Would you take this job?

[melissa_rn]

I recently had an interview for a part-time family practice clinic RN position. I have 5 years of experience in a busy family practice clinic but we moved to another state. This was my first interview after getting licensed and they had me back to shadow for a day to see if the job is something I would like.

The nurse I was working with said that the day was "really busy" but it would have been considered "slow" at my last clinic. The office is tiny. There are 3 patient rooms and the doctor's office. You can stand in one spot and see the entire place. There are only two windows in the place - one in a patient room and the other in the doctor's office. There is a lab of sorts right behind the nurse's desk. There is one little refrigerator there which they use for specimens, vaccines, AND the nurse's beverages. Yep, all in one. There is a sink which had dirty dishes in one half and the other half was used by the MA to transfer urine from a cup to a tube (without gloves). The nurse I shadowed today did about 10 blood draws and didn't wear gloves or wash her hands or use hand sanitizer the entire time I was there. They were giving flu shots, but giving out the 06-07 edition of the VIS for the nasal spray version instead. They do paper charting but the charts were just manila folders and they make their notes on loose leaf paper which is clipped together with a binder clip. If you ever dropped a chart, you'd be screwed! The hallway is not wide enough for a wheel chair. They also have mercury sphygmomanometers on the walls and the gloves they had were latex. They do not do xrays, splinting, casting, or suturing.

However, the patients that we saw today have been coming there for years and seemed to love the clinic. The doctor gets good reviews online. The daily flow (blood draws, injections, phone calls, refills, etc) seems generally the same as my last job (but less). There are only 7 employees total. The doctor is in her 60's and I wonder when she plans to retire. My schedule would probably be just two days a week, meaning I could stay home with my son the other 3.

I'm concerned that I might not be "going anywhere" with this job. My last clinic was state-of-the-art compared to this clinic. I feel like I might be moving "backwards" in my career. They have offered $23/hr without insurance (since I'm covered by my husband's). I started at my last job at $23.50 five years ago, with benefits. They don't have a 401K, but starting in your third year there, the doctor starts to put 6% of your salary into three different programs (a cash balance plan, profit sharing, and safe harbor? Not sure what those mean) for basically an 18% raise starting in your third year. However, this only applies to people working 20 hrs or more a week, and I may not qualify.

The people all seem nice enough. The office is somewhat claustrophobic. I'm not sure if I'd want to be seen there as a patient. And would I want to work somewhere I wouldn't want to be a patient? I probably could have a hand in correcting many of the things I see as "wrong" with the place. But would they be offended that the "new girl" wants to come in and change things? Clearly, they don't think they are doing anything incorrectly.

Do I take it but continue to look for something better? Would it be awful of me to get trained, and then leave soon after?

Do I run away screaming?

Advice?

[chloecatrn]

The people all seem nice enough. The office is somewhat claustrophobic. I'm not sure if I'd want to be seen there as a patient. And would I want to work somewhere I wouldn't want to be a patient? I probably could have a hand in correcting many of the things I see as "wrong" with the place. But would they be offended that the "new girl" wants to come in and change things? Clearly, they don't think they are doing anything incorrectly.

You don't mention if this is a small town or not, but I get the feeling that it might be. Small town politics being what they are, it might be detrimental to take the job, be trained, and then try to go elsewhere and work. If you're not interested in the position in the longish term, I personally wouldn't take it. I certainly wouldn't take it with the mindset that you're going to go in and correct everything that they're doing wrong. I think this office likely subscribes to the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" theory, and you're just going to make more enemies than friends among coworkers by trying to change things in this practice.