tericontrary

Now I'm not a lawyer, so be sure to verify this, but my understanding is that in my state (California) an agency cannot prevent you from taking a job, even if you've signed a contract that says you wouldn't. As a nurse, you are considered a professional, and to restrict you from working in your profession would be restraint of trade, which is illegal. In the California Business and Professions code, it states: 16600. Except as provided in this chapter, every contract by which anyone is restrained from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind is to that extent void. This may vary from state to state. Now, that may not prevent the hiring institution from wanting to hire you, because they may not want to jeopardize their own relationship with the agency. If I were in your shoes, I would contact a lawyer in your state familiar with labor law, or nursing law. But I also like the idea of becoming an independent contractor. If you've already got a relationship with a hospital(s) in the region, they would probably be happy to make a deal with you. I knew an ICU nurse once who did that and he did very well. So well, in fact, that he ran into some tax problems, so if you go that route, be sure to get a good accountant! JMO Good luck!

I'm actually surprised that a med/surg manager would consider you for the job. On the med/surg unit where I work, we hang blood on a regular basis. I don't know exactly how much of the process your beliefs will permit you to do, but I do know that it's a time-sensitive thing (30 minutes from blood bank to start, for example.) On night shift, we often have to go to the blood bank ourselves and transport it to the patient. By the time the blood bank releases it, verifies it, and it gets to the patient, it's not unusual for it to be a close call to get it started in time. If you had to get another nurse to do that, with our patient loads what they are, it may be difficult to get it all done before it expires. It's unfortunate, because you're probably a very good nurse, but you have to be true to your own beliefs, and if it conflicts with patient care, then you have a choice to make. I do understand that, because I wanted to be an OR nurse, and I did get accepted into a program. But when it was posed to me that I might be called upon to do cases that involved a particular procedure, and that I would not necessarily be able to refuse because of my beliefs, I decided to step down myself. It was just a choice I had to make. Fortunately, there are so many other areas of nursing, I didn't have any problems finding another job. Good luck! There are so many things you can do in nursing. In the long run, you'll be glad you stood by your beliefs.

I had a similar experience when I was a new grad. What I finally did was I applied to a hospital about 3 hours away from where I lived. I got the job, got a little, teeny, tiny apartment to stay in while I was working, and then came home on my weekends off. After about a year, I had enough experience that I was able to get a job closer to home. Now that I am (temporarily) a stay-at-home mom, I kind of miss my little "bachelorette pad". At least I always knew when I came home it would be clean! Good luck.