For those of you who have left bedside for admin.....

Do you like it? Do you miss patient care? How does it feel to be there 5 days a week???? I have been a nurse since 1996. LPN till 2001 when I got my ADN, finished BSN last year. Have been in pt care since the beginning except for a one year stint as a trauma coordinator almost 10 years ago. I am interviewing for a Infection Prevention position tomorrow. I hurt my shoulder, had rotator cuff surgery last month and am thinking about making this switch due to the hands of time keep marching and feel like maybe this is a good time to switch to a job that isn't so hard on the body. I am scared though. I really like what I do, love the 12 hour shifts and the time it gives me with my kids (10 and 11). How does it feel to leave the bedside and go to a "grown up" job? I am excited about the opportunity but have some concerns, this is a big life change. Any thoughts/advice would be interesting.... =) Happy Sunday!
refreshinglove the hoursand requested off days not contingent on patient staffing needs

I did bedside nursing for 15 years, left for an administrative job for 5 years, started feeling almost panicky that I was losing all my bedside skills and was easily able to get a job back in bedside nursing. This was all in the same hospital, so the transition was easy.The administrative opportunity sounds good for you. With your experience I feel certain you could go back to bedside nursing IF you wanted to.

brownbook, why did you leave and go back to pt care? What kind of an admin job did you leave? So no glitch in your career path for you, huh? That's cool. =)

Not really very exciting, I was night shift bed side RN for 10 years, worked the unofficial float pool. My 5 year "administrative" job was simply the night time 11 pm 7 am house administrative supervisor. I was tired of 11 pm to 7 am and every other weekend. And really was getting a panicky feeling that I couldn't function on the floor any more. Your degree and job experience sound really impressive to me! I think you could transition into any job you wanted if Infection Prevention doesn't work out for you.

I'm interviewing for an informatics position next week that is 8-5 M-F. The prospect is exciting partially because of the regular hours. I've never had a regular M-F job before since I started working at the age of 18. It's always been shift work. So this would be very new to me.

I am in the process of trying to go back to 12 hr shifts after working M-F 8-5 Admin job...I want to have time off during the week, I want to be able to just do what I need to do at work & not have to be concerned about handling things on off days...I'm tired of getting up, going to work, coming home, going to bed, going after work or before work or spending weekends shopping etc. I am well versed how long/stressful 12 hr shifts can be but for me personally, the M-F deal is more so - not to mention some skills are weakened/lost & some doors are harder to keep open once direct patient care is stopped. The money is good but otherwise..leaving the house at 7:30 & getting home at 5:30 most days makes most days like 12 hr shifts....except for weekends/holidays off.

You're going to be surprised at how much you will miss patient care. For anyone who really loves being a nurse, patient interaction is what makes everything worthwhile. The old adage "you don't really miss something until it's gone" is very true. You're moving from an environment where there is a continuous stream of personal validation (AKA 'helping' people) to one where opportunities for positive feedback are few and far between... goals and objectives can be murky or ambiguous and those 'I accomplished a lot today' feelings have receded into the past. I always caution 'younguns' moving away from the bedside to expect some 'grief reaction' ... it can crop up as just a case of "the blahs" or lack of enthusiasm/energy. I try to help my newbies to develop a new frame of reference. They're still caring for patients, but now they're doing it for groups of patients (by improving the system) rather than one at a time. Wishing you the best of luck on your new position <fingers crossed>. Let us know how it goes.

The commute would play a big factor as well as location of the job as it pertains to your world ie kids' schools. If you're driving an hour each way it will be difficult to use your hr lunch break for personal tasks. (You will get an hr lunch break in this position). Or pick your kids up after practice. I've worked in mgmt and QI and still loved it. Every project has become "my baby" and is motivating for me. I can't imagine how much infection prevention you would be bringing home or staying late for.

Interview went well I think. So will wait and see. They have a few more interviews to go through so might be a while till I hear anything. Thanks so much for your thoughtful responses! I can relate to all of them. There is good and bad in change. I can imagine a little grief would come with making this change. As I really do like the job! I like what I do while I am there, and I LOVE what the 4 days off a week allows me to do with the family. If I was only worried about me, then I would take the job, as it sounds very interesting and ways to learn new things, which I love, and so much variety!!!! So that would be cool. The commute wouldn't be bad, and actually closer to where my kids do school throughout the week. We homeschool, my husband is the schooler and stay at home (non traditional but works for us) so I could go and have lunch with them a couple times a week. I would be leaving a place I have worked for 10 years, and really enjoy the people, am float pool, have been for 8 years and know everyone. So it would we weird going to a new hospital. even though its the same system, still new hospital to me and don't know anyone there, so it would be a little hard to leave all the people I know and love. But still, sounds like a good professional move. I feel like I presented myself, my skills and personality and motivation for making this change as honestly as I could have. It was an interview that we laughed quite a lot in, very comfortable for me, not really nervous. I don't know how I could have presented myself any better/differently. So if that's what they want, then they will offer me the position. If not, I can stay where I am a while longer. That's as good as I can do. So it's a win win a good experience to be considered for something like this, have learned things along the way either way it goes! Can't ask for more than that I guess. =)

Oooh, whichone'spink, that sounds interesting! So we are in the same boat.... Hope yours goes well! Would love to know how you make the transition if you do it.....

Quote from whichone'spinkI'm interviewing for an informatics position next week that is 8-5 M-F. The prospect is exciting partially because of the regular hours. I've never had a regular M-F job before since I started working at the age of 18. It's always been shift work. So this would be very new to me.

Oh wow! That is an interesting perspective for sure!!!! =) Thank you!!!