Recently licensed RN not working

Nurses New Nurse

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Hello. I am new to this group. My situation is unique and I am looking for advise..feeling frustrated.

I live in Pa. I graduated May 2015. It took me 2 attempts to pass NCLEX, definitely was not what I expected but, I studied and took it again. December 2016 I passed. Now for the challenges...

I currently work for a local health insurance company, been there 26 years. Went to nursing school fearing that I was going to be laid off which, did not happen. Now, I have a job that pays well and that I love but I also want a nursing career that I would like to get started. My problem is, I really want to get my 30 years in at the insurance company (some perks for when I hit retirement age). I thought, I could work as a nurse part-time or PRN until I could go fulltime. This is not going as planned...

I thought I had a PRN position, had multiple interviews, shadow experience and told that they would work with my schedule no problem - then I heard nothing. I decided to reach out the HR dept to see what was going on and I was told that I was not going to be offered the position and told I should seek fulltime instead since I am considered a new grad nurse.

I will keep looking for a position that will work for me right now until I can go fulltime but, my question is what if I don't find that position? The longer I go without a job, I feel that my chances of ever getting hired as a nurse get critically lower. I didn't want to just give up...I really think I could do nursing part-time and then move to fulltime. Any suggestions?

Hi. I actually have not started yet, my orientation is in two weeks. I definitely will post an update once I start.

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Specializes in ICU.

Get hired on as a weekender and do that for 6 months then go PRN. Yes, no life but in the end you will have what you want. No one said it was going to be this hard but it will be very hard.

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Before you start, look around on the site for examples of "brain" sheets to use to organize yourself. You will find a good "brain" to be quite useful. Also read up on posts where people talk about how they organized themselves. That will go a long way in helping you get started.

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Thank you! I will do that for sure.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

TY for giving us a update. It's appreciated when we hear that someone has had positive results. Good luck on your new endeavors.

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I wanted to share an update with everyone, I recently started working at a LTCF, on the rehab floor. I felt extremely over whelmed and I realized real fast how much I didn't learn in nursing school. To be honest, I was worried I wasn't going to make it the first night and thought about just quitting. Not what I was expecting at all and nothing like clinical. On my way home, I was thinking maybe I'm not cut out for this, even though I wanted to be a nurse and help others so badly...I know not having enough staff makes it difficult to help new nurses, and that left me to figure things out on my own. I was scared to death!!!! I guess I was expecting training of some sort, skills sign off but, that is not what is happening thus far... and worries me. There is so much I have not seen yet or don't know, and feel like everyone expects me to know it because I am an RN. One LPN said to me "they didn't teach that to you in RN school?" Oh geez, I didn't even know what to say...hopefully, things will continue to improve for me and the feeling of "you really suck" will go away :(

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Just a suggestion, but take note of the situations you encounter each day and strive to go over these in your mind and look up things each night after work. Start a notebook in a thin binder that you can refer to as your cheat sheet. For example, there were about six or seven things that needed to be done with a new order (paperwork-wise). When someone told me the steps, I wrote them down and put this sheet in my "cheat" binder. After that, for awhile, I referred to this sheet each time I received a new order. Saved me time and worry about missing something. Do this for anything that gives you pause to think. You can keep your little binder in your locker at work or take it home with you each night. After some time, you will find that you refer to your binder during work less and less.

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Great tip! I actually picked up something that would fit into my pocket that I could keeps notes in. I wrote down several things that were procedural and few things I wanted to read up on. I planned on writing this all down before my next shift so that I am ready to go. Though I was stressed, I did actually learn a few things being forced to figure them out for myself...not my preferred way to learn it but, I learned and will not forget it. I know it should get better each time I work, I guess the anxiety is getting the best of me right now and I have zero confidence...even things I know I couldn't remember :0 then that made me feel like a real dummy. I am off tonight, and I will be looking up things in my books and getting notes started...thanks again for the great tip.

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Hi, just an update...I started Aug 9 PRN for LTCF, rehab floor. I work two evenings per week and one weekend per month right now. There has been good and bad days...I am trying to stick with it. There is so much I don't know, and at times makes me feel kind of dumb, and to be honest it has been a bit overwhelming at times. I'm kind of quiet, and a bit shy, which I do not understand me at all because that really is not my personality :/ I guess with it being a new experience, and me a new nurse with lack of experience I will just have give it some time...I am also struggling a bit with time management. This facility is not the most organized which makes learning even more complicated :( Some of the staff just assume I know stuff that I do not and I can sense some tension when I am not going as fast as they would like...I take notes, I go home read them, re-write them and look up stuff I did not know or just not familiar with. When my nerves get the best of me, I kind of get stupid, and forget what it is I do know :( guess this will pass in time, I just need to be patient and keep showing up.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

What you're feeling is all that 'new nurse' kind of stuff. Nursing school really doesn't prepare students for work in the 'real' world of healthcare. That's what orientation and on-job-training and experience does. And we all went through it. And it really does take a while before you stop feeling so dumb about things.

Even though I had some 35+ years experience (pre-retiring) , I could be reporting off about some issue and dang, if somebody wouldn't ask if I checked/knew ABCD about the pt? Like DUUH, I didn't think of it. Did do 15 other things, but just missed that 1 thing that sounded so simple.

Like again, DUUH! Felt stupid but moving right along ....

Hang in there ...

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Learning a lot at the LTCF & rehab. I spend most of my time on the rehab floor. It is by far the busiest floor and not only are the residents there for therapy they also fill beds with LTC residents as well as those that might need transferred to the memory floor. The biggest challenge right now for me seems to be conquering the med pass. "I SUCK". "I AM SLOW" I always feel defeated and totally exhausted when I finally am able to finish it. I always seem to need some assistance at some point. I have 17 plus residents, with a mix of crush w/applesauce, peg, BS, insulins, nebulizer, IV's etc. I cannot seem to get a routine that works for me. I tried starting at one of the hall and just moving my way down. Thought this would help, but really it didn't. I tried to do all my BS first, so I could get all the insulins given before breakfast came. This sort of worked but we had a fall and interrupted this and put me behind and administering insulin AFTER breakfast was eaten :( I just have to find what works I guess. Not being real familiar with everyone is not helping right now either. I'm still feeling like I'm scattered and I cannot get all the pieces put together. I try to review everything in my head and have it all planned out, I know the steps for a procedure and then...my brain goes into a deep fog. I think my nerves are sabotaging me! I keep going back, so at some point everything will just fall into place and my confidence will begin to grow. The administrative part, like new admissions, new orders, incoming labs I'm doing ok, slow but I think I got this part. I really have not had any emergency situations to deal with yet (yikes), so I will tackle those as they come up and learn from each I guess. Until next time, thanks for all the support!

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