RN employment gap / advice on Acute Care Nurse Practitioner

[Cindycin48]

Hi, I am reaching out for advice on what I can do in my current situation. Warning, this is gonna be long, but I'll try to make it as short as possible.

I have been a Medical Surgical nurse from 2015-2017 and I step away temporarily to work on my BSN full time (got BSN 2019) and help watch my sister's kids while she went to RN school.

I went back to same hospital in 2020 for a few months to help out during Covid. I only stayed at the hospital for 4 months because I moved. I was going to apply for nursing jobs after I moved but my sister died from Covid and I completely shut down. I had to focus on my mental health and taking care of my sister's kids. After some time, I still did not go back because of the pandemic. My husband has asthma and I was terrified of him catching Covid. This was all before they came out with a vaccine.

Anyway, I decided to stay home and work on my AGAC NP. I figured I would take MSN core classes and then go back to work after that. I have not worked as an acute care RN since Aug of 2020, and now I have this employment gap and I am in acute care NP Program. I reached out to a recruiter at a hospital I like to inquire about an RN position but the recruiter said they are looking for recent experience. I know I made a huge mistake not going back to bedside nursing sooner but I can't undo that now.

I will start clinicals 16 weeks from today. I have been told that it is tough to work during clinical and not to work if I don't have to. Basically, I am having a hard time getting a nursing job because of my employment gap and I am nervous that I will not be able to find an acute care NP job if I don't go back to acute care RN.

I feel stuck and don't know what to do. I would sincerely appreciate advice on how I can move forward. Please don't come at me with lecturing and criticism. I am already in a bad place and feel depressed and down about this. 

[FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP]

I am sorry you have had a challenging period.  Just make sure your resume accounts for all of your time.  Something like:

2015-2017 - Hospital A - Med Surg RN

2018-2019  - FT student BSN program

Jan thru April 2020 - looking for job

May 2020 - Oct 2020 to present - family responsibilities, NP Program.   My sister died and I had to incorporate her children into my family.  I then started an NP Program and am a FT student.  

The above is just an idea.

You can also talk to your NP school career counselor about the best way to handle the employment gaps.  

After completing the NP Program, it will take time before you can get your first NP job - studying for cert exam, getting the license, finding a job, then getting credentialed after accepting a job offer, etc.  During that period, you could work as an RN, perhaps as a traveler.  There is also a need for RNs to perform home visits and care.

good luck