm sort of in that position myself. My DH works in DC and he has been leaving really early to miss traffic. My kids are in elementary school, so I have to find a daycare that will transport them to school as well. It's frustrating that it has to be so complicated. You might want to try sittercity.com and care.com. They list babysitters/nannies. I have been trying to find a sitter via those sites, but without much luck honestly. But I've heard that others have good results.

Thanks for the information! :)

I have a question regarding scheduling. Do all of the inpatient units in the Fairfax area (Inova, Reston) have the RNs working 12 hour shifts? Any chance of doing 8 hour shifts? I'm an RN returning to practice and getting ready to apply for jobs. I have two little ones and it would be so much easier if I could work 8 hour shifts. I really don't even care if I have to rotate to nights.

I start my refresher class in two weeks. It's part online, part practicing skills, and doing IVs, and two weeks of following a preceptor in a hospital. As far as if you need a class.... I was told here in VA that if a nurse hadn't worked for more than 4 years, they were required to take a refresher class. I have done a lot of reading up on going back to work and it all said to make yourself as prepared and marketable as possible. I personally would be kinda scared to just walk right back on to a inpatient unit today. Meds change, policies change, equipment changes... I used to work in California actually and worked in psych as a new grad. I wanted to get a job in med surg so I took a refresher class, even though I was working as a nurse at the time, and was hired on a med surg unit. My boss told me that if I hadn't taken the refresher class, she wouldn't have hired me. I wouldn't say that I actually have a specialty. My last job was on a orthopedics/general surgery unit. I'll be happy to get a job on any kind of med surg unit and then take it from there.

I haven't worked since 2000, and am now looking at going back to work as well. I live in Virginia and was told that I'd need to take an RN refresher class in order to get a job. I would assume that would be a good place for you to start as well. Here is a link I found for the CA board of nursing. Halfway down the page is a listing of refresher classes. http://www.rn.ca.gov/schools/courses.shtml I don't know how much luck you'll have going straight in to the O.R. Talk to the hospitals where you want to work, or look them up online. It seems like there are a lot of training programs here in VA, maybe CA is the same way? Good luck to you! :)

You know, I really don't know. We've only been here for a few months. I haven't worked in 8 years, and am starting a refresher class to help me get back in to it.