Pros and Cons of a Non-Bedside Job

Well, I've been away from the bedside since June. This transition has been strange, and certainly filled with highs and lows:

Pros:

• Comparatively, this new job is not very stressful.
• I know whether or not I'll be working, even months in advance. You want to have dinner 5 Tuesdays from now? I get off at 5 p.m. every night, so it's no problem.
• At times, I still feel like I'm helping people. It's just that I'm now helping doctors, NPs, and other staff, rather than directly helping patients.

Cons:

• Still, missing out on the stress of patient care means I'm also missing taking care of patients. I'm a good RN, and I do miss patient care at times.
• I'm not crazy about working 5 days a week. Yes, the days are shorter, but I feel like I'm working all the damn time. I think it's the consistency I want, not the 5 days a week. If I could find some job where I could work 3-12s, where it was, say Monday, Tuesday, Thursday every week, that would be ideal. Hey, a girl can dream.

So, that's what's on my mind right now. Still learning the ropes of the new place and trying to really listen to myself about what I want out of my job/life balance. 

Bedside Hiatus

Since returning to the Hoosier State, I've made a big career change. I recently took a job that has no clinical contact; it's more of a health informatics position. Was this a big mistake? Only time will tell. I sure feel a lot less stressed at work right now, and I think working with electronic health records could be a resume boost...to a point. 

However, how will this move affect my ability to travel in the future, if I would decide to do so? One of the companies I am signed up with states on their website you must have clinical experience within the last year to apply for travel contracts. I noticed this caveat when I was updating my profile (hey, I like to be ready to hit the road at a moment's notice!). I tried to call my recruiter from that company to see if a year away from the bedside but within a healthcare/documentation role will preclude me from traveling with them; she's on vacation this week. I'll check back with her next week. I like to leave as many doors open as possible.

You can't leave every door open all the time, though. 

Having a patient be really rude to me right as my 12-hour shift was beginning was actually helpful to me today, because it helped me to remember to keep an emotional distance from my patients and therefore helped me to survive the day. Bedside nursing can be rough stuff.

Local Food Love

This winter has been brutal in Indiana, as it has been in many other parts of the country, too. This past weekend my boyfriend and I took a quick trip to Las Vegas, to escape the freezing temperatures and relax a bit. The drinking, gambling, and walking in the sunshine were great, but probably the biggest treat was eating at In-N-Out Burger. Living in LA during a travel contact really gave me a taste for those delicious cheeseburgers! Are there any foods you had loved on an assignment but now don't have access to?

Does the travel bug ever go away?

Maybe it's because the weather here in Indy is dreadful, or because I'm disappointed with my new staff job, but the idea of taking "just one more" travel nurse contract has been niggling at the edges of my brain. There's a computer conversion at SUNY in Brooklyn that's coming up soon; I've never been to New York! That particular assignment is coming up too soon for me to realistically be able to go, but it does put thoughts into one's head.

Tonight I'm feeling like I'd rather be from Indiana than in Indiana. I miss Seattle.

So I've Taken My First "Permanent" Job After Traveling

"Permanent" is in quotes because there's no such thing as a permanent job, right? Downsizing happens, people stay home to raise kids, nurses burn out in one specialty and learn another, and workers leave a job for any of these reasons or one of a hundred others.

But...I've taken an RN job that I have assumed will be a job I'll work at for at least a year or more. For me it's been strange to orient at a permanent job after working as a travel RN. My anxiety level is much higher! When I was traveling, if I didn't like the charting system or didn't feel the MDs were available enough, I could always console myself with the mantra: "It's only 13 weeks!" Now, when I'm finding less-than-desirable aspects of my new job, I'm forced to recognize that I'll be dealing with those aspects for the duration of this job. And there's no "Hey, it's only 39 shifts" to make me relax.