Should I accept the job?

[cbkelley]

I have been offered a RN job in a correctional facility. I have been searching for a new job due to the conditions at the job I'm currently at. I work in hospital on a med/surg/tele floor and have been there 2 years(length of time I have been a nurse). I work 12 hour nights and it is routine now that we have anywhere from 8-9 pt starting out and by the time you get an admission we sometimes have 10 a piece. No designated charge nurse(we all just pick up parts of the responsibility as we can), sometimes no secretary, and maybe one nursing assistant for the entire floor. Many of our patients are post surgical and require quite a bit of attention,lots of tpn, ng tubes,iv meds,etc. I somehow manage it all but it is a lot for one person to handle. I also have been looking because it seems that med/surg nursing is not very inline with my personality. After the interview I had at the correctional facility, it seems that the job would be more of a fit with my personality and more along the lines of er/clinic type nursing rather than floor nursing. I know it will bring its own challenges and I am up for learning new things. I guess it should not be a hard decision, but I guess I still have some reservations about leaving my current job. Any opinions about accepting the job offer? Or any insight to working corrections as a nurse?

[MALENURSE50, MSN, RN]

You will have much more support in corrections. I say give it a go it worked great for me!

[wyogypsy, RN]

Med/surg/tele will always be there. You have gained some great experience that you will be able to use in corrections. Corrections is a great field of nursing, and I agree with MaleNurse50 - you will have a lot more support. Go for it - what is the worst that can happen - you might not like it? If not, you can always move on.