What would you do?

[BerryhappyRN, MSN, RN]

Hello All,

All opinions are appreciated, here is my story....

I am a hospice nurse with over 5 years experience. I did everything from 12 hour continuous care to RNCM in facilities. About 2 years ago moved up to a nurse manager position in my company and have regretted the move ever since. I have been offered a hospice position at our local VA healthcare system as a bedside RN, but with PT hours. If I take the position I am out of middle management and back to bedside hospice care (yay!), I get all of the same benefits as a FT employee just at a bit higher cost (probably still less then my current company), I can work either 8's or 12's, days or nights or rotating (my choice), and I get my dream job of serving those who served. Unfortunately, it could be as few as 5 shifts per pay period up to as many as I want. I still do not know my exact pay grade but I am finished chasing the money. Also, I am a FT student with a dual income full time family.

So...would you give up your miserable nurse management position to go to your dream bedside care position for possibly less pay but with flexibility and HUGE opportunities for advancement? I have the chance to regain my own "QOL" and focus more time on my studies and my hubby. Also, even as PT the VA offers full pension after 10 years. I have applied at the VA consistently over the past 7 years and this is the FIRST time I have gotten my foot in the door. My husband thinks going back to bedside is a step backwards from the nurse management position, I disagree.

What would you do?

[Tencat12]

Hi! What are you waiting for???? If you are unhappy and have a shot at something you would really like to do I don't see why you WOULDN'T jump at the opportunity. I was a hospice case manager for 8 years, got an office job in the hospice organization and HATED it with a passion. I left the pay raise to go back to patients. Life is too short to worry about doing the 'right' things.

[nutella, MSN, RN]

I left middle management and went into community nursing / home palliative and hospice care and now work for a palliative care team in a community hospital. The money was good in middle management but I did not agree to put productivity before patient safety...The other middle management job was just really "mission impossible" with terrible staffing problems. I love what I am doing now.

[Katillac, RN]

Two things jump out at me from your post:

So...would you give up your miserable nurse management position to go to your dream bedside care position for possibly less pay but with flexibility and HUGE opportunities for advancement?

My husband thinks going back to bedside is a step backwards from the nurse management position, I disagree.

I would need to decide how important it was to me to avoid the appearance of taking a step backwards. Because yes, there are circles, especially of corporate minded folk, wherein if you aren't managing people you're just one of the peasants (not suggesting this is your husband, BTW). Some would be jobless before having a position on their resume that wasn't either a step up the management ladder, or less acceptable but OK for the right reasons, a lateral move. They feel that taking a step back even if to move forward makes their ultimate goal of climbing to the top more difficult. So I would need to ask myself how much that appearance mattered.

But the opportunity to leave something miserable and go to something I felt would be satisfying WITH huge potential for advancement? I believe I would be setting new records in the brevity of a New York minute. YMMV, of course.

[BerryhappyRN, MSN, RN]

Wow Katillac you've shown me the forest through the trees! You are correct, the issue is that he (and others) would rather be jobless before taking a new position that isn't a step up or at least lateral...and that taking a step back (even if to move forward) is unacceptable. Wow. Thank you. It's funny, my love for nursing is not about my climb to the top, it's about the ability to make a living by providing care. As a matter of fact, until your post I was not even aware that I may appear to be climbing the ladder! I just want to find the most efficient and best way to care for people, preferably hospice patients, but just people. You are correct, I DON'T CARE what people think! I really don't care. I just want to love on people at the end of life and keep them comfortable in any way possible. How lucky are we that we get to make money just by CARING for people?! THANK YOU ALL for your input and conversation! I will keep you updated as I trudge through the mud of government paperwork. :)

[makeitwork, BSN, RN]

To me this is a bit of a no-brainer. Go to where you are being led. We have to define "taking a step back." I see this as you stepping forward to where your heart is leading you. Stepping up is not always stepping forward.

I stepped "down" from an supervisory position to allow me to have the direct patient care I got into nursing for in the first place. What is interesting is that I then "stepped out" to another employer, doing the same direct care job, and I am happier than I ever was and I am now making more money and have more family time than ever before.

I would like to call that stepping forward.