Should I quit my job at the hospital or keep being a crappy employee?

[Samantha93]

I am in such a dilemma and it has been driving me crazy. Please give me some opinions here.

I have worked at one of our two local hospitals for about two years now and plan to apply and (fingers crossed) get hired as an RN once I graduate this December (they hire a lot of the new graduate RNs from my program). I only work as PRN/TR, so I fill in doing front desk work in the clinics when needed. I figured it would be a good way for me to get my foot in the door at the hospital as well as have a flexible work schedule to fit in with nursing school. I was able to work a lot and be a helpful employee the first year and a half or so.

However, because of school and my two kids, I can hardly ever work anymore. We cannot afford daycare and we are blessed to have their grandma watch them while I have school during the week, but she has a job also and usually I am asked to work with only a couple day's notice (Ex. This employee has requested Friday off can you work that day?) And usually I can't because I need to give my future mother in law a couple week's notice so she can make sure she doesn't book clients on particular days.

I feel like a crappy employee because I'm on the payroll but not really working more than a couple days a month, and I can tell my boss is annoyed that I am always turning down work requests, but here's my problem: If I quit, I'm severing ties (although small ties, they are still ties) with the hospital I want to work at as a nurse in less than a year. They like to hire internally. I really don't want them to see my application as a nurse, look me up, and cross me off because they see I had just quit their hospital the prior year.

But, if I stay with the job, I am afraid I'm risking being fired, which would basically eliminate my chances of being hired there again at all. My boss has sent emails to the whole TR pool reminding us that we need to give her hours to remain in the TR pool, and while it was addressed to many people, I have a feeling she was specifically reminding me. Even if I don't get fired, I can tell my boss isn't fond of me, and I'm afraid she would give me a bad review and not recommend me for hire when I graduate school.

I'm sorry this was so long. Any opinions or advice as to what you would do in my shoes would be so appreciated. I thought taking the position at this hospital would help me, but right now it is causing me such a headache.

[caliotter3]

I have no idea how you can do it, but if it were me, I would bend over backwards, forwards, and sideways to start saying yes more often. The job market is just too tight to walk away from an advantage. Maybe you could approach the manager to see if there was a way that you could fill in with more notice?

[KarenMS]

Communication is key. You need to speak to your manager and express that you really like working for the company and hope to have a future there. Ask what you can do within your constraints. The important thing is not to appear flaky and give a concrete plan for your future: like how you will be able to afford childcare in X number of years.

[LPNtoRNin2016OH, LPN]

I have the same issues as you. Except in an LPN working PRN in LTC while I finish school. I don't plan on staying there after my RN but for me its essential to keep my skills up while in school to be more appealing to employers. I have three kids, 2 which require daycare that's too expensive on PRN salary, and my husband works nights. I too rely on my mother in law and mom for babysitting to work and go to school. My boss knew I was in school when she hired me but I'm only required to work two shifts a month. Do you have a minimum requirement? As long as your making that not sure why they can be mad or fire you. Sometimes I can make five shifts one month, this month with finals, I couldn't make anything work. I just keep my boss up to date on this and she has been there herself so luckily she is very compassionate about my childcare situation. I try to make up for it in other ways like doing paperwork most PRN nurses aren't expected to do and staying over on my already scheduled shifts if needed. I also live very close and can cover short gaps like two hours if a regular nurse needs to leave for an appointment etc. I offer up those things to her, I may not be able to take every open shift but I am useful to cover the odd, non full shift gap which I know she appreciates. Perhaps you could offer up some type of other hours to help your boss out to smooth things over. But as I said before, as long as your meeting your minimum shifts, your doing nothing wrong.