Starting over

[nurselove2014]

I need tips on what I can do to start over. Here's my story, I landed my first nursing job as a home health nurse last summer. I worked for about 3 months and quit. I have a feeling I made a big mistake because it's so hard to even find a nursing job right now. I should have been grateful and worked harder to become more assertive at my job. The reason I gave up was that for that 3 months of working there, I felt so stressed and overwhelmed with my responsibilities and I felt like I had little or no support from the other staffs at whatsoever. I couldn't handle the responsibility of a home health nurse because I wasn't experienced enough. After I quit, I traveled for a bit, stayed home and mope, feeling sorry for myself, feeling like a failure. Fast forwarding to right now, 6 months later, I am back and wanting to get back on track. I still want to be a nurse. I just don't feel like a competent nurse yet and I want to get there. Where do I begin? How do I start over?

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I understand your trepidation about Home Care as a new grad. IMO, it is not an appropriate practice environment for new grads unless they can provide a lengthy training program working with experienced qualified preceptors. Since Home Care is such a low margin (low profit) business, this is usually not feasible.

Realistically, you may have missed your window of opportunity for any type of new grad transition program. This means that it is unlikely that you can get into an acute care (hospital) setting at this point. Please take a look at LTC, LTAC, or clinics - where you would be working with more experienced staff who can serve as a resource. Best of luck to you in your job search.