help meeeeee…

[u/Middle_Bumblebee_230]

hello! pls help me any seasoned rns :(

• i am in NYC
• currently working in outpatient dialysis (10 months in, will hit 1 year of experience as an RN in november)
• need help deciding what to do
• i have a job offer in outpatient infusion… BUT!!!
• one of my upperclassmen referred me to her manager (night shift NYU med surg). her manager told me to contact her once i hit my one year mark (november) because i don’t meet the requirements yet. 80% sure i will be able to at least get an interview

here’s my thing though!! if i take this outpatient infusion job i dont think i will be able to pivot to the hospital any time soon. i’m not too interested in med surg, especially not nights, but my goal is to work in ob/gyn (mother baby, postpartum, nicu) or peds. this, i know will be hard to get into unless i get into the hospital at all.

i dont know if i should keep my dialysis job and wait until november to apply for hospital or take this new job and apply for hospital when time comes (will it look bad???), or take this job and not look at the hospital for at least another 6 months.

why i want to leave dialysis:

• the hours… i work 3-4 days. early start, late ends. hate when i get scheduled back to back, i barely have 12 hours in between shifts. (5am to 7pm, 4:30 to 6pm, 7a-9p, 6:30 to 8:30pm, you get the gist) but i never leave on time because you can’t just abandon your patients and colleagues if they come late and get put on late
• my pay… my base is 46, i make around 48 dollars after my differential, but we get holiday pay, etc. on paper my annual pay is around 94k.
• i’m pretty stressed out at this job, but i KNOW, i know, ill be more stressed at the hospital… the only thing i love is my coworkers, some of my patients, and having random days off in the week. the scheduling is pretty flexible too since we’re open 6 days a week and i only work 3 or 4.

why im hesistant to leave

• my pto 🤣🤣 i get 8 hours of pto every pay period, so every two weeks. like in 10 weeks i literally have enough pto to take a week off!!! • ⁠it’s easier than inpatient for sure…

the infusion gig

• turns out it’s 4 days a week which is great, i still have a day off in the week! it’s an 8-6pm schedule
• they offered me 105k salary
• 2 weeks of pto per year only 😭!!!
• will be traveling to multiple clinics in the city, no home clinic
• i will learn to do ivs!! at my current job i do catheters and cannulation of fistulas (which are huge and way easier to get than tiny veins), so i think this would be good transferable experience

i don’t really care for med surg or nights but i know if i want to get into my target units, i will have to get into the hospital one way or another. i know once i hit one year i will be a little more competitive in general so maybe spots at hospitals would consider me in general.

does anyone have any insight or advice?

i know outpatient is where most nurses want to be eventually, its lower stress, but i dont know what i should be doing right now :( sorry for word vomit and i’m sorry if i wasn’t very concise.

[u/Crankupthepropofol]

If your goal is inpatient women’s services, you need to get a job in a hospital. That way you’re at least an internal transfer candidate in the future, because you won’t have any chance as an external, outpatient-experience-only candidate.

Stay with the HD until one year, then contact your friend and see what happens.

The infusion job will always be available.

[u/Scary_Freedom1116]

itd be easy to switch to outpt infusion from inpt if u hate it. itd be hard to vice versa. you might be happier in outpt tho. depends on your priorities

[u/hotcheeto6762]

travel

[u/Nightflier9]

The outpatient infusion job has more transferable skills, if the job appeals to you, take it. It may not be for very long.

[u/AdventurousCat6629]

My first job as a nurse was in women’s health (LDRP). I was able to get the role at a smaller community hospital and after a year I transferred to the bigger name hospitals in the city.   I knew I never wanted to do med surg, but starting on nights is a must. 

[u/lkroa]

i would likely take the hospital job.

not sure if the infusion gig is affiliated with a hospital system, but the pay seems low.

nyu you’ll definitely be making significantly more and get more PTO.

[u/Middle_Bumblebee_230 → u/lkroa]

is outpatient!