Is my career as a nurse over?

[Dixiecup]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this website. My nursing experience is vast. I spent 10 years in the navy as a nurse, I should have stayed 20. My last nursing job, on L&D was a nightmare. I stayed for 4 days due to doctor on nurse violence. I applied to another hospital, had a very positive interview, and the manager wanted hire me. HR treated me like dirt, so I turned the job offer down. A couple of months later I received a letter of termination. Was I fired, or did I quit, no one in HR will talk to me. I went and got a real estate license, and changed careers. Are nurses not in demand? I want to work in nursing, but is this what you all deal with as civilians? What do you all think, and what would you all do?

[explorer]

Have you thought about working for a government facility.
For instance the Veterans Administration, they use a lot of
nurses.

[nursinghumor]

Nurse are in demand everywhere if you've been following the Nursing Shortage. They'll be in much greater demand as time goes on.

Guess the question in your case is how much crap and nonsense are you willing to put up with.

Some nurses can simply change hospitals, facilities or units and find things are better. Others find they need to leave nursing entirely.

The decision is up to you, the opportunities/needs are out there long as you keep your license current.

You may find the articles on this page helpful:
Nurses' Views of The Nursing Profession:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/views/

After spending that much time in nursing, I'd hate to throw it all away over a couple of bad incidents.

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.com

[rnsince83]

Clarify if you will: Did the letter of termination come from a job you did not accept or from the job you quit?
In either case it sounds like you are just a nurse trying to work in an acceptable workplace, doing what you already know how to do. This sounds like another case of a good nurse's talents being wasted. For example, as I understand it, there are 500,000 nurses in Texas, but only about 250,000 are currently licensed (who knows how many are actually working?). The HR's, Administrators, Managers (Suits, if you will) DO have a clue, but they don't care. I figured this out some time ago and it took some getting used to. As nurses, we have no advocates but ourselves and other nurses. Patients are too sick, families are only concerned about their sick loved ones; the suits just care about numbers, no law suits, not being bothered and looking good (translation: $$$$). That is why I feel so strongly about nurses supporting each other. We have no other advocates. We also need to be advocates for our selves. Here is what I have learned: 1) Be as excellent in knowledge and skills as you can be and always be open and willing to learn from anyone 2) Always be polite and considerate to others (even if they are not) 3) Always stick up for yourself (you may have to carefully pick the right time, place and means) 4) Assertive is good, aggressive is bad 5) Take notes, make a paper trail and for Heaven's sake, keep it private until you have to use it 6) Be flexible, be willing to give in occasionally--you don't have to win every battle 7) Realize it's a game--learn the rules, devise your own strategy, be prepared for any eventuality, ALWAYS BE HONEST, don't be afraid to admit you made a mistake, then go try to rectify it as soon as possible 8) Don't worry--be concerned, do the best you can, and let it go 9) If you are in an abusive job, make careful plans to safely extricate yourself without destroying your professional or personal reputation or credentials; if you can't do so immediately, make a plan, bide your time, be as happy as you can, and act when the time is right 10) Take time to go back to the real reasons why you became a nurse. I almost always find something that heals me and helps me to put on my white shoes and go do it all over again.

[Dixiecup]

The letter of termination came from the job I did not accept.

[kidrn911]

I moved from Indianapolis (where the nursing shortage is horrible, but there is plenty of money to be made) to Chicago and found that the nursing shortage in Chicago is not really a shortage.

[CHIEFRN1]

WOW, From Nursing to Real Estate quite a switch. NURSES ARE IN HOT DEMAND. I do not know about elsewhere, but in South East Florida, the working conditions are marvelous. I am a nurse with more than 20 years exoerience.

My hospital is a 156 bed not for profit Community medical center, vert reknowned is South East Florida, All the Rich and famous come for care here. They treat the nursing team like family, everyone pulls together, HR is the Core of the Nursing Team as it is them who hires.

I would not work anywhere else.

We are hiring, come work with us and you will never want to leave the profession again, they will assist with relocation, tuition reimbursement, GREAT benefits and Hourly Rates.

COME BACK TO NURSING...HAVE YOU HEARD THERE IS A SHORTAGE

SUNNY FLORIDA NEEDS YOU

[CHIEFRN1]

Great Answer !! I agree. I see you are in NJ, is it cold??? Snow??

[Dixiecup]

Why does everyone asks me if I know there is a nursing shortage? First of all there is not a nursing shortage. There are many nurses, but none of them care to work in the field, and I don't blame them. The fact is, there are is shortage of good nursing jobs.

CHIEFRN1, if I want to work with the rich and famous, I would have no trouble, California is full of them. Like I'm going to pull up roots, move to Florida just to work in a crapy profession? I don't think so. I know nurses from FLA who moved out here, plus in FLA everything is in the 80's, the people, the weather temp, and everyones IQ.

[1mg.epi]

It is funny. There is no nursing shortage at the hospital I work at . Almost all positions are full. But, the unionized hospital has plenty of openings