Thinking of going back to the floor

[anc33]

So I am thinking of doing the unthinkable for many. I currently work in clinical trials and have done that for the last 2+ years. I have gotten my CCRC and am in a good position to make a career in big pharma. The job is cushy. We never have to clean up messes, patients don't crash on us, we don't have to deal with pushy families and (with overtime) the money is much better than I expected to be making 3 years out. But I am bored. I feel like I do not have to use my brain in this job and that it is slowly turning to mush. It was not a total waste of time. I can read the heck out of an ECG, good at tele, blood draws, etc.

Call me crazy, but I miss the energy of floor. I also miss that feeling of accomplishment and those cases where you catch something and give yourself a good pat on the back. OK, I do not miss shifts where I would have 5 trachs, 6 G-Tubes, 5 restraints, 2 lumbar drains and 1 ventriculostomy. (That was the shift the broke me.) But anyway, it has been over two years since I worked in the hospital and I was only there for 10 months. Would it be advisable to take an RN refresher course? This would be for my own edification as I am not worried about getting hired. Any advice would be appreciated.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I would probably do it per diem with orientation, if you really want this. I support whatever you wish to do, but I have to say, I would stay where I am.

Yup. Pick up a hight or so a week in the ED and keep your skills honed, the adrenaline pumping, and the memory of why you left the floor alive, OR why you miss it so much.

:)

[HealthyRN]

Yup. Pick up a hight or so a week in the ED and keep your skills honed, the adrenaline pumping, and the memory of why you left the floor alive, OR why you miss it so much.

:)

If the OP has less than a year of acute care nursing experience, it is unlikely that she will find a per diem position in the ER. My experience was in the ER and I was unable to find a per diem position, because I had less than a year. The OP may be able to find a per diem position on the floor, but it has been two years since she has been in acute care. Most employers are going to want at least a part-time committment to relearn skills and get comfortable again. Perhaps after a few months, they would allow her to drop down to per diem.

[bigsyis]

How about staying where you are but doing PRN on Med-Surg on weekends? That would keep your "hand in," so to speak, and yet you wouldn't be giving up your big-league job!