When I was in nursing school two years ago I posted on here with a different account and got a few good responses and a few funky ones that made me wonder. I am currently a little confused and worried about my career.
For starters nursing is not my first career. I am in my early 40s. In approximately 2 years I currently on my fifth job. I am also struggling with nurse practitioner school. Also, like some other people I got other things in my personal life outside of work I am struggling to overcome. So it happened like this.
Right out of nursing school I got a job in a small hospital back in my hometown. The hospital didn't have a good reputation at all. I was a new grad working in the ER. It was overwhelming and I felt disrespected by my coworkers, unwelcomed, and that the chain of command was disfunctional. One day at work my preceptor said some really-things to me and I finished the shift never went back. So I worked there approx 2 months.
I then got hired at a large hospital a level 2 trauma hospital as a cardiac telemetry nurse. It was very hectic and face paced. I noticed the CNAs were very manipulative and lazy.I was there for appox 6 months I thought moving to a large booming city would be a good career move and I got into NP school shortly aftermoving to the BIG city.
In the legitimately big city the unit I was on was non tele. The patients primarily needed/ wanted pain and nausea medicine and charting was much more micromanged.Things there didnt go as I had hoped but I stayed employed there for a year. I thought I left on good terms.
I went back to my previous hospital with the lazy CNAS. The unit had changed and I was 6-1 at nights with close to 30 beds and 2 CNAs and codes were a daily thing. I felt bullied and spoke up about it. The behavior didn't change. I was failing one of my classes in NP school and took a leave of absence. My personal life was also suffering and one night when census was low and my preceptor started in on me. I politely said I was going home. I had already texted my manager but got no response one hour previous to experiencing some negative attitude. I clocked out and went home. The wheels of justice turned for a few days. I had interviews at other places lined up and thought the hospital would side with me since lateral violence is a hot topic. NOPE. I was fired.
One week later I am on the pay clock for a home health private duty comapny learning a couple new skill sets and patient age group. The pay is better, but no PTO, and the commute is very long.
NP school cranks back up in Janurary and I got a few questions I would love some feedback from you guys on... MY old manager in the big city wont give me a recomendation I discovered...why I really don't know and my last manager fired me, so how do I go about getting back into hospital work if I wanted too? Home health might be a better fit for me... I don't know.
5 jobs in two year? Does that make me a bad hire? I kinda think yes, but nursing in hospitals is a GRIND.Everyone says be honest about your work HX, but I think it best to not mention anything about the hospital I was fired from. What do you guys think? I hope to hear from some of yall. This is rather troublesome since I have to find clinical placement soon for NP clinicals, and its the holidays.Hope some one can relate and exchange posts with me.
