busybeethatisme

I will try to make this short! I graduated in 2009 with my ADN. After I graduated I moved to another state (San Diego, CA) with my husband for his work. (We are a military family) The job market there at the time for new grads was brutal to say the least. I applied everywhere. I could not get into any of the hospitals. I very much wanted acute care experience. But, I took any jobs I could get. Mostly contract jobs working at schools, flu clinics and for awhile in home care. I did that for about 2 years. Then I had a baby and my life changed... The struggle of deciding to work vs. stay at home with my child was very hard for me. My husband once again was getting transferred. I did get my license in that state, but decided to stay home with my child because he was deployed for most of those two years. So, I have not worked in two years and we have once again moved to another state. This time I have two kids; a toddler and almost 1 year old. My husband is set again to deploy and now I have two kids in a new state. I am very torn about going back to work; however, I miss working as a nurse so much and miss that aspect of myself of being a professional. Here are all my questions... I would like to take a nursing refresher course. What else can I do to help my skills and make me more marketable? Are there any jobs that nurses can get that are in acute care that are part time? I seem to never be able to find any. My kids already have one parent gone. I really don't want something that takes me away too much. I am trying to get something that helps give me a healthy work family balance. Is my career over? I feel like taking the 2 year break was a career death sentence. Should I go back to school for a BSN? Adding another $30,000 to my already large school loan kills me! (It took me 5 schools to finish my ADN since we move so much) Especially since I never known where our lives takes us with my husbands job. Worth it? We will move again in 3 years from now. So, I need to figure something out and get the ball rolling now if I am going to go back. Thank you for all your help!!

Thank you for fixing the post!!!

Sorry about all the inserted text...I have no idea why it did that!

I am in need of a little help deciding what to do for my career. I will try to make this as short as possible! I graduated in 2009. My husband is in the military, so we have to deal with special circumstances that typical families do not such as having no family/friend support and moving often. We moved from Hawaii to San Diego about three weeks after graduation in 2009. As many of you know Southern CA is one of the worst places to be for a new grad with no connections to find a job. I worked anything I could such as flu and wellness clinics got into home care. The home care position ended after 6 months due to the company having financial and ethical problems. I eventually landed a job that was sort of like a traveling occupational health nurse for the government and large corporations. I knew it wasn't going to go anywhere, but the hours and pay were great. My husband and I started a family, so balancing family has made things so much harder. That position ended up working out very well since it was PRN. We just moved to a new state, my husband will be gone most of the three years we are here and I am due with my second child in March. I am VERY torn between keeping a career and staying at home with my kids. I have always dreamed of working in a position that involved bedside care (in a hospital or outpatient). I have been looking at jobs in my new state and many of them want acute care experience. I did find a position at a major hospital in town that was for med surg and stated they would train;however, the position is for full time. (Finding that post is what started this inner turmoil about working) Unfortunately, the day care for the military only runs from 630am to 630pm. Not enough hours a day for me to work a 12 hour shift. (Daycare for military is $2-4 an hour whereas civilian is $10-15per hour). I could hire a nanny, but I don't trust people enough in my home alone with my child to do that. Maybe I can get a clinic job somewhere? I will have to see. My main problem though is feeling as though I should be at home with my kids and also be working as a nurse. We don't "need" the money, I would work for extra. I feel as though I can justify leaving my kids a couple days a week to satisfy the need to be a nurse and have a career. It will be very hard getting them into a daycare since the area where we moved is unique. In daycare they will no doubt be sick a lot and with no one else to help me and I can foresee having to call in sick to my work to care for my kids. Seems like I want to have my cake and eat it too!! I have a lot to work through to be satisfied with my decision of to work or not. When I have baby #2 in March life will once again change dramatically, so that is another factor. My major questions.... Do you struggle with balancing your career and raising a family? Do you have a feeling like me that you must be a super mom and work as a nurse? I am 4 years out of school with no "real" experience. If I decided to take a break and raise my kids will I ever be marketable to an employer? How should I go about keeping my skills up and keep myself marketable to an employer? CEUs and certification classes? I hope this wasn't too confusing!! I REALLY appreciate your thoughts as I am really struggling to make the right decision for me and my family.

Long story short... I left my last job because my DON would not approve my request to refer my home care patient to hospice. The DON stated she needed the money from the case and if she lost that case the company would not keep their numbers up enough to get medicare certified. The patient died four days later. I had to leave. I could not work for a company that didn't respect our patients. So...What do I say on my applications as a reason why I left. I can't say anything negative and I don't want to make myself look bad. Thank you!!