What are my Chances?

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I'm a new nurse, still have 1 month left on orientation on a med/surg floor (3 month orientation).

Have you ever asked your manager if you could go part-time, 2x a week? I was just wondering what my chances were with that. I'm supposed to work 3-12s during days.

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Specializes in LTC.

Why do you want to cut back? And so early in the job? It's possible, but...I dunno.

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Specializes in Med/surg, home health, ICU, PCU, Cardio.

Can I ask why? If it is a necessity, I think your chances are good. However, you really would benefit from two years of full time med/surg experience. It really is an invaluable training field. Having said that, some people hate med/surg and I totally get that :) but if you just hang in there, it really does help to round you out as a nurse. You receive invaluable education on medications, procedures, pt education, documentation, etc. I wish you the best of luck!:nurse:

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Can I ask why? If it is a necessity, I think your chances are good. However, you really would benefit from two years of full time med/surg experience. It really is an invaluable training field. Having said that, some people hate med/surg and I totally get that :) but if you just hang in there, it really does help to round you out as a nurse. You receive invaluable education on medications, procedures, pt education, documentation, etc. I wish you the best of luck!:nurse:

Lol, I definitely don't love it. It's ok, but not where I want to be. I took this job for a little experience, and I'm trying to stick it out for at least 6 months before I do an internal transfer (our hospital requirement). I really want to go to postpartum or L&D or couplet care. I want to go part-time to work at an endoscopy center 1 day a week, and i also want to go back to school.

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Depending on the staffing level of your unit- That might be a bad idea. Especially if you are hoping to transfer within the same hospital.

If I was your manger: I would immediately be thinking "Why did I hire this person"? Only to later find out your real plan is to transfer out of my unit... That might irritate me enough to do lunch with the OB manager...

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Specializes in ICU, ER.

Probably not a good idea after only two months of employment.

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Probably not a good idea after only two months of employment.

I don't plan to ask that right now... but a little later on after orientation is over with. Maybe 6 months or later if I'm still there (i'm thinking I will be though).

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Specializes in FNP.

I don't think there is any harm in exploring the idea. The answer has to do with the FTE status, and it just may not be possible. When I wanted to go from PT (one or two shifts a week which I was splitting with someone else) to per diem (so I wouldn't be obligated every week-it was really cramping my style! ;) ) it turned out that I could not officially change my status b/c my department did not have a FTE for a per diem position. HR was constantly screaming that I didn't work enough to have a PT position (cry e a river), but they wouldn't fix it so we could have the correct FTEs. It just ended up staying that way and I just gave away my shifts all the time when I didn't feel like doing it.

If you can't officially go PT, ask if you can pass your shifts to someone else looking for extra hours, etc.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

3 month orientation??? WoW-

wherever you are working at, that sounds pretty good.

I think you have a good chance of getting the schedule, however, as someone said earlier,

you will benefit from working more in the beginning of the nursing career.

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I have a friend in almost the exact situation. We started in orientation together about 2 months ago, both in med-surg. She has always wanted to do OB. Well just a couple weeks ago she got an on-call position at another hospital in post-partum. She told her manager she would like to cut back to 2 days a week. The manager was more than understanding and now she works two jobs.

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Specializes in CVICU.

In my facility new grads are not allowed to go part time until they've got at least a year of experience. It's not a good idea to do that during your first year. It may stunt your progress.

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.
Depending on the staffing level of your unit- That might be a bad idea. Especially if you are hoping to transfer within the same hospital.

If I was your manger: I would immediately be thinking "Why did I hire this person"? Only to later find out your real plan is to transfer out of my unit... That might irritate me enough to do lunch with the OB manager...

I think most managers know that M/S is a starting point for many people and know that many plan to move on.

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