Tired of med-surg but feel guilty leaving

[crystalbenz]

Hey guys, so a little background about me is I worked in LTC/Nursing Home for almost 6 months. I found that it wasn’t for me and I went on to Med surg. I actually loved Med surg clinicals but after doing it for a year as an RN I’m finding that I don’t enjoy it as much and find my floor quite stressful. I’m thinking of going to ICU soon just to try something new and learn new skills but I feel guilty leaving after only being here a year. they also just had hired a couple new nurses who aren’t done with orientation and I feel I’m messing up staffing for my night crew. I’m also really nervous about trying ICU because I had a rocky start when I first started med surg and I’m afraid of making mistakes where the patients will be much more sick and fragile. I’m not sure if I should stay for the ‘golden 2 years’ or just move on? ? thanks 

[hypnotizer90, BSN, RN]

Heya. I have been working 1.5 years as a med-surg nurse here in the US but I had some nursing background beforehand. I thought of completing the 2 year since I want to get the med-surg certification just to mention in my resume as well as being more confident.

I eventually decided to apply at a Surgical/Trauma/Neuro ICU at a Level I trauma center in a smaller city & different State. I was just interviewed and waiting for the result... crossed fingers. During the interview, I asked them a lot of questions relevant to orientation, how to succeed as no ICU background, ICU phases, teamwork etc.

I somewhat feel guilty of leaving my current employer but I am doing this for professional growth and achieving my goals. I am not getting any younger anymore and I spent too much schooling to not get the job I wanted. Otherwise, I wanted to see if there is an increase of pay rate.

If you think you needed more time to grow then you do you! 

[brissygal, BSN, RN]

Hi hypnotizer90, 

Don't beat yourself up! You set your course - Go For it!

You have great skills from Med/Surg that will help you in your new role. It sounds like its time to specialize and that is what your aiming for now. 

Believe in yourself - it will be a huge learning curve - but you can do it - you made the move already - this tells me you have what it takes to make it work for you.

Aim high! Good Luck

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

A year is a decent amount of time to work somewhere before moving on. 

[caffeinatednurse, BSN, RN]

Go for it. Different people need more or less time in a specialty to figure out if it's for them. If you're interested in ICU, apply and ask for a lengthy orientation in order to feel comfortable in your new specialty. If you don't like it, you can always put in for a transfer back to med-surg. It's not going anywhere any time soon! ?

[Gampopa]

OMG get rid of the guilt. Hospital mngt will use that guilt to drain your life force energy until you want to leave nursing entirely. Are you thinking ICU will be less stressful? Maybe but with all the COVID pts in ICUs right now it may be much more stressful with the critically vented pt and their families. But you certainly will learn a lot. Good luck.