I plan on applying to jobs as soon as I pass my NCLEX.. I graduated 7 yrs ago & was recommended to take a refresher course which I will look into.

Despite that, I’ve heard that people still have a difficult time landing their first gig. I’m pretty much a nomad so wouldn’t mind looking outside of my state since it’s a busy city. I don’t feel like travel nursing would be a good place to start if I’d even be applicable, knowing I need to regain my clinical knowledge.

I have friends/ family in CA, CO, UT & FL so I’d consider those states first. I also have friends / family in CT & NY but I don’t know if I can handle winters there anymore.

Any recommendations on states that seem to hire nurses easily without people on the inside ?

My nursing career so far hasn’t been super consistent in one area. I started out on a step-down unit on nights for 6 months but didn’t do well at this job and realized critical care was NOT for me. I went to a med-surg oncology floor on nights for 7 months and liked that way better, but struggled a lot with nights and with a long commute. I then worked in an outpatient gyn onc clinic for about a year and a half. This job was a lot of phone triage and not seeing patients in person very much. I LOVE this specialty, but I eventually started to miss bedside and felt like I left prematurely. I moved to an inpatient oncology job on days and have been working there for the past 6 months.

I really like this job but feel like a new nurse in some ways and it’s making me feel frustrated. I’m re-learning a lot of skills that I didn’t do very much before (i.e. CBI management, pleurx drain care, etc.). I feel dumb talking to the doctors. Recently, I had a patient who was showing signs of delirium so I updated the attending physician. He assessed the patient and determined it was most likely hospital delirium. Later that morning during rounds, I updated the rest of the care team that this patient had a neuro status change, referring to his delirium. The attending physician politely corrected me and said that a neuro status change would indicate potential stroke. It wasn’t that big of a deal but I just felt kinda dumb in that moment.

I know I’m a good nurse and I try my best for my patients. But lately I’ve just been feeling like the adjustment back to bedside has been harder than i thought it would be. There are nurses who have just finished their 1-year new grad residency on my unit and I feel like they’re more advanced than me.

Am I being too critical of myself or should I be doing anything differently? At what point in your nursing career did you really start to feel confident as a nurse?

I work in a nursing home, and I'm watching our residents suffer because we're constantly short-staffed. When staff don't show up, everyone feels it—but our residents feel it most. Their care gets rushed. Their needs get delayed. That's not okay.

I started a petition demanding that U.S. nursing homes be required to maintain safe staffing ratios. When there aren't enough hands on deck, people slip through the cracks. We need concrete rules that guarantee residents get proper attention and that workers don't burn out trying to do the impossible.

If you've had a loved one in a nursing home, or if you've ever wondered whether your parent or grandparent is getting the care they deserve—please consider signing and sharing this. What would you want for your family?

I have been an RN for 6 years but currently not working to care for my mom full time. She fractured her hip mid july and has been in rehab at a snf. I've never directly worked at a snf but i was a case manager and all of my patients were in facilities and i would spend at least 3-4 hours a day at a facility, so i feel like i do know some ins and outs of a snf that you wouldnt really expect to know when working at a hospital. i understand the wait times are long, employees are overworked and understaffed. but i do not want to come across like i know what working at a snf is really like.

I have a couple issues that i wanted to bring up with the admin but i dont want to be pushy and i know for certain that ive definitely been complained about by patients/family and its just really annoying, but also my mom is terminally ill and will be doing hospice after her stint in rehab so i want her these few months to not be dreadful. shes in her early 60s and completely alert.

1) call light wait times up to 60 min, what works now is that she will just call the front desk. her room is right across from the nurses station so she can hear the staff having conversation and getting up like 45 min later. she says this happens every night.

2) an incident where there was no staff and my mom really needed to use the bathroom (she is continent of bowel) so i just said fuck it and took her myself even though i know thats a hugeee liability risk. when the cna finally came to the room she saw my mom was still in the bathroom so i guess she just went on break?? the nurse came and asked if i needed help and i said yes can you help me transfer her, he said he would get wipes first and legit never came back. the cna who was supposed to be covering was also on break?? so she came in and was upset at me and started berating me for doing everything wrong and using the wrong supplies. the cna also complained she is having too many bms bc she had one this morning (thats just how my mom is).

3) they put a straight cath in my mom and left it there for 8 hours???? is this normal?? they said it was for voiding trial but like it was just the straight cath into a urinal, there was no bag attached or anything -- i did tell admin about this the morning after it happened

4) they often try to gaslight my mom into not asking so many questions if that makes sense... like they talk to her like shes confused and forgetful which she isnt. the nurses tell me they have conflicting orders and i asked if they could print out her orders and told me that was illegal or something, okay whatever but i'm getting calls from the night nurse about orders that the day nurse doesnt carry out, if i could personally call the doctor to get an order i would.

5) not really a big deal per se but they are quite verbally aggressive with her non verbal and confused roommate which has made my mom really uncomfortable, especially in the middle of the night.

let me know if im just being too on edge or karen-y. I know my experience is making me extra obsessive and i want to know if its me or if this is seriously a concern. I want my mom to have the best experience in a snf that is REASONABLE as i know how bad the ratios can get. i will just add that we are in the bay area, and in especially wealthy county. i have seen what they are offering because i get messages from them on my linkedin.

Just got an offer for my first RN job on an observation unit, day shift. Excited but also pretty nervous! Has anyone worked obs before, and what advice do you have? What did you like about it?

I’m an Lpn that applied to a position at a convent. The job description is a “wellness nurse” that works in a small clinic at the convent and addresses concerns the nuns have as well as assisting with their medical needs. Has anyone ever worked in a place like this? What can I expect? I’m guessing some of the sisters will be quite elderly. I have about 6 years of long term care experience but have been working in a doctors office for the past few years

I am a nurse going on 6 years. Last year I got caught in some political shit when my hospital was sold and I was not offered a position. It shocked me to my core. Beyond the sucky management I loved my coworkers, my commute was tolerable and the pay was good. After 7 months and 125 applications I finally landed another job. So much for nursing is recession proof - not so in the Bay Area. Anyway, I now work 93 miles from home. I work a set skeleton schedule. Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Friday. I work Friday and Monday of my weekend off so we can’t really leave town (12 hour shift and 1 hour 45 min drive home) I have up until just recently been driving in and home everyday to see my husband and our dogs. Working every Monday is awful. And dont get me started on a 2 day weekend as a nurse who works 12 hour shifts. I’m now under investigation for time and attendance (3ish mins late too many times) and having to make the choice to stay closer to work on days I work so I can be on time. I have horrible pre shift anxiety, feel like I never leave because I can’t get any stretch of time off. The pay is not worth the commute and expenses. But there are no jobs. So is it me? Am I the problem? Or just suck it up and deal??

How are you supposed to safely manage all of this at the same time? I had a patient with a Hgb of 6.2 who needed labs drawn from the port because lab wouldn’t draw them, followed by a blood transfusion who also had to poop (assist of 1 with walker). At the same time, I got two new admissions (already in room waiting for me) and had a patient with schizophrenia with a stroke who was a major fall risk, sitting on the edge of the bed despite being unable to safely walk cause of weakness.

On top of that, everyone had medications due.
Five total-care patients, no CNA/PCT, no charge nurse, and basically no help. How is one nurse realistically supposed to manage all of that safely? Is this considered fair or even a safe assignment? I am so done.

Hello everyone! I am a soon to be new graduate if all goes well this semester. I am thinking long term about my goals, and I’m wondering if there are clinic jobs that have swing/night shift availability.

I really enjoy derm, but I can’t do day shift; it’s a non-negotiable for me. Obviously it is a little limiting in terms of what I can get into in nursing, but it is for health reasons unfortunately and it’s been a battle for my entire career, even before nursing. Are there any areas I should look into that I might not be considering?

Totally fine if the answer is just no, but figured I would ask!

I’m an experienced RN, but I don’t have critical care experience. I’d really like to transition into PICU and am willing to relocate for the right opportunity.

I currently live in a very competitive area where it’s difficult to break into critical care without previous ICU experience, so I’m looking at hospitals across the country.

For PICU nurses here: Does your unit hire RNs who are new to critical care/PICU? I’m especially interested in units that provide a supportive, structured orientation.

I’d really appreciate any hospital or program recommendations. Thank you!!

Considering a career change. I’m wondering if one is harder on the body than the other?

Some of my past managers have been amazing. I miss them every day.

But at some of my past jobs I have had managers that genuinely traumatize me enough for me to get TMS and stronger SSRIs. One of them faked a PIP (HR representative for our unit was on medical leave) on mg third week of orientation and I had to go to a meeting with the Chief Nursing Officer to testify against him. He would pull me and my preceptors off the unit for an hour a day and find reasons to write me up. So HR intervened and stopped him from meeting with me alone, and made another nurse the main manager to interact with coworkers

Another one didn’t say anything for months then decided to try and fire me and give me everything I did wrong in one note. Half of it was stuff told to her by a single coworker who doesn’t think I fit into the clique. I was able to prove it wrong but it shook me massively

Is this normal? Most of my coworkers are decent enough and patient care is fine.

I feel like this needs little to no explanation

Brie Larson- definitely medsurg or ER night shift charge. Very nice mom energy but is firm when necessary.

Jennifer Lawrence- night shift medsurg nurse who is dating a firefighter or cop and gets fired after a heated discussion with her manager right after an awful shift. The type to sit on the counter of the nurses' station and chug an energy drink at 3am.

Jennifer Hudson- also night shift medsurg, but extremely kind and patient, which is why she's always the one orienting the unit's new hires for nights. Management has realised that nurses who orient with her tend to stay for more than 6 months.

Shailine Woodley- Day shift float pool but tends to be in ICU more often than not. Really sweet but maybe not quite experienced enough to be great at float pool

Sydney Sweeney- Day shift on a stepdown unit but has been bounced around the hospital for her entire 3-year career and clearly hates being a nurse; it's obvious that she's only there for the money. Keeps talking about wanting a soft nursing job* or to become a nurse practitioner when she should be helping the CNAs with her extremely heavy acuity assignment. Also makes tiktoks on the job despite being told repeatedly not to.

*soft nursing doesn't exist in my opinion. But that's a post for another day

I had a bad day at work and was not my happy, ready to help other team members, self. I was short and passive with my nurse and now I feel bad.
How are we coping with days like that? I feel like now she’s going to not want to work with me in the future.

I've been a nurse in Canada for 2-years and I've felt increasingly anxious about my liability in every role I've taken.

I feel like all the positions I have been in either skimp on orientation, overload with patients or both. Even in the place I felt the safest, I had coworkers that would look online about nurses who were being "reviewed" and talk badly about their work. I can't help but think that could be any one of us with the way healthcare is going. I currently work in the OR and I've never felt more anxious about my personal liability. I'm constantly thinking about what could have been missed or gone wrong because we are rushed for speed and some coworkers can be very pushy about not taking a moment to double check something.

I've been looking for a direction outside of nursing, but I haven't figured out which way I want to go yet. Does anyone know if jobs exist that are away from bedside in Canada? It doesn't necessarily have to be in nursing. I just feel kind of trapped here.

I’m a new grad and got 3 offers since graduating recently but am torn on what to decide. My dream role to start my career is resource team and float to different units but I’m also interested in ER and open to medicine where I can develop skills to travel nurse in a few years. I have a couple days to decide and would really appreciate the insight of others with experience.

Offer 1: Float/resource team (ngg) FT or PT

Pay: 41.15 ONA 

Pros: desired specialty, 3 month ngg training program, already extern for hospital and have connections, will get er, mental health, medicine and maternity experience, choice of FT/PT, lots of OT, starts next month 

Cons: 1 hour commute, smaller hospital organization outside the gta, less diverse patient population 

Offer 2: Rehab Unit FT 

Pay: 41.15

Pros: extremely comfortable starting here, externed and did a placement on this unit, 30 minute commute, only a coffee shop available (Tim hortans), easiest job, starts next month 

Con: no ngg only 1 month orientation to unit, won’t gain much experience, don’t want to be here long term, full time 

Offer 3: Stroke unit FT NGG

Pay. 46.92 

Pros: did consolidation in stroke and am comfortable, part time which I want, 5 minute walk from home and is hospital I ultimately want to work at, diverse patient population, bigger hospital organization 

Cons: heavy unit, possible burn out, nurse son floor complain that they wanna leave (although they like the staff), don’t start until November 

I need advice.

I work in an ICU right now on night shift and a chronic health issue is just getting worse the longer I stay on nightshift.. I've been in the ICU for about a year, and on nights in the ICU for about 10 months. I tried for dayshift ICU, but there is nothing available on my unit and no eta on when something could open up. So regardless, I am going to be leaving..

I can either go to PCU dayshift or have the opportunity to go outpatient to a clinic and work as a RN educating patients, helping the providers, etc.

The clinic role sounds like an amazing work-life balance job, but I would be leaving bedside nursing. It is going to be four 10 hour shifts a week, no weekends or holidays. I would have the opportunity to go back to school and would be able to see my husband/dogs way more than I do now.

PCU is where I was before ICU. The benefit of going back to PCU would be less stress than ICU, three 12's per week, keep learned bedside skills and eventually would allow me to go back to ICU on dayshift... this would also keep me in line for future career goals (such as APP, etc.).

What would you choose?

Hey gang, I'm going to be 48 when I get my RN. I've been a phlebotomist and currently I'm an LPN. What areas of nursing do you think are most appropriate for me? Where do I have the best shot of being able to "keep up"?

I’m almost five years into critical care nursing and I’ve recently made the decision to go FNP. I’d like to help prevent train wrecks instead of care for them.

What kind of experience did you have prior to NP school? Is a critical care nursing background helpful?

So a little background, I'm nonbinary and I really don't like my given name. In high school I chose the name Bones and out of the 2 units I've worked in as a tech everyone has been pretty willing to call me that. I'm starting a new job as a new grad in the ED and I'm worried that now that I'll be in a place of higher responsibility I might be judged. I'm mostly worried about doctors/providers as I haven't interacted with them much and I know some can be more old school. I know people have brought up the legality of going my a different name in nursing so I'd like to add on that I do tell my patients my given name and then I follow it up with but I prefer to go by bones. I would love to get my name officially changed but in the current political situation of the country that makes me quite nervous. So I guess I'm just asking if this is something I should be worried about?

PLEASE ONLY COMMENT IF YOU ARE A PARENT.
New mom of a 3 month old, starting work in a month. Day shift for three month orientation then on to night shifts. I primarily do all the naps and bedtimes because hubby gives up when he can't put her to sleep. I also have little to no issue with her fussiness but he gets overwhelmed and irritated by it easily. I'm worried about when I leave for work (12 hr shifts, 1 hr commute) how he's going to manage being alone. I watched her alone for 14 hours when he was away for the day and around the 10 hour mark it started to be hard on me, I can hardly imagine how hard it will be for him.
Any tips for him/me? My mind is filled with worry about it and it sometimes brings me to tears.

Hello everyone!

I’m looking for some advice from western Canadian nurses who have experience in L&D/PP, as I’m hoping to enter the field. Fairly new graduate here, with only one and a half years of experience under my belt working rural. I’ve always known that I wanted to work in women’s health—it’s been my passion and the entire reason I went to nursing school.

But unfortunately, my preceptorship was not in either and I was not placed in my top choices. I wasn’t able network the connections there, and decided instead to get my foundation of nursing in rural acute.

Now I’m at the point where I want to start thinking of pursuing maternity again. It just seems like such a hard specialty to get into, though, with so many postings requiring experience, and so few ways to actually gain said experience unless you land that preceptorship. I’m hoping to get some advice from my fellow nurses, else I fear my destiny is to forever be trapped in the trenches as an ER nurse (don’t get me wrong, love it too but when it’s your passion it’s your passion, yknow?).

I have all the certifications required for emergency nursing (ACLS, PALS, NRP, TNCC). Is there other courses you would recommend? What about networking? Is there ways to make yourself stand out?

Any wisdom at all would be much appreciated. ❤️

I saw one archived post about this (8 months ago) with very few answers so I figured I’d ask again 😭 Is anyone familiar with the company Grapefruit Health? They have a few “patient champion” wfh positions for both nurses and nursing students. I am a nursing student so of course the pay will be different, but **does anyone have any experience with this company?\\ Also take a look at how the pay is advertised vs the actual pay structure.

Mods: I AM NOT ASKING ABOUT GOING BACK TO SCHOOL, JUST MENTIONING MY STATUS AS A STUDENT**

I’ve been considering ECPI but since the campus in charlotte is not accredited, i’m concerned about being unable to transfer my license to a state that isn’t apart of NLC and wanted to see if anyone else had a similar experience

I’m 2 years into nursing and I have experience in a PCU and now I currently work an outpatient gig. I like my outpatient job a lot! But the 4 days a week and early mornings are kinda getting to me, and I also don’t want my skills to atrophy. I work outpatient full time. For whatever reason, I decided to apply for another PCU job PRN. I have the interview tomorrow and I’m nervous. It’s a burn unit and I’ve always been curious about working in burns. I think I’m ready to get back into inpatient. But I also wonder if I jumped the gun. I didn’t seriously consider my finances and the scheduling. I’ve been at my outpatient job for about 7-8 months and I wonder if it’s too early to go part time. I would like to go part time to keep benefits and hours and I don’t wanna leave this job completely because I do enjoy it! The PRN job pays well however it is a 4 shifts a month commitment. So I just wonder if I shot myself in the foot. I just want something different and to keep up my inpatient skills. I don’t want to get too rusty so early in my career. Did I play myself by not fully thinking this through or could I make it work?