Ruining My Career?

Hello all! 

I'm a nurse with 8 months of experience. I've been working on a very busy MS floor in a level 1 hospital and honestly, bedside isn't for me. I appreciate the nurses that can, but I causes so much anxiety for me. I've been looking into education, research, essentially anything that's away from the bedside and I found Diabetes Education really interesting! So I applied and interviewed and I was notified that I got the job. However, all of my friends think I'm making a huge mistake. They all said I should at least have 2 years of bedside experience to give myself time to really see what I like and not just jump in. I'm also considering going PRN to keep my skills fresh. I'm just a little worried to accept the job now because everyone keeps saying it's going to hurt my career in the end. 

Any advice? 

Not everyone is cut out for every role in nursing, and the emphasis on having years of Med/Surg experience is outdated at best.  (Myself, I started directly in the ED, and would've drilled holes in my skull after a week of M/S nursing.)

By all means, keep the PRN so you can keep your skills handy (and hopefully keep your employer paying for your certifications), but if your interest is elsewhere, pursue it.

While I won't deny that a certain amount of med/surg experience is a good thing. You know what is right for you. Keep the PRN if you like but go where your heart leads you. As a type 2 diabetic I love to talk to a good educator. Most assume that because I am a nurse I should know it all already. 

• Girl go for it. I am transferring out of what some call a cushie job; and going a true med/surg floor that have their own tele monitors. Every one has their own niche and their are not enough diabetic educators. Have a good time with it.

I'd say you were doing your career a favor.  Diabetes is such a prevalent disease and getting more so all the time, I'm sure the demand for diabetes education is only going to increase over time.  Not only can you work in the hospital, but endocrinologist office, etc.  (I bet your friends are just jealous )

Sounds like a great opportunity. Med/surg nursing will be there if you want to come back, no rush.

If you don’t want to work in a hospital, why on earth would you need to gain experience working in a hospital??

I do a lot of diabetes education in my job at an FQHC. It’s incredibly important and needed. As evidence: My patient today was diagnosed with T2DM in 2016, has been under the care of a series of PCPs since that time, and did not know what “carbohydrate” meant. He said “Nobody ever talked to me about what I should eat.”  They just give him Lantus and Metformin and call it a day. (And then they wonder why his A1C was 10.)

Edited Feb 12 by CommunityRNBSN
Spelling

Thank you all for your advice, which definitely made me feel better about leaving my current job. I'm truly excited about this opportunity and agree with y'all about its importance, especially since DM is only rising in this country! 

I was told i had to work in med-surg before considering to specialize. I started as a new grad in NICU and now am a neonatal NP 10 years later. Nope, didn’t need any med surg experience. Zero regrets.

OP, you do what is best for you. An RN does not need years in med-surg, let alone start in med-surg.

Would having med-surg experience make it easier to go to other fields? Well, yeah, because they are lazy interviewers and lazy recruiters who cannot, or unwilling, to connect the dots when dealing with a job candidate who is going from one specialized field to another. Nevertheless, there are employers out there who will accept literally any type of RN experience; so, if you are willing to relocate to find those employers (if the need arises), do not worry too much about the possibility of, say, going from DM education to something else.

At this point, this would be doing things backward, but jot down what you are looking for in a nursing position (without looking at the qualifications for your DM position), and then see if the DM position aligns with your needs - not your friends' needs, your needs. Consider the pros and cons of accepting this position and really ask yourself if you have the cajones to address the cons if they come up.

Side: You are not alone with not liking bedside nursing, and do not feel guilty for doing so. As you already saw, there is more to nursing than bedside nursing.

Congratulations on the Diabetes Educator job. Not everyone needs to remain at bedside to have a career in nursing.  If you don't like the bedside, why would you want to stress yourself out by working a full time job and then PRN?

It always makes me wonder about decisional regret when people use the excuse of keeping skills fresh.  What skills particularly do you want to keep up?  If it is assessments, you will be doing plenty of that in your role as an educator, is it calculating meds? You will be helping and teaching about that.  I am not sure what skills you think you will be missing? You should really focus on learning all of the new skills for your job. Re-learning what you would need to go back to the bedside would be relearned in any new orientation you would have if you want to go back to the bedside. 

Enjoy all of the new skills and opportunities in your new job. Don't worry about not working bedside there are many many assessments and educating to be done in your role, you will not need the bedside for that. 

The nursing field has a lot of branches and opportunities! Do not put yourself in a box. Explore what you like. Good luck!!!