Thinking of career change

[shine123]

I have been an RN in Alberta for almost 3 years now, although one of those years I was off on mat leave. I worked acute care before going on leave (it is one year in Alberta) and then found I couldn't keep my line because I was not able to work the shift work or even the morning shifts due to the fact that it was an hour commute, I became a single parent, and lack of babysitters for shift work. Anyways I had to take a job in nursing of which I had and have no interest, and where there are no benefits such as education days, no career growth, little communication etc... however the hours work with daycare (it is also part time hours and ten dollars less per hour than in the hospitals here).

I have been doing this for one and a half years and feel like I am dying inside. I feel like nursing just hasn't worked out for me, and I see no forecast in the future for that changing. I have applied to other nursing jobs and have had no response at all. I am thinking of leaving nursing and trying to find a job where I can actually get full time work with benefits, but not sure which direction to take. Any suggestions? Advice?

[Fiona59]

So it sounds like you are in a non-union, doctors office/clinic job?

I was going to suggest HealthLink because the hours are slightly better, but I've worked with nurses who hated it (office politics).

If you really want to step out of nursing think about Health Information Management. From what I recall, it's a two year course at either NAIT or SAIT. The majority of those jobs are day shift in my hospital. You don't deal with families, etc. They are usually fulltime or at least a .8FTE.

If you really want to step away from healthcare how about para-legal training? I used to like the idea of Court Reporter until Alberta privatized them and I believe they are all self-employed now.

Only you know what your interests are and what your non-nursing skill set is.

Good Luck. I truly believe if you are that fed up, it is time to walk away.