vritti

Thank you all for the support and advice! I'm going to do my best to keep an open mind and learn as much as possible for the rest of the program then see where I'm at in two months when it's over. It might not ultimately be the right place for me but I'm glad I at least have the opportunity to try floor nursing without jeopardizing my current job. Thank you for helping me realize that the important thing is for me to do what makes me happy! Good luck to all of you!

I am looking for some advice from the wise hearts and minds of the AllNurses community. This is a bit long, but here is my situation. I graduated in nursing school in 2011. While applying for nursing positions, I was offered a short-term position in healthcare IT which I accepted, thinking it would be a good way to make some money while searching for a nursing job. I was eventually hired on permanently and have now been in this job for over a year. There are lots of things I like about it. My coworkers are great, I'm constantly given the opportunity to learn new things, and I love the fact that the work I do makes a difference for every patient that enters our hospital. Despite this, I still had a lingering desire to work as a floor nurse so I applied to a local RN Transition Program and was very lucky to be accepted. My job agreed to allow me to work part-time to accommodate the 3-4 shifts per week I would be interning at another hospital. I am now halfway through the Transition Program and am questioning whether floor nursing is really for me. I don't know if it is the fact that I've been out of nursing school for so long, if my unit/preceptor aren't a good fit, or if I was just naive to think otherwise, but I feel totally incompetent. I constantly ask questions and ask for help, but I still feel like I'm mostly on my own and am not getting the kind of learning experience I had hoped for. I am on a very challenging unit with patients who often cannot communicate and am not confident enough in my skills to feel that I'm able to care safely for this patient population (or any for that matter) with this degree of independence. Unfortunately, it is not an option to try transferring to a different unit. I realize it is somewhat normal to feel afraid as a new nurse and I know I am not in a place to be picky about experience. I feel like a horrible person when I think about how many other new grads would love to be in my position. At the same time, I am so unhappy and overwhelmed. I feel like this may be my last chance at a floor nursing position and I don't know if I would regret never trying it (most interns are offered a position on their unit at the end of the program). On the other hand, I have a job that I enjoy that still allows me to work in healthcare and doesn't make me miserable. Would I be giving up too soon if I were to go back to my IT job after the Transition Program is over? Any advice/personal experiences would be much appreciated. Thank you!