runner_rn

I have been working at a small hospital on a Med-Surg floor for the past almost 4 years (November will be 4yrs.). This was my first job out of nursing school and I really do like the hospital I work for along with most of the staff in the hospital. I have been thinking about switching specialties for a while as I want to continue to grow my skills and my career. An opening in our OR came up and I applied. The job will allow me to be trained as a perioperative nurse, a pacu nurse, to do infusion sevices, day surgery and endoscopy. I will need to get ACLS and PALS certification as well as moderate sedation training. Being a small hospital the call requirement is every 5th night and weekend. Unfortunately I live too far away to respond in 30 minutes from my house so I will have to stay with my parents during my call shifts. (My husband and I have been talking about moving closer to where we both work for a little while, but we won't be able to sell our house for at least a year.) As the opportunities are so great for training and learning new skills I am willing to make this sacrifice. I was offered the job today. However I was told the pay would be the same as what I have been making as a Med-Surg nurse. I was hoping for at least a little increase in pay. Am I out of luck since I am just switching departments? I know if I went to another area hospital I would be offered more. I had also applied to an OR job at another hospital where I would strictly be a perioperative nurse. Unfortunately I have not heard back yet and even if I get a call for an interview I will no know if I will be offered the position by the time I need to make a decision about this job. Is it OK to ask for more money? Do OR nurses make more typically than Med-Surg nurses? How do I go about this? Should I ask for a specific amount? Do I have any room to negotiate? Any advise would be appreciated!

I know this topic is pretty old, but I thought I would give you a response. I took the med-surg part time position and talked to my manager and she let me orient full time. The hospital where I work is a very small hospital and I am very lucky that I have been able to work 3 12 hour shifts a week so far and they are supposed to be opening up a full time night position this coming week, which I have been told is mine for the taking. My manager has also talked to me about the opportunity to come to days and I'm not sure whether the position would be full time or part time. If the daytime position is part time, I am thinking I would love to do a part time job working in wound care or dialysis or some specialty where I would get an experience totally different than what I am doing every day. Needless to say, the opportunities even at my small hospital are very exciting to me and I am very thankful that I have management which has worked around my needs so well.

I could have written this post myself. I graduated in May 2011 also and started on a med surg floor at the end of november. Some days I feel like I do a pretty good job giving report, but others are just awful. I find the days I do better are when I have time to take a few minutes at the end of the shift and gather my thoughts, writing everything down that I need to report to the oncoming nurse, before giving report. I wish I had more advice, but I am struggling with the same problem.

I am a new grad nurse (Graduated in May 2011) and I have just completed my 3rd orientation day on my med surg unit (my orientation period lasts 3-6 months). I am working for a small hospital on a med surg floor which takes both adult and pediatric patients. The staff on my unit have so far been very friendly, kind and welcoming and after having read some stories about what some new grads experience, I am so happy to have such great people to work with. This is not only my first job as an RN, but also my first job in the medical field altogether. I am struggling with trying to learn everything because it feels like I know nothing. I am confident that in time I can become a competent nurse, but right now it seems so far away.

I graduated from nursing school with an ADN in May 2011. I have been job hunting since then with little luck. Thankfully I struck gold this month with not one, but four interviews. I first had an interview with a LTC facility which I did clinicals at during my nursing program. The facility and staff seem amazing and the pay they offered is great (the job offered is full time 8 hour shifts). The position starts out working on the floor, then when I would feel ready (as it was explained to me) I would step into a supervisory role. They have both full time and part time positions available for RNs and they are anxious to get me started. I moved forward with the offer but have not started orientation yet. In the mean-time I got a call back for an interview at a hospital where I really wanted to work. Just yesterday I was offered the position. It is a part-time position on a med-surg unit at a small hospital (12 hour night shifts). The training is great and I felt during the interview that this is where I belong. I expressed to them during the interview that I am really interested in eventually moving into a full time position with them which they made seem very possible but didn't know when that might open up. I know that the med-surg position is the one for me, but I really would like to be working full time. Not taking the hospital position is not an option. I absolutely want the hospital job whether it be part-time or full-time, it is a great opportunity. Would it be crazy of me to ask the LTC if they would try to make something work for me part-time around the hospital position? I hate to turn them down and I think there could be a lot of great learning opportunities there. Would I be taking on too much as a new grad? Should I take the hospital job and give it some time before looking for another part-time position? Will they think I'm crazy for even asking them to do this? I'm so torn!!!