Reached a dead end in nursing? Please help!

[NPs4health]

Hi everyone,

I'm a fairly new RN, graduated last December and had a rough start. My original internship in a telemetry/post transplant unit did not work out because the pace was too much and I found that the patient load and "patient dumping" onto new nurses on that unit was intolerable.

Following the three month training period, my preceptor decided that I was not a good fit for the unit. I was then forced to transfer to a Rehab/neuro unit where I've worked for the past 8 months.

Now that the one year mark is getting close, I've been trying to contact recruiters to try to get a position in med/surg/tele, but recruiters seem hesitant to speak to me given my job history and the fact that I'm working at a rehab unit(which apparently translates into me lacking any nursing skills at all)

And some recruitors are saying 1 yrs nursing experience is not enough to be hired. I thought one year was a good number, that's the whole reason I even stayed on the rehab floor for so long.

Have I reached a dead end in nursing? What would you do in my situation? Someone please help!

[llg, PhD, RN]

Have you gotten a written evaluation of your performance at your current job? I would wait until you have something "concrete" in writing providing you with a "seal of approval" that you can use to support your applications for another job. You may need to cross the 1-year mark on the neuro/rehab unit to get that legitimacy that you seek.

In the meantime, try to get as much experience as you can with things that might enhance your resume. For example, are there any committees that you can serve on? ... extra training you can get? ... become a preceptor? .... become a charge nurse? .... etc. Be one of the best nurses where you are so that you will get a very positive job evaluation. Then go from there.

Leaving your second job in a year (that's 2 jobs ... one of 3 months and one of 8 months) doesn't look good. So, stick it out a little while longer and use the time to show that you can stay in a single job for over a year and can excel in a job, not just survive. Then you will be re-entering the job market in a position of strength.