To ask you to help me make this awful decision??

[Wanshu]

I have just qualified as a nurse.
I started my new job 2 weeks ago.
It's a ward based full time job and includes weekends and nights.
I hate weekends and nights but assumed that would be all I could get right now.

However ...

I've just been offered a job as a community nurse. Mon - Friday 8.30 until 5pm. Covering the odd weekend. No nights. Same pay.

I love the staff on the ward but I'm very much a loner and struggle in social situations. For this reason I find the 'working relationships' of the ward quite stressful. In the community my day would be spent driving around on my own, managing my own workload, visiting patients. Heaven.

But the manager of the ward has been so lovely to me, has invested time into my training and will go mental if I tell her I'm leaving before ive even got out of my supernumerary phase.

But do I pass up the opportunity to do what I really want in fear of upsetting others?

Is it really a dog eat dog world? What do I do??? My intention originally was to stay with the ward for a year and turn try and get in community - I didn't think they'd accept me yet

Erm it's your dream job, you take it!!!!

I work in the community, go for it!

Take it and don't look back. Better now than when they've invested more time in you.

No matter what other people think or say you have to do what makes you happy here. You're getting the opportunity to do exactly what you want to do with better hours and the same pay, how can you turn it down?

congratulations -go for it x

I think it depends on how confident you are- I'm a nurse and found the first few years on the ward invaluable to build up skills and learn from more experienced nurses. I then felt able to work independently.

Is it not an NHS job? If it is NHS your pay will be quite a bit less with no unsocial hours- I dropped a few hundred £ a month by going to the community (and that was going from band 5 to band 6!)

It is obviously not a very good thing to do to the team to leave so quickly, but if you are unhappy in the ward job then maybe go for it if you don't think you will settle there.

Good luck!

Take it. And if the manager has been so lovely, hopefully she will be pleased for you. Congratulations

Assuming the community nursing job is a permanent contract I think I would go for it but may be worth speaking to other nurses already doing similar community roles to find out a bit more about the organisation you'll be working for etc & exactly what the job involves first to ensure you won't be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire

I work in the community, take it! It's a no brainer!

Depends on whether you need peer support when you're making decisions or not.

Personally I'd go for it

Thanks guys, manager is lovely until she's pissed off and then can be rather unapproachable. I do like the ward but I have my next months shifts and I'm having to miss tons of social events that I really wanted to go to. In a few weeks they have me down to do 7 days in a row and the manager has hinted that there may be more of that to come. I love my job but I must have a life too or I will quickly become depressed. I dare not even think about what I'll be working Christmas - someone on the ward who qualified last year said she was made to do short shifts all over Christmas so was working pretty much every day. I feel depressed just thinking about it. But I'm absolutely dreading telling manager and working the notice , it's going to be hell because the whole team will know

I work for the NHS also and say go for it. No matter how lovely your boss may be, trust me you have to put yourself first. Grab this opportunity with both hands.

Take it
Take it
Take it

Go for it OP. I used to be...well I am still am....like you. I would always put others feelings before my own. Don't think about other people, do what you want to do.

take it , the wards suck and you will be kicking yourself as its so hard to get into the community.

Look back in a years time.

You could either be working in your dream job or
still be stuck in the other job, day dreaming about what you could be doing now in the other job and going over your reasons for not taking it-which was only for fear of upsetting other people, albeit very nice people.

I think you'd want to slap yourself tbh!
Don't let your worry over upsetting your manager hold you back, this is a short term worry, once you told her and its out- it'll be better than you think and she will soon get over it, while not taking the other job is a long term affect you could feel for a long time.

Your career is always bigger than the job you're in at the moment and the people you currently work with. Think how you'd feel if you turned down the community job and then your ward manager left really soon afterwards - it could happen. And somebody who has taken it upon themselves to mentor you will always support you if you really want something in your career.

Do your best to go on good terms and make sure you tell her personally, but definitely take this opportunity. Good luck.

Always when you start a new position there are options still in play ie other interviews still being worked through. It surprises me how many managers do not realise this and think it is a done deal. Probation, or supernumerary, works both ways.
The guilt will sting for a day or two, but you and they will deal.

Well you can't turn down such a great opportunity just because it will inconvenience some people, this is a role that you really want. Just make sure that you explain that to your manager and thank her for her time and support to date, giving as much notice as you possibly can.

Your manager only wants you because you do the nights and weekends no one else wants. There will be a lot more of that to come. You are being used.

You don't need to do a job you don't like. You have a job offer you do like.

You owe your manager nothing and sounds like you are being given the nights and weekends and 7 days without a break because you never say no.

Life is for living.

Seriously, take the bloody job!

I once turned down a fantastic job out of loyalty to my manager. It was a huge, huge mistake.

Just tell your manager kindly & honestly - once you've got the new offer in writing, and a start date.

Congratulations!

Take it. Though, tbf, why did you become a nurse if you were going to be pissed off about doing shifts?

I left community nursing after 15 years because of the gradual introduction of a shift system, rolled out similarly in nearby trusts over the next couple of years. All to cut costs. Be aware too, that bank holidays will need covering in turn (how big is the team?) and the "odd" weekend may turn out to be more than that IME. Community nursing is rather solitary which can be great, but you have to learn quickly to make decisions on the spot, and ward experience or at least a couple of years of qualification under your belt is extremely beneficial in this respect. There is a lot of palliative care involved too nowadays too, which is hard going, not to mention the ridiculous amount of paperwork.
All that said, it still sounds like a no brainier...think long term and go for it. You will soon learn not to worry about pissing off managers. In reality you are a number and have to look after yourself in this profession.

Take it. Remember only you is really ever looking out for your interests.