1st hospital job FIRED, how do I move on?

[Bonnyb, BSN, RN]

Hello, I am a relatively new grad RN and I was recently terminated at my first hospital job and I feel absolutely devestated. I was working at the ED for about 2 months and after awhile I began to realize that it was not the right fit for me. The high intense times and the stress were overwhelming me more than I thought I could handle. On top of that my preceptor and manager had given me some feedback in that it seemed I wasn't very enthusiastic at work and it seemed like I didn't want to be there. From then I tried to work my best and even appear more joyful about work. My preceptor even told me that I had improved a lot since. But ultimately, when it really came down to it, it was the high acquity patients that got to me. In being under such stressful times and has gotten me to panic and make mistakes.

With that said they provided me with the options to either see if I can stick it through the rest of my orientation (which already had a 2 week extension) or try to go up to one of the general med floors in the hospital where it's a much slower pace. I went with the latter.

I had the interview and I thought it went well, I was honest and thought I showed my love for pt care and nursing, but I guess it wasn't enough. After the interview the next day, I was told that I apparently "wasn't enthusiastic and had a flat effect." To make a long story short, I was fired from the hospital entirely.

Luckily, I have my other job, a nursing home rehab facility, that I can fall back on that I've been working for 4 months now, however, I am still trying to find another job as I want to be in the hospital and gain more experience from there.

This termination has really made me question myself if nursing is for me and has gotten me very down and discouraged if I will ever be hired in an acute care hospital and even stay hired and if I can handle such pt loads. How does one recover from this, especially being in this awkward stage of being a new grad and having some kind of experience?

I know now to definitely work on the way I present myself and really find something manageable for me that I would actually enjoy, which is hard to say what bc I really don't know where I would really like to be in. I just really need to gain back my motivation.

Also, in terms of resumes and interviews, should I even mention the hospital/my experiences in the ER? I have learned a great amount of things in the ER than I ever had working at my other nursing home job, so how can I properly include my experiences?

Thanks for listening.

[autumn_blue]

Hey, it looks like this hasn't gotten replies in a while. Unfortunately I'm still a student so I can't offer any good advice, but I can say I empathize with you, I'm glad you have another job while you figure out where/how to get back into hospital work, and I wish you the best!

[Kohai2, BSN]

I’m also still a student, but I’d say you should include the previous job on there. You can frame it as an experience that you learned and grew from, which it sounds like you did. You found that ED is not for you right now and you’re looking to build your compassionate practice on a medsurg floor or something.

Having a second job shows you’re a hard worker, trying to get another hospital job shows you’ve got grit. Keep persevering, I think you can get another hospital job. Good luck! Keep us posted

[Begs95]

Hello I am in a similar situation myself, I quit after three months and am also having a hard time finding that second job. Tell me what works for you. But keep applying, apply everywhere, to everything and be honest, keep open. Good Luck, I really do feel for you.