What would you do?

[LivelaughloveRN]

I graduated with my BSN on August 2011. Started at ICU/CCU unit on October 2011. Almost at the 6 months mark now and I've been miserable at this unit. The people are wonderful. The staff is helpful but the nightshift is a killer and the drive is also terrible. I drive a little over an hour to get to work and then an hour back. The nightshift has left me with feeling like my body is deteriorating and I am a much much grouchier person. I feel so overwhelmed and stressed when at work. Ive been job searching lately and have found 2 opportunities. One is at a gynecology/fertility specialist office. Mon-fr. No holidays, no weekends. Pay is $19/hr which is a $4pay decrease from the hospital. I'll be doing telephone triage, assisting exams, vitals, blood draws, and even scrubbing in for surgery at the adjacent hospital. The other is at a pediatric office with similar hours and same pay. What I'm wondering is if I go to the office now, will that limit my future job opportunities later? Also, if I go to get my FNP, will my 6 months in the ICU/CCU plus my experience at the physicians office be enough to qualify acceptance?

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

For the FNP question, probably not. Most schools require one to two years of experience as a pre-req for acceptance. I do think going to an MD office is going to limit your career prospects right now. I also think it will get you used to working a kind of shift that generally tends to not be a possibility anywhere but in a doctors office.

It sounds to me like you need to do a few things before you up and quit:

1. Talk to your manager about your struggles with night shift so you get on the list to be moved to days when an opening comes up and possibly to work with your schedule to give you three in a row if you are getting spread out

2. Give it more time. Six months is not long enough to judge if this is the job for you, especially since your main complaint seems to be struggles with adjusting to night shift, not with the learning situation.

3. Look at how you are managing being on night shift. Are you trying to go back and forth to be on "days" on your days off? You may not be one of the people who can successfully do that if so. Are you doing all you can to ensure you are getting adequate sleep? Melatonin? Phone off? Black-out shades? Have you sought out help from other night shifters as to what they did to adjust?