jafferine

Hi! The interview was awesome. I initially spoke to the HR rep, and tomorrow have my second interview with the actual supervisor for the position. It feels like home nursing is right up my alley. I do think I will ask first if I can shadow a nurse for a day or so before making the ultimate decision to leave. The pay cut is tremendous and if I am offered the job and want to take it, I need to negotiate a bit more. The company website states that the hiring wage is based on experience, and while I just graduated nursing school in May, I have over 20 years of customer service experience. The company's mission statement emphasizes quality customer service, so I hope they will take my experience into consideration. One more thought, I worked one my shifts at the hospital the other night. It has been real difficult for our floor of late. We are accepting patients with a much higher acuity than we are trained, and the staffing ratio is consistently more than we feel safe. Our union contract starts negotiations in December and it is rumored there is a hiring freeze right now. On top of that, we were just bought this summer by a "mega" hospital network (which is NOT unionized...this will be interesting). When I left in the morning, I was overcome with guilt at leaving while my co-workers are so overwhelmed and stressed. My night manager goes out of her way to help us out as long as we are making an effort to work hard and show team work. UGH...I don't know what to do.

Thanks to everyone who posted and provided their input. I do appreciate it. My interview is tomorrow! I do have to ask Ruby, if managers don't like hiring new grads, who would they hire? There are never any FT daylight jobs available (or for that matter, PT daylight jobs) for new grads. By the time all the daylight jobs are posted internally, the nurses with experience and/or seniority have already applied, and all that is left are these night jobs. Don't get me wrong, I agree and understand that seniority rules. I might be a new grad, but I am not a young gal. I worked for over 25 years before I was laid off and got the chance to go to nursing school. So, I understand the politics of business and I am not a job hopper. 20 of those 25 years were with the same company before my layoff. My layoff was a blessing because I have ALWAYS wanted to be a nurse and I am very excited to be here. (I have personal reasons I won't bore anyone with as to why I didn't go to nursing school right out of high school.) I know that just because my managers are so nice, that is not necessarily a reason to stay. I HATE third shift and no, I haven't been on it for my whole four months, but I HAVE been on it for three months and it isn't getting easier for me. To an extent, I enjoy the work there. However, on my floor so far hospital nursing has offered only med passes, getting vital signs, and charting. I am not really practicing any nursing skills. So, aside from the fact that my coworkers and managers are nice, there isn't much that I feel I am gaining from this job. I have a friend who has worked for this home nursing company for 7 years. It is a large company, and is consistently rated one of the top 100 places to work in our state. Not just in the medical field, but ALL industries. Yes, there is a lot of autonomy for a new nurse to handle, and I definitely plan to address that situation during my interview. I also am going to ask if I can do a ride along for a day. Like turningred15 said, the interview will be a good time to ask A LOT of questions to help me decide if leaving is the best thing for me. (That is if I am even offered the job!) Thanks again to everyone and thanks for your support. I will keep you posted! J

Hi, I am a new grad and have been working PT on a med surg floor for almost four months. Two of those months were orienting with a preceptor. I love patient care but am not sure hospital nursing is for me, plus I am working third shift which I KNOW is not for me. I have a job interview for home nursing which will allow either daylight shift or 12-8 shift. It is also PT, but the shifts work so much better for me. My question/concern is, how do I tell me current employer I want to leave already (that is if after my interview I am offered the job and feel like it will be a good fit) after they spent all that time training and orienting me. They are a great group of people to work with and my managers are so nice, I feel like I would let them down and don't want them to be angry. Any advice? Anyone "been there, done that?" Thanks!

Hello, after 20+ years of wishing I could afford to leave my job and go to nursing school, I finally have the opportunity and just found out I was accepted at my school of choice for Fall 2011. Yay! But now I am nervous because not only do I see the posts here about how overwhelming it can be, all the homework, lack of family life, my own acceptance packet had a letter advising that there will probably be 3-5 hours of homework a night! I am a good student, I have gone to school at night throughout my career (3.8 GPA), so I will more than likely only have nursing classes. All my pre-reqs are done. Is it as bad as people are saying? What kind of homework takes up 3-5 hours a night? I have wanted this for so long and now of course I am worried that after all this time, might I not be able to cut it? Thanks!