Reds5588

Thank you everyone for the good advice and words of wisdom. You’ve confirmed my beliefs that I am where I belong. The only reason I was contemplating even leaving because I didn’t want to be “selling myself short” or missing learning opportunities. However, I now better understand why that line of thinking was not correct.

So, I have been an RN, BSN for 5 years. I did one year at a subacute rehab before transferring to a med-surg floor in the same health system. I really loved my floor, it was a small inter-City hospital that was kind of rough but I really enjoyed it and bonded well with all my coworkers under rough conditions. Recently, we had to relocate to a new state, where my husband is originally from(husband is finishing NP school and has several job opportunities in his hometown, plus we have more family to help with our kids). I got a new job on a med-surg floor at a much larger, magnet/teaching hospital. Very similar work and patients, but a lot more support staff which makes the job much easier. The one thing that I’m feeling is this huge emphasis on getting out of med-surg as quick as possible. It’s like a revolving door of new grads and everyone acts like med-surg is the scum of the hospital and they cannot wait to move to a specialty. There is also this huge divide of days vs nights. Everyone acts like night shift doesn’t do anything. That division always existed on my other jobs, but it’s really intense here. overall, I enjoy med-surg. I like the large variety of patients I see. I’ve been married to an ICU/ER nurse for years and I really admire him and enjoy all his life or death stories, but it’s just not an area for me. I have had plenty of codes, crazy patients, rapid responses, exciting stories etc... but it’s not something I want every shift or even every week. I just hate feeling like I’m being seen as less of a nurse. There are only a handful of senior nurses that work on my very large floor. They suggested I sit for my CMSRN. Any long time med-surg nurses out there?!?

I faced a similar situation a few months ago. I liked my job/co-workers, but after moving to a new state I was then commuting an hour each way. I applied in March to a new hospital (with better pay/benefits) 10 minutes from my new house. Literally, the day after I submitted my application COVID went crazy in my area (New Jersey). My floor was converted to a COVID unit. Meanwhile a had a “virtual interview” and ended up getting the new job. I spent 6 weeks on the covid unit of my former hospital and then started my new job. The health system orientation and training was very tricky because everything was virtual! But once my actual in-person orientation on the floor started, things started to fall into place. I dearly miss my old co workers but I’m starting to meet more people at the new hospital. I would just say be prepared for an unorganized hiring/orientation process. I feel like I’ve had to take initiative and follow up with a lot of people about all sorts of things. So many people in HR, education and the nurses union were working from home when I started, so I really would have slipped through the cracks had I not been on top of everything. I say go for it!

Good point... that would be terrible. I guess The only positive in that situation would be that no Clinicals would mean no urgency to stress about switching jobs this month though.

I should also add: some people may say “you should have done this months ago.” Which obviously crossed our minds, but my husband really wanted that full time ER position to help with his gaining more knowledge and experience for school, and he was able to find Local preceptors more easily this way. In addition to that, our oldest daughter is on a travel cheerleading team, my husband was not comfortable having to travel across the country for competitions and having to do her hair and makeup So he wanted me to stay part time until her season was over in April. Obviously had we known COVID 19 would happen, the cheerleading issue would not have been a deciding factor.... hindsight is 20/20!

So, for the past year my family has been prepping for big changes to our employment status. My husband and I are both RN,BSN. My husband is about to start his final year of FNP school. I have been a medical surgical nurse for 4 years, part-time for the past 2 years (since having my youngest of 3 children, 2 years ago). My husband has been full time ICU. More recently, we moved to a new state last Summer where he became a full time ER nurse at a new hospital (I stayed at old hospital, commuting an hour). My husband will be starting his FNP clinicals in May. We made the decision over a year ago, that I would apply for full time medical surgical positions within the new hospital around this time, and he would go per diem. While I was a little anxious about the possibility of not getting a job offer, I was confident, that with my experience that it likely wouldn’t be an issue, and we would be starting our new positions just in time for his clinicals to start. I should also add, it is very important to us that I get a full time position at the new hospital, because they are the only health system in our area that covers our daughter’s insulin pump at 100%. When my husband worked at the old hospital we were paying between 200-1200 a month for her various supplies. So, I applied for a full time medical surgical position on Thursday, and it seems like that same day, everything in our area started shutting down. Yesterday the CDC recommended no large gatherings for 8 weeks (which makes me think they would not be holding new hire orientation classes???) I know it’s only been 2 business days with no response from them, but now I’m in a panic that our plan will fail and my husband will forced to work full time and do clinicals until all of this, hopefully, blows over... My husband thinks the opposite. He says they will want to be fully staffed and I need to calm down. Any thoughts?

We already work for the same health system, as we have for several years now. He works on the ICU and I applied for the ED, the unit managers cover for each other sometimes, which is how she knows my husband. In the interview the unit manager said "it shouldn't be a problem at all" to make our schedules around each other.... maybe she's had second thoughts since the interview. For what it's worth, I did say our schedules can conflict some days, but I just don't have enough babysitters for a schedules to conflict everyday.

Background: I've worked for a hospital affiliated short stay rehabilitation unit (located in SNF, down the street from actual hospital) for two years now. I have received nothing but great reviews since starting. I accepted the position as a new grad because it was the only offer I recieved... I didn't have enough experience for acute units; so they said..... my husband graduated nursing school 6 months after me, I referred him to the health System and he got hired immediately to telemetry, and then transferred to the ICU.... talk about a low blow to my self esteem... so we had a baby in November, I returned to the SNF on a per diem basis. I've been picking up 3 shifts a week, the only reason I'm even per diem is because I have to work around my husbands schedule due to childcare issues. Current situation: Two weeks ago I saw a full time ER position posted, 11am-11pm, the hours work great with our schedule, as long as we put the baby in daycare, and I've always wanted to try the ER. i immediately got an interview (this position has been posted since February). The interview went really great and she was talking about how she'd work my schedule around my husbands and she already was thinking about who I would orient with... she said she knows my skills from rehab are satisfactory to start (I can put in IVs, Foley's, etc..)the only thing she seemed hung up on was that I used to be a tech in a maternity unit, And she kept saying how maternity and ER are completely different and trying to gauge if I was prepared for the different pace? She even brought up the maternity vs ER thing to my husband when she saw him later that night. At at the end of the interview she said she had other interviews. our health System has a mandatory two part interview process, so I had to go back the next week anyway. She didn't seem quite as enthusiastic when I met her the second time, but we still got along well and I felt pretty confident, we were both laughing for a lot of it, except once again she emphasized that she had another interview that day and another on Monday. She said she'd let me know within a week because she understood I had time constraints for reserving a daycare spot for our infant. She even told me to contact her if I didn't hear anything. fastforward to now, one week later and it's been radio silence. I sent her a nice, not pushy email asking if a decision will still be made this week (reminded her of the daycare situation) and she hasn't responded (been over 24 hours). i guess in my heart I feel this is a rejection and I just feel so defeated. This was the only way we could have made it work. Now, I have to go back to the SNF while I watch my husbands career flourish. He offered to quit and go per diem so that I had a higher chance of finding a position but I think that's a lot of changes to take on at once. this is a level 3 ER which frequently takes new grads, so I cannot figure out what I did wrong. I already work for the health system and I have a lot of connections. Yet I can't seem to get into an acute unit. Our childcare issues are that my husband works 7p-7a, we have no family willing to take the baby overnight (eliminating me being able to take a night shift position: unless they agreed to put us opposing days) and I can't really do 7a-7p because our older children don't start school until 8am, so who would take them if we were both working? Basically, they'd have to agree to schedule us on opposite days too. where do I go from here? sorry for grammar and spelling errors (typing on my phone)

I was a CNA for ten years before becoming a nurse, and I learned to master mouth breathing. As the years go on it won't even bother you as much. And to the previous poster who said its the "CNAS problem," I hate to break the news to you, but you are very wrong. I handle just as much feces now as before. We often go without a CNA, or the CNA needs assistance. Always remember the importance of teamwork as a nurse!

Its hard work, but you have to stay focused. I was widowed two years ago very suddenly during my 2nd year of nursing school. I was left a single mother to two young children. I had a few key support people and I also sacrificed a lot of sleep. I never considered myself a very "tough" person but I've learned that life's struggles teach us a lot about what we are truly made of. If you want something bad enough, you can succeed!

I'm sure you've heard about the nurse in the news recently who lost her license for taking a picture of her patient's member... So yeah, that'll do it...

Service attendants??? Wow...

I agree that its common in nursing school to see students get treated differently. When I was in med surg 2 (8 months pregnant with many complications during finals too), I bombed my final and missed the passing cut off by 0.87 percent. Two other students that I knew failed by 2% and 5%. The student who failed by 5% was given an opportunity to retake the class next semester after an appeal. The student who failed by 2% had to leave after his appeal failed, and started at a new school. It was the 2nd class fail for both but they obviously had different outcomes. It was only my 1st fail but I had to wait a whole year to retake the course. I know how frustrating and awful it feels to fail something. When I restarted I had reevaluated my whole study method and got tutoring during finals. I ended up excelling and graduating with honors. I'm starting my first job at the hospital of my dreams in a few weeks. Don't let a failure define you, use it as a learning opportunity! I was tempted to hold resentments towards teachers and the more favorably treated students, but I chose to come back on top and never allow myself to get in that situation again. FYI: I kept in touch with the student who had got dismissed. He started at a new program which he felt was more suited to his personality anyway and he graduated a few months ago also, and is about to start his first job! Hang in there!

I have a weird phobia about fingernails. After a bad experience involving cleaning feces from under a patients fingernails (very tricky task), I always get grossed out when I see dirty fingernails. Really long fingernails creep me out too.

My school had a representative from a review course come and talk to my class about a month before graduation. They like gave this whole presentation that basically convinced us we would fail if we did not take their course. They even had like free review books and prizes for people who paid right there on the spot. I admit, I was suckered into it and paid 480 for the course (would have been 600 without our university's "special" discount). While I do think the course was kind of pointless, it provided us with A LOT of resources (i.e: books, computer programs, questions), which were extremely useful. I wish I could have paid a cheaper price for the review material and skipped the actual in-person course. I did pass with 75 Q on my first try. Though, I felt the exam was not as hard as the review course company implied it would be. However, I may have just lucked out and got a good batch of questions. I do think I would have passed without the course though. FYI: My school, which set all this up, is NOT a for-profit school. It is a well regarded private university with a 92% first time NCLEX pass rate. I felt like our instructor during that last semester made us think that the review course is responsible for their high pass rate though.... :/