What was I thinking?????

[NurseCard, ADN]

So, background is that I made the decision to go back to Med/Surge. Got tired of Psych nursing. That's the short version of THAT part of the story.

So now I'm back working on a Med/Surge unit at a new hospital that I've never worked before. I am totally asking myself what in the world was really going through my head when I decided to do this.

Actually, I guess I kinda know what the reasons were. =) First of all, this hospital is closer to me than the last one. Secondly, I missed all of the "hands on" work of Med Surge, and the fast pace and "action". Lastly (well not quite but I'm making this short), I was just simply getting burned out in Psych.

So here I am in this new hospital on this new floor and.... well, to say the honeymoon is over is putting it mildly. The floor that I work on tends to get about six-eight new admissions on 7p-7a alone, on a typical busy night. Many of them are direct admissions from the doc's office, so they need *EVERYTHING* done for them, as opposed to admits from the ER. Nurses on this unit, on this shift, have been known to go up to 11-12 patients apiece. A LOT of people have quit recently... I'm not sure why, nor am I sure that the poor staffing is the REASON why people have quit, or the RESULT. Or a little of both, I dunno.

I'm still on orientation. I have had presented to me, an opportunity for a much nicer job, 8-4:30, in non-direct patient care. The problem with that is that it's one of those competitive jobs that could take forever to actually land and then get started in. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about calling up my last job and seeing if I can come back full time (I'm still employed there PRN). I was getting tired of that job, but at least I was good at it, my coworkers really liked and respected me... in this job I tend to feel like a bumbling idiot. In this job, I get stressed out about going to work. My last job never really stressed me out, but it was starting to bore me and make me feel... kinda empty.

So, I'm not sure what to do. Stick with this job until I land the 8-4:30 job? I just hate to invest any more time in this job that I'm already thinking "man this sucks", or go back to the old job and then work on landing the 8-4:30 job. The 8-4:30 job is non-direct patient care, working for the state as an inspector/consultant. If I get the position I want, I'd be working alongside one of my best friends.

I'm just asking myself why in the world I was dumb enough to go back to Med Surge in the first place. I know some people enjoy it and stick with it but... I guess another option is trying to go back to the Med/Surge hospital where I worked before. Staffing is actually much, much better there and admits are more evenly spread out between two floors.

Any advice? Thoughts?

[nightmare, RN]

Looks like you've decided to go for the 8-4.30 job so why not go back to psyc till you get it? you will not feel so stressed because you know what you are doing and ,if you get the new job,knowing you have not long to go in psyc will make it easier.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Looks like you've decided to go for the 8-4.30 job so why not go back to psyc till you get it? you will not feel so stressed because you know what you are doing and ,if you get the new job,knowing you have not long to go in psyc will make it easier.

:yeahthat:

[RN1989]

How are your psych employers going to feel if you return to them full time only to leave them again fairly soon? They may decide that this is cause for a "no rehire" due to being undependable, which could hurt you later. And since you went PRN with them instead of quitting - this could look like you have job commitment issues to this new employer. Just because it sucks, think all options through before you proceed as they can have consequences you may not like.

[Riseupandnurse]

Your new job sounds horrible, but I think going back to the psych one with the intention of quitting soon is not a good idea. That job is your ace in the hole, especially since you are still prn; I wouldn't do anything to make them think less of you. And what if you get the job you think you want and after a year or two it bores you too? I would stick it out with the med surg job until the job you are after comes up. Then you will have TWO places you can go back to, or at least both a good med/surg and a good psych reference bank. Just what I would do. In my 17 years of nursing, after the first couple of years I have tried to have always at least 2 jobs at the same time, even if one is prn (yes, I have raised a family and gotten a masters at the same time; what can I say? I'm a nurse!) It's worked out very well for me, been very interesting and I've never felt "trapped". :monkeydance:

[RN1263]

I have read some of your posts in the past and I remember other folks trying to warn you against going back to med/surg, because of your past issues w/ it......

sorry it's not working out, but how happy do you think you'll be w/ a hands off nursing job w/ little to no action if you went back to med/surg to try to find these things?....just food for thought.

At the moment I am VERY distrought because I did not get the psych job I've been waiting to hear about for weeks...... So, looks like I'm going to have to work med/surg just to have a job. So, basically I'm biased....I would go back to psych! No actually....I'd RUN back to psych!

[NurseCard, ADN]

Yeah, I have had issues with Med/Surge in the past, but after getting away from it for a year, I thought that I'd come back to it a new, more mature nurse. In some ways that is true... but I'm finding that there are some old demons creeping back up that I still need to overcome.

Anyway... I did work the Med/Surge job last night and had a halfway decent night. So, I do concur with those who say that it might not be a good idea to go back to the Psych job just to leave it again shortly. What I think I'm going to do for now is stick with the Med/Surge job but still put in for the 8-4:30 job. It could be a LONG time before I land that job; maybe by then I will have put in a... respectable amount of time at the Med Surge job.