Return to work after 4.5 year lapse?

Published

I'm a Canadian nurse in Alberta attempting to return to work after 4.5 years of not practicing. I was formerly a Nurse Practitioner, but after having children, I was unable to find a N.P. position that was less than a 0.75 FTE, and we didn't have the ability to pay for that much childcare even with my husband's job, so we decided that I should stay home; thus, I let both my RN and NP licenses lapse.

In lieu of taking a 2-year nurse refresher program, I recently proposed a return to work plan that was approved my my licensing body, so I now have a RN license with a "condition". The condition is that I need to acquire 225 hours of "indirectly supervised" practice, in which there is another RN on site to answer questions if I have any. Upon completion of those hours, I will then be allowed to work independently again. The licensing body assured me that people with these kind of "minimal" restrictions are easily hired, but I'm finding that not to be the case, and am wondering if anyone has any suggestions?

I have 14 years of experience, 8 as an advanced practice RN, and 6 as a NP varying from emergency room, rural (outpost) nursing, community health, and family medicine, so I thought I wouldn't have too much of a problem finding "something" along those lines. However, I've sent out 10 resumes and received no responses. Literally none. I'm not really qualified to work in acute care settings anymore, so now I'm not sure what to do. I'm required by my licensing body to include the details of my "restriction" on either my cover letter or my CV. I've done that but am wondering if that's the huge limiting factor here. I'm definitely qualified in terms of skill set, education, etc. for 2 of the 10 jobs I applied for, but I wasn't even shortlisted... So now I have no idea what to do. I have my "dream position" waiting for me once the conditions on my license have been met, and, it's a blessing that the clinic that has asked me to work with them in this dream position is willing to wait up to 8 months for me to get my conditions removed. However, I need a job and am finding that there's nothing out there.

I'm on the waitlist for what seem to be two sought after courses: IV Initiation and Maintenance, and ACLS. (I was proficient in IV starts and maintenance prior to my maternity leave, and I had taken ACLS twice before.) I think those will make me more marketable. But if I don't get into either course, the next dates they are offered are well into the fall, and I NEED to find work before then. Does anyone have any suggestions? I've applied to everything that I seem to be "qualified for". I've set up a job search agent, and I've had a professional review my CV. I don't know what else to do, so I'd love your suggestions.

Thank you!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Currently it's an employer's market and there's lots of competition for jobs, you may need to submit one hundred resumes before you receive a response.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Is it possible for the clinic to hire you in an indirectly supervised RN role for 225 hours prior to starting your "dream position"? It makes more sense that clinic invests time into you so that you can meet your licensing requirements, rather than an employer you have no plans to stay with.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

see below...duplicate post.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Currently it's an employer's market and there's lots of competition for jobs, you may need to submit one hundred resumes before you receive a response.

That's kind of what I've been thinking, but since I've been out of practice for awhile, I wasn't certain. Thank you for confirming this. I'm actually thinking that I'm going to take some courses this summer in order to make myself more marketable in terms of "nursing" skills. I'm planning to take an IV certification course, ACLS, and possibly an update for "nursing skills" since I haven't actually done acute care skills in 10+ years. My last jobs were Nurse Practitioner positions, and LPNs in that clinic setting did all of the direct "care" while the NPs and physicians did all of the advanced assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. So in fairness, I do need to upgrade my RN skills, I think, if I'm going to even have a hope of being competitive.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Is it possible for the clinic to hire you in an indirectly supervised RN role for 225 hours prior to starting your "dream position"? It makes more sense that clinic invests time into you so that you can meet your licensing requirements, rather than an employer you have no plans to stay with.

No. It would be possible for me to start in my dream job if there was another RN in that physician's practice, but because there isn't, CARNA is stating that I have to practice in the same location as another RN for the first 225 hours at least, which specifically excludes his practice.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Your situation is challenging, it's too bad the market is not currently in a shortage cycle it would make it much easier to get hired.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Your situation is challenging, it's too bad the market is not currently in a shortage cycle it would make it much easier to get hired.

I actually hadn't paid any attention to where nursing jobs are at at all until the last few months, after the specialist offered me a job. Since then, I've had a rude awakening.

Do you think taking an IV certification course and ACLS will improve my chances of getting hired? I've noticed that in at least 50% of the posted positions in my area (near Edmonton), both of those courses are coming up as either "preferred" or "required". Are there any other courses you (or anyone else) would recommend?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

If your goal was to work as a bedside nurse in acute care for a few years, then maybe the courses would help, but since you plan to work at the bedside short term until you can move onto the NP position, I don't think the courses will help. Is it possible for you and the physician who is going to hire you in your dream job, to contact other clinics that have NPs or RNs working for them and see if they will hire you until you can meet the 225 hours requirement?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

IV certification is part of orientation for any new hire in the acute care setting

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I thought I would give you a bit of an update since my last post was 3 months ago.

Through a rather bizarre series of events based on knowing the "right" person and being in the right place at the right time, I was offered a temporary F/T nursing position beginning next week! I'm very, very excited about this because the position fits my lifestyle in every way I could have wanted. It's a Monday to Friday day position with hours that make commuting via public transit very accessible. Because it's starting at the end of September, I've had the blessing of being able to help both of my children adjust to the school year before I will have to start work. Even though I was offered the position late in August, I was able to secure out of school care for both of my children. I don't really think I could have asked for something better. The physician who has offered me my dream position has decided to hold that position for me until I have my restrictions lifted, AND have enough practice hours to be able to maintain my RN permit next year. (The hours with the physician who initially offered me the job are very PT in nature, so even if I was able to work with him now, I would have had to secure another position in order to obtain the hours I require to maintain my practice permit.) It seems like things are coming together nicely. It's all a little surreal.

I'm a little bit anxious about starting work again, especially full-time, as my children are in low elementary grades, and FT work means that I will only get to see them for about 2 hours a day once I account for the length of my work day and the commute to and from my job. They've never been to daycare. I'm also anxious about the job in general. One of the nurses I will be working with is known to be extremely critical, and I'm very aware that 5.5 years off of nursing will have put me behind in some areas. I'm auditing a course that is specific to the area that I will be working in, so hopefully that will help me to recall some base knowledge and skill about the population I will be working with.

It will be interesting working as a RN, as I haven't worked in that capacity for 12 years. I hope to regain my NP license one day, but for now, I'm grateful that someone was willing to take a chance on me. I hope I will be an asset to their facility!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion