mrose1993

I am a new nurse who's started out in home care 6 months ago as my first RN job. I see up to 8 pts per day and sometimes more depending on how busy the oncall shift is (we get scheduled to be on call once or twice a week on top of our day shift) for a regular shift its PPV and with on call we get a premium. I do feel that it gets too much to handle at times being a new nurse

Hello all I have been working as an RN for 6 months as a visiting nurse in home care. It was the only job offer I got after getting registered, I figured I would try it out while I look for another job to gain some experience. However after 6 months and no other job offers I've found that home care is really not what I want to do. Although I have been getting a lot of experience (starting IVs, CVAD management, wound care) I'm genuinely not happy - I wake up not wanting to go to work most days and with the on call and evening shifts it becomes a lot to handle at times. I have been applying tirelessly to hospital positions as that's where I really want to be with no luck whatsoever. My passion is in pediatrics so that's where I eventually want to end up. I am starting to get to my wits end with home care and really want to move on. I don't want to quit before I find another job as I feel that would look bad to potential employers, but I am really unhappy where I am at the moment. Some days I come home from work crying from frustration. I have nothing bad to say about my company... they have been good with guiding me as a new nurse. I have just discovered that home care is not for me. I do not like the unpredictable nature of the day to day scheduling and the driving around is becoming too much. My schedule varies and some times I can find myself working all day and all night (13+ hours) depending on how busy we are. I cover a wide area which means I am sometimes visiting patients over an hour away. I am really hoping to find something with a more stable schedule where I have set hours. Wondering if anyone has any advice or suggestions for me! Also just a side note... My fourth year placements for school (general medicine and occupational health) were not in the area where I live, which is where I have been applying for jobs. So my networking has not been as good compared to my peers who were able to get placements where they wanted to work and were hired right out of school. I also feel that although I really enjoyed my placement in occupational health it put me behind the eight ball compared to my peers who were able to get placements in acute care settings. Any advice or guidance from fellow nurses would be greatly appreciated!