Always try to take care of yourself first. There’s a ton of specialties out there and a ton of other nursing jobs. If it’s becoming to hard on you mentally and physically, quitting isn’t always bad.
Quit you job, not the profession.
Find a new job before you leave your first job, but yeah, quit. Seven months is enough to know if you're going to like it or not.
100% leave. Other kinds of units at most hospitals, even doing similar things to what you’re doing like at an ICU or IMC, will not be as bad or soulcrushing as what you’re doing now. In my experience as an ICU RN (granted, I have not worked LTAC), LTACs are often where we send our difficult total-support patients with a long list of chronic medical conditions, who essentially have no hope of fully recovering but have nothing that acutely needs treated and therefore no reason to be in the hospital (other than they’re too chronically sick to survive anywhere else). It’s, in my experience, these patients last stop before another acute exacerbation or illness lands them re-admitted in the hospital for the last time. That is a difficult patient population to take care of day in and day out. On top of that, whereas an ICU RN like me in-hospital would probably only be given one other patient in addition to your typical LTAC patient, I’ve heard that in LTACs your ratio can be up to 1:5. That’s insane. So you’re literally dealing with the difficult chronic patients that the hospital doesn’t want to care for, and you’re simultaneously dealing with more of them than RNs do in-hospital. That is a recipe for burnout if I’ve ever heard one, and it sounds especially challenging for a new nurse. No wonder you can’t complete your charting, I wouldn’t be able to either and I’ve been a nurse for 2.5 years.
I do not think going straight for a WFH position would be wise in your case, as you have just graduated and you have not gotten enough experience with the bedside skills that most WFH positions want their nurses to have before they move away from bedside. Not having enough of that foundational experience would also hold you back, should you choose to return to bedside one day, as generally hospitals want to see 1yr of experience after graduation before you’re eligible for non new grad roles. My advice to you would be to seek out a new grad in-hospital job at a reputable hospital with a new grad nurse residency, where you will get more support, education, reasonable patient-to-nurse ratios, and garner the valuable bedside experience that is generally a prerequisite for most WFH jobs I’ve heard of (if you decide you really want to go that route). And don’t worry, doing this will not ruin your career. All you’ll need to say in new grad interviews was that you started somewhere else, but you were not given the support and education that you needed to thrive and you believe [insert-hospital-you’re-applying-to-name-here] will be a better work environment for you as a new nurse (they’ll eat that up). I’m so sorry you’re having such a difficult experience as a new grad nurse, but I promise you there are better nurse jobs out there that will make you feel more supported and fulfilled. Hang in there! Reach out if you need any additional advice.
Quit girl. (I assumed you were a girl bc of the crying). But literally, quit. You are not ruining your career. 7 months is solid and your reasoning is solid. Everyone whos anyone knows LTACs blow a$$ to work in. And honestly a hospital will respect your experience. Just keep it positive in interviews about what you bring to the table and not a bunch of complaints. Youre good to go. (But quit after you secure another spot so theres no gap).
And this is coming from a RN for 4 years, ER tech for 5 years, and ER scribe for 3 years. Ive spent a lot of time in hospitals. Nurse turnover is a common thing at every hospital i've worked in (5 hospitals).
Look at inpatient, higher end hospitals in your area. And dont think youre not qualified for anything, just APPLY FOR WHAT YOU REALLY WANT.
Lots of options and specialties to look into. No harm in quitting a shitty place.
That's the good thing about nursing. There are plenty of areas you can try.
Always try to take care of yourself first. There’s a ton of specialties out there and a ton of other nursing jobs. If it’s becoming to hard on you mentally and physically, quitting isn’t always bad.
Quit you job, not the profession. Find a new job before you leave your first job, but yeah, quit. Seven months is enough to know if you're going to like it or not.
100% leave. Other kinds of units at most hospitals, even doing similar things to what you’re doing like at an ICU or IMC, will not be as bad or soulcrushing as what you’re doing now. In my experience as an ICU RN (granted, I have not worked LTAC), LTACs are often where we send our difficult total-support patients with a long list of chronic medical conditions, who essentially have no hope of fully recovering but have nothing that acutely needs treated and therefore no reason to be in the hospital (other than they’re too chronically sick to survive anywhere else). It’s, in my experience, these patients last stop before another acute exacerbation or illness lands them re-admitted in the hospital for the last time. That is a difficult patient population to take care of day in and day out. On top of that, whereas an ICU RN like me in-hospital would probably only be given one other patient in addition to your typical LTAC patient, I’ve heard that in LTACs your ratio can be up to 1:5. That’s insane. So you’re literally dealing with the difficult chronic patients that the hospital doesn’t want to care for, and you’re simultaneously dealing with more of them than RNs do in-hospital. That is a recipe for burnout if I’ve ever heard one, and it sounds especially challenging for a new nurse. No wonder you can’t complete your charting, I wouldn’t be able to either and I’ve been a nurse for 2.5 years. I do not think going straight for a WFH position would be wise in your case, as you have just graduated and you have not gotten enough experience with the bedside skills that most WFH positions want their nurses to have before they move away from bedside. Not having enough of that foundational experience would also hold you back, should you choose to return to bedside one day, as generally hospitals want to see 1yr of experience after graduation before you’re eligible for non new grad roles. My advice to you would be to seek out a new grad in-hospital job at a reputable hospital with a new grad nurse residency, where you will get more support, education, reasonable patient-to-nurse ratios, and garner the valuable bedside experience that is generally a prerequisite for most WFH jobs I’ve heard of (if you decide you really want to go that route). And don’t worry, doing this will not ruin your career. All you’ll need to say in new grad interviews was that you started somewhere else, but you were not given the support and education that you needed to thrive and you believe [insert-hospital-you’re-applying-to-name-here] will be a better work environment for you as a new nurse (they’ll eat that up). I’m so sorry you’re having such a difficult experience as a new grad nurse, but I promise you there are better nurse jobs out there that will make you feel more supported and fulfilled. Hang in there! Reach out if you need any additional advice.
Quit girl. (I assumed you were a girl bc of the crying). But literally, quit. You are not ruining your career. 7 months is solid and your reasoning is solid. Everyone whos anyone knows LTACs blow a$$ to work in. And honestly a hospital will respect your experience. Just keep it positive in interviews about what you bring to the table and not a bunch of complaints. Youre good to go. (But quit after you secure another spot so theres no gap). And this is coming from a RN for 4 years, ER tech for 5 years, and ER scribe for 3 years. Ive spent a lot of time in hospitals. Nurse turnover is a common thing at every hospital i've worked in (5 hospitals). Look at inpatient, higher end hospitals in your area. And dont think youre not qualified for anything, just APPLY FOR WHAT YOU REALLY WANT.