Should I join the show or stay home with my babies?

[kat1822, BSN, RN]

Hello all. I just want to start by saying thank you, to each and every one of you, for the selfless, hard work you’ve been doing these past 2 years and beyond. Your dedication is unmatched, and I have nothing but respect for everyone who is out there serving the community.

I’d like a little advice. I started my first RN job in June 2020 but unfortunately did not make it off of orientation before leaving. I worked nearly 4 months, and was just taking 4 pts on my own on a stepdown tele unit. By "on my own" I mean pretty much completely on my own, except when I was doing something new like argatroban or hanging blood. It was challenging. I appreciated that part of it, at least. I had to leave because my husband and I were unable to find adequate childcare (we had 3 children aged 5 and under including a one year old), even with me working only 2 days a week and it was causing extraordinary tension in my marriage.

We now have 4 children, 3 of whom will be in school soon, and because the pandemic will be /hopefully/ easing up a little bit soon due to herd immunity in our area, it may be easier for me to find childcare for the baby so I can work at least part time.

I am considering a higher acuity level - stepdown ICU, or the equivalent. I enjoy critical thinking and I am very much a “by the books” kind of person. I like understanding disease processes thoroughly so that I can better understand the tx.

I'm not sure why I feel so strongly like I need to get "out there", when babies are only little once. I know that going into the field right now will be very stressful, from a staffing point of view and also from people being burnt out from all the ***. I would be brand new and fresh working alongside veterans with serious ptsd from things I can't even dream of.

Pondering aside, does anyone have any recommendations on how I can brush up my knowledge before I get all my ducks in a row, childcare-wise, to start work in a setting like this? Or to increase my likelihood of landing a job, especially with relatively little experience? I should mention I also finished my RN to BSN in July 2020.

Thank you

[RatherBHiking, BSN, RN]

I stayed home 10 years from baby #2 until baby #3 was in school full time. I remember thinking the novelty of working wore off super fast. I also wished I’d have at least worked PRN all those years to keep my confidence up and be less of a shock of a transition. I would suggest figuring out the childcare first. Who can watch them in the evenings until 8 pm (or if you work nights whatever those hours you’d need someone) or what if they get sick, things like that. Then try and find a part time or PRN job first. Orientation may be full time so consider that. Also you will have to probably work some weekends and holidays. Is your husband on board with that?

Some places offer a nurse refresher course. That may help. We don’t have anything like that here. Maybe do CE’s and/or certifications in the area you’re interested in and get your CPR up to date. That shows you being proactive.

Do you know anyone working in the place you want to apply? If so ask them who the manager of the area you are interested in and their email and send them an email directly saying you have heard great things about their unit, you’re eager to return, you’d love a chance to shadow, etc. 

All those things have helped me get jobs in the past. 

[SmellTheRose94]

I don't have any children so I think it's hard for me to correctly give advice on this. Coming from someone with no children I think it's the perfect time to get some experience. They are hiring all nurses with no experience for all kinds of positions because everywhere is so short. People have retired, opening up positions that have been held for years. New grad nurses are being hired into the ICU regularly, ER, PACU. You could never get a position like this years ago, it was just a dream to get into PACU with little to no critical care experience. Not to mention nurses are getting paid more now than ever before.  I've been a nurse for 3 years now and have experienced a $3 raise hospital wide for RNs and then another $4 raise because hospitals are so desperate for workers to stay. Not to mention the agency nurses making hundreds of dollars an hour. It's absolutely insane. And for the short staffing issue, me being honest, nursing has always been short staffed and it always will be. We will NEVER be staffed properly working on the floor. I was a CNA in the hospital before COVID ever hit and I've never seen a floor properly staffed floor so that don't let that be your reason to wait. 

But I will say if I had 4 small kids at home and I had the opportunity to stay home with them I might also do that myself. I think it's extremely hard being a mom and then throwing nursing on top of that is a lot to handle. Of course it's doable but nursing is a tough *** job. It exhausting. And then have to go home tend to 4 small kids is really a lot. It just depends on everyone's situation though