August 21, 2008
-
after two years of bedside nursing, i'm leaving!
earlier this past year, i applied for an operating room position at a large, prestigious hospital in Manhattan. to make a long story short, i didn't get the job. bumm, right? it looked like to them that, based on the version of the resume i used at the time, i was jumping from one job to another without completing at least one year at one facility (i left my previous hospital after only 6 months to be closer to home for my then-pregnant wife). anyway, half a year passed and i reached my one year mark at my current hospital. my confidence came back so i reworked my resume. i made sure that this time it included most of my post-university work experience, which included two years of customer care experience at the same cellular phone company, to emphsize my early departure at my first hospital as just a unique event. within a week or two, i was contacted direcctly by a recruiter from the world's third largest pharmaceutical company. she was looking for a registered nurse to fill a telephone product and medication support position- a desk job. it seemed almost too good to be true. but after three weeks, five interviews, one thorough background/reference check and urine drug screen later, i was offered the position and accepted.
next thursday will be my very last day. am i sad? HELL NO. but i will miss my co-workers. they've been great for the most part. they taught me the value of teamwork in surviving a stressful environment. and more importantly, whether intentionally or not, they taught me the importance on not getting too comfortable in any one place, to always keep my eyes open for career opportunities. i've always been impressed with their longevity in nursing- some of them have been doing patient care for 10, 20 or even 30 plus years. how, i don't know, but they're still doing it. i can't see myself doing bedside nursing for that long. my back is acting up again. it's got an expiration date on it. at some point, if i'm not careful, it's gonna stop working and i wont even be able to carry my daughter anymore.
this departure couldn't be happning at a better time. my wife is happy, my baby's happy, and i'm happy. oh, and i mention that they pay WAY more?
