Published Sep 15, 2018
habbas1, DNP, RN
12 Posts
I've recently found myself a bit in a dilemma. I graduated this past May with my BSN and passed my NCLEX in June. Along with that, I have been very fortunate to get into a DNP program with a speciality in Advanced Population Health and started last month as a part time student. I decided that I want to work while getting my DNP to get experience as an RN and to better understand the populations that I want to advocate for after (hopefully) obtaining my DNP. I always knew that I did not want to start out in a traditional med-surg setting so I had a job lined up for a new community health nurse case manager/educator position for nursing students coming straight out of undergrad. It was a position where they would give extra preceptorship for new nurses to better transition them into community health. Upon awaiting my official letter I found out that the company went through a hiring freeze and could not further extend the other. I panicked because school was about to start up again and I wanted to get into a rhythm so I applied for a sub-acute RN position at a SNF, within the day of applying they called me back for an interview and hired me on the spot.
I'm extremely fortunate about the position but there were things that were not explained in detail to me during my hiring process that I realized when I started the position. I made sure to ask about nurse to patient ratios, team work, work environment, how they train new grads, etc to HR and the DON. Upon starting I felt uncomfortable with the ratio being 17:1 for the nurse and that they constantly send in an overwhelming amount of admissions in comparison to the number of nurses that are at the facility. It seems that they are in the market to keep all beds filled constantly in order to keep revenue and numbers up. I adore my patients, but after day 5 of orientation I have been having second thoughts.
I want to switch to part time work and have a reference for another reputable rehab hospital in the area with a patient to nurse ratio being 7:1 they are also a teaching hospital and are offering a couple of part time positions. I've also been looking for other community health/public health openings in the area and have not had any luck. I felt like I made a mistake by jumping the gun too quickly before weighing out my choices! I also want to apply for this other position but do not know if I should include my current position on the reusme because it might look odd that I'm switching jobs so quickly but on the other hand I don't want to lie. My apologies for the long post, I'm lost and in need of some insightful advice!