Career suicide by switching fields?

Nurses Career Support

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  1. Still out critical care or take the new job?

    • 2
      Critical care
    • 6
      Addiction outreach

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I am a 2.5 yr nurse with a year of tele and 1.5 yrs critical care experience. I do enjoy my job sometimes but have become burnt out to say the least. My husband is relocating and I am currently searching for a new job. I have always had a passion for public health and working with underserved populations. I have an interview as an addiction outreach nurse working mostly with homeless people, those with mental illness, and those without insurance. It sounds right up my alley! My concern is if I dont end up liking this type of work, will I be able to return to critical care? I dont even have 2 years of ICU under my belt and I feel like taking time away from this field will affect me getting jobs in the future. Any insight?

Get a PRN job in an ICU to keep your skills up in case you don't like it. Good luck with the new position. It sounds very exciting!

I am a 2.5 yr nurse with a year of tele and 1.5 yrs critical care experience. I do enjoy my job sometimes but have become burnt out to say the least. My husband is relocating and I am currently searching for a new job. I have always had a passion for public health and working with underserved populations. I have an interview as an addiction outreach nurse working mostly with homeless people, those with mental illness, and those without insurance. It sounds right up my alley! My concern is if I dont end up liking this type of work, will I be able to return to critical care? I dont even have 2 years of ICU under my belt and I feel like taking time away from this field will affect me getting jobs in the future. Any insight?

If you stay in outreach for ten years, it might be hard to transition back to critical care. If you try outreach for a few months and don't like it, I think you'll have no issues.

1 Votes

They are very different areas. Interesting that you are attracted to both.

You want to stay tied to a field where you're already burnt out?

I made the switch to home health decades ago because I was tired of working every other weekend (I was very young, FOMO). Other than the first couple of years getting on my feet in a very different field, I have been very happy and to this day have joy in my work, I still look forward to going to work.

Lately my focus has been in reaching out to those with psycho social obstacles to healthcare.. it's very fulfilling. I urge you to find the work you want to do.

Hello , you will always no matter what be able to pursue any nursing speciality of your choice , as long as you stay in practice , if you choose to go back to critical care, and it has been 6 years , you will surely find a hospital who will be happy to provide you with a little additional orientation to get you back to independence level .

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