So, I have been at my job for seven months now and I applied for a transfer to my dream unit. My application was rejected, so I emailed the supervisor to touch base to see what more I can do to become a competitive candidate. I had talked with her before and have even went as far as to do what she suggested: join the specialty's organization, volunteer on a routine...she said she would sent off my resume.
Now? She is saying that the manager is recommending TWO years of med/surg experience to even be considered even though I have done EVERYTHING that the supervisor has asked and that unit has hired so many new grads. She says that med/surg is great and blah, blah, blah. But let's face it: how can working with sick adults help with premies? It doesn't. This is the same person who told me she only spent one year in med/surg prior to switching to my dream specialty.
I am livid. I feel like I am being strung along, and that I have absolutely no future whatsoever at my job. I have since started filling applications at other places.
I am half-way done with the residency program with more than seven months of experience, and I am damn sure not going to stay another 17 months in hopes getting something that I probably won't get. I have been at this hospital for damn near five years, and I am furious. I get waiting to a year-mark, but two? Hell no.
At this point, what should I do? Should I leave the hospital and try to get on somewhere else? Contact her after the residency program is over (I will have almost 14 months of experience) and say that I am ready to transfer? I would hate to leave this institution as I am almost vested and it has great benefits, but I don't want to reward this stringing along behavior.
This could be sad simple as a transfer freeze; perhaps the med-surf unit you are on is actually NOT transferring anyone out because they can't afford to lose any staff right now. It may not be about you personally at all, just short staffing on your current unit. Good luck to you!
It appears that hiring cheaper labor is the priority. You can hang on since you have seniority in that facility and wade the waters out... but be proactive and look for part time, per diem, and or agency work in that specialty... Just food for thought.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I think years from now, when you look back on all this, it will seem very inconsequential.
And never doubt that experience, no matter what, is a great teacher of many things. Time management, patience, organization skills, people skills of all sorts.
Even if med-surg is different, it is a GREAT place to start for nearly any specialty. 7 months is a very, very short time. Does not seem that way now, but it will in a couple years. Be patient. Don't appear petulant; it won't help your case for getting what you want. In patience, all good things will come. That and persistence.
Deep breathe, take stock and keep trying. It may be, life has other plans and you don't know it. Go with the flow a bit.
I can honestly say, after nearly 20years as a nurse, my career has gone in directions I never anticipated and I am currently in a specialty, that 10 or 15 years ago, if you had told me I would be working, I would have laughed in your face. I just KNEW OB/GYN was THE be-all, end-all for all time.
Wrong.
Situations and times change. Life happens. We move in new and interesting directions and grow in ways we never anticipated. I am happy in my current specialty and see now, I am being "called" if you will, to do some things entirely different than I planned when I started my career. It's all very exciting to say the least! It's challenging as well.....it's good not to stagnate just because I am 20 years into my career, but I can say it's quite different than I pictured when I graduated.
Be open to many possibilities.
When you have more life experience, you will see the value in all of what we are telling you.
Remember: In the end it will be ok, if it's not OK that cause it's not the END!
You will hate to hear this, but I think that your management is correct.
Seven months of experience is not sufficient to switch to a specialty unit. You might interpret this as your management being protective on two levels: protective of you; protective of the specialty unit. It is not fair to the RNs on the other unit to get what most would consider a novice RN. I doubt that you have learned all there is to being a general RN and if you transferred with a total of seven months RN experience the RNs in the specialty unit will be teaching you many things that new RNs are still learning. Additionally, if I were a more experienced RN waiting for this same transfer and was considered equivalent to an RN with only seven months experience I would be ticked. Your exuberant enthusiasm might be coming off to the experienced RNs and management as having a heighten sense of entitlement and being demanding. Enthusiasm is no substitute for experience.
Without a real gut check and self-reflection/assessment you could be laying the groundwork for many dissatisfying employment experiences which could ultimately lead to dissatisfaction with your nursing career.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
..."Just one glance at her user name immediately communicates to readers that she's a holder of a BSN degree."...
Nursing and it's Petty politics.... what does her user name have to do with her
Question? Not relevant and very petty.
A member had previously asked if the OP (original poster) had an ASN or BSN degree. I simply pointed out that one glance at the OP's user name revealed her to be a BSN degree holder. There's nothing petty or irrelevant about answering someone's valid question.
I had no idea the VA had a mechanism in place whereby techs could earn their RN. This is very interesting, could you tell us how that works? Also, I thought all VA RN's had to have their BSN???
They can apply for tuition reimbursement to pursue their RN. Many hospitals have this not just the VA. You just have to be able to juggle your schedule and school. Just like you can get your BSN while working as an RN. And no not all RN's in the VA have their BSN's.
The problem is once you are hired in at one position in the GS step ladder if you increase your education, often you will not get a substantial bump to the next level like you would coming in as a new hire. Now if you left and came back in at a different position with the advanced education you would. It's a big gripe in the VA by employees who use the VA tuition reimbursement or their GI bill money if they are veterans who go to work in the VA after getting out of the military.
I know one person who has her MBA, but started out with an associates degree. A new secretary with no formal education gets paid what she makes. If she left and came back in later she would have been paid at the MBA level. Quite sad.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
You will hate to hear this, but I think that your management is correct.
Seven months of experience is not sufficient to switch to a specialty unit.
And yet, the nurse managers at her workplace have hired multiple inexperienced new grad RNs into the NICU after placing the OP into med/surg. The managerial team at her workplace is telling her one thing, but doing something else.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I didn't work in the NICU. I worked in OB.
Those departments work closely together. I think it is possible that you've pissed someone off -- but be that as it may, staying for your full residency and until you are vested can only help you. At that point, you can make a decision about possibly getting into the NICU in another institution.
dec2007
508 Posts
This could be sad simple as a transfer freeze; perhaps the med-surf unit you are on is actually NOT transferring anyone out because they can't afford to lose any staff right now. It may not be about you personally at all, just short staffing on your current unit. Good luck to you!