transitioning... finally.

[abouttodoit]

After 8 years of med/surg and 1 year of telemetry, I finally decided to take the plunge.  I want to be an emergency room nurse. 

I been at my current location for 5 years.  My question is:  do I transfer within my hospital? Or do I leave and apply somewhere else?  What's easier in terms of transitioning?

NOTE; I plan to ultimately leave this place because the commute is killing me.

Coworkers told me I should learn at my current hospital and bail after a year. 

[JKL33]

abouttodoit said:

What's easier in terms of transitioning?

Various factors make question not straightforward to answer.

For example, culture (of the respective facilities, the units, etc) plays a big role in how an experienced nurse will or won't be accepted into a new specialty.

Another factor is how your current place regards departmental transfers. Are there managers who try to hold onto staff by putting up roadblocks? Conversely, are other prospective employers in your area open to training experienced nurses into new specialties or do they try to avoid paying to train people to new specialties?

Overall I would say this: 1) If the commute is killing you anyway, might as well try to find something closer now. The stress of learning a new specialty may be slightly less if you don't have a killer commute to handle after 12 hrs of orienting  2) in an ideal world, according to my preferences anyway, one would try to stay awhile with the employer that provides the training, rather than get training from an employer then leave ASAP when the training is done. While that isn't always possible, in my mind it is the right thing to try to do, when possible.

That's all I've got.

Good luck, I hope you find an ED that welcomes you in and provides good training. ??

 

[abouttodoit]

JKL33 said:

Various factors make question not straightforward to answer.

For example, culture (of the respective facilities, the units, etc) plays a big role in how an experienced nurse will or won't be accepted into a new specialty.

Another factor is how your current place regards departmental transfers. Are there managers who try to hold onto staff by putting up roadblocks? Conversely, are other prospective employers in your area open to training experienced nurses into new specialties or do they try to avoid paying to train people to new specialties?

Overall I would say this: 1) If the commute is killing you anyway, might as well try to find something closer now. The stress of learning a new specialty may be slightly less if you don't have a killer commute to handle after 12 hrs of orienting  2) in an ideal world, according to my preferences anyway, one would try to stay awhile with the employer that provides the training, rather than get training from an employer then leave ASAP when the training is done. While that isn't always possible, in my mind it is the right thing to try to do, when possible.

That's all I've got.

Good luck, I hope you find an ED that welcomes you in and provides good training. ??

 

my current manager will be happy to see me go.  there is a "program" in place for transfers too.

I just don't want to be stuck here for another couple of years going on forever if I get too comfortable .  my plan was to do this 3 years ago.  sadly, experience and education kept me from applying at other locations as I didn't meet the requirements until now.

[FiremedicMike, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

I don't think anyone with RN behind their name is stuck anywhere these days.  

Find an ED that's within a reasonable driving distance that doesn't have a reputation for being a dumpster fire and apply there.  If they hire you in at the same pay rate or more than you're making, jump on it.

YMMV, I'm at the tail end of my FD career where I stayed in one place for the last 20+ years, the idea of having the infinite level of lateral mobility afforded by my RN license is fascinating to me.