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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

72 replies

Wanshu · 24/09/2015 16:51

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

OP posts:

mrssmith79 · 24/09/2015 17:18

I went straight into community on qualifying, have never worked on a ward ( bar bank shifts) and never intend to (I'm a CPN). I love it and believe me, I'm no less of a nurse than any of my colleagues who 'served their time' on a ward first.

Do what makes you happy - you're shaping the course for the rest of your working life, it would be foolish to muck it up for the sake of keeping someone who you may never cross paths with again from being huffy.

Sidge · 24/09/2015 17:19

I'd be very surprised if you never had to work weekends or bank holidays in the community - whilst you may not have to work nights I'd be amazed if you truly worked 0830-1700 Monday to Friday. Certainly the community nurses I work alongside (I'm in primary care) work shifts/rotation of a sort. And do check the pay - with no unsocial hours your pay WILL drop to the basic level.

Also - and it's just my personal opinion - I don't think brand-newly qualified nurses should be working independently. I feel that you need some experience as well as mentoring and support, particularly in an area like community where you will encounter many clinical situations that you will never have dealt with in secondary care. Just check carefully what mentorship programme is on offer and how much support new nurses are given.

Good luck

WhatALoadOfOldBollocks · 24/09/2015 17:22

Short term pain for long term gain...take the new job.

lunar1 · 24/09/2015 17:23

I'm surprised you can go into the community and work independently when newly qualified. I really think working directly with experienced staff for a year or two would give you a better start.

YellowDinosaur · 24/09/2015 17:24

I work in the nhs although not as a nurse.

Fuck everyone else, look after yourself. No one else will. Take your dream job

However, I can see an argument for having more experience in the ward with more backup and support before heading out on your own. I'd want to be sure you had sufficient support in the community if you needed help or to discuss a patient. But if you'll have sufficient support then do it.

Straycatblue · 24/09/2015 17:25

I am a nurse and the job opportunity you are describing is a rare thing (where i live anyway) to be able to get a full time community job like that as a newly qualified nurse is something that hardly ever comes around.

I went straight into a specialised area when I first qualified and so many nurses told me that it was a bad idea as I should gain experience on the wards first. I hated working on the wards and have never regretted my decision.

You should seize this opportunity with both hands, if your manager really is lovely she will be happy for you and yes she will probably be annoyed at the situation that will leave her looking for new staff but that is not your problem or responsibility.

Why work somewhere you don't really want to work for a year just to make someone else feel better and probably make you feel worse and cause you great stress, this is your life and you only get one shot at it.

Pandora978 · 24/09/2015 17:27

Did you spend much time in community as a student? Personally, I wouldn't feel confident enough to go straight into community but I'm doing midwifery rather than nursing. I do know two midwives who went straight into community for a short while but both went into hospital based quite quickly as they didn't feel supported enough.

So I'd go for it but I'd check how well supported you're going to be.

AspieAndNT · 24/09/2015 17:28

Nhs here too. You MUST take it. Rare opportunity to get a job with hour's like that.

Allgunsblazing · 24/09/2015 17:29

Take it and don't worry about the manager. As long as you've got a pulse, they'll hire you on the ward, it's hard hard slog and high-ish turnover. You can still do bank if you want.
As a DN you will still do weekends, x-mas etc, ask if they cover twilights as well before you take the job, you might be jumping into the frying pan:)
You'll learn fast and without much support/someone to be there with you. But the pay will be less, no enhancement. Will you be classed as a lone worker and given a band 6?
Sounds to me like you'd be more suited for a GP surgery if you need the 9-5.
Good luck.

LavenderRain · 24/09/2015 17:32

It's a tricky one, but you need to do what you feel is best for you. I think you need to have a talk with your manager ASAP, and remember, the probation period works both ways, it's for you to see if you like it too,
I work in a hospital and we have had people start and then leave within months,
Look after number one, i.e you!

I can also see the argument about being newly qualified and being better in a ward situation for a while, but only you can decide.
Also, the pay will be less in community than on the ward. You will have the same basic pay but get unsociable hours pay for weekends and nights which can be quite a lot.

Good luck in your decision

BalloonSlayer · 24/09/2015 17:35

So she's lovely until you piss her off, eh?

OK, so you turn down the job tomorrow because she's so lovely. And next week you piss her off . . . How do you think you'll feel then?

Sidge · 24/09/2015 17:36

Sorry but I'm laughing at a GP surgery nurse working 9-5!

We work between 0800 and 1900 with a rotational late night finish until 2000 occasionally. But we don't work BH, nights or weekends (except for some Saturdays in October and November to do flu clinics).

LittleSnaily · 24/09/2015 17:36

Take it - but I do work with a lot of comm nurses and they are currently doing mad hours ie well over their hours to keep up with demands of patients and paperwork. But it is good for an introvert. :)

Starkswillriseagain · 24/09/2015 17:37

Dream job vs someone you'll have to walk on eggshells around.

She may be disappointed, nothing wrong with that, to go ballistic at you...says it all, I wouldn't want to work in a high stress job with someone volatile.

zippyswife · 24/09/2015 17:41

Take it! Congrats!!

spiderlight · 24/09/2015 17:46

I passed up my dream job when I was 18 for reasons that felt huge at the time but in reality would not have been insurmountable. I've kicked myself ever since. Go for it - congratulations!

Devilishpyjamas · 24/09/2015 17:50

My mum has just retired as a DN. She felt that working practices were no longer safe. Her team is recruiting a lot of untrained (in the community) nurses straight from hospital wards because the DN's are leaving in droves & most of the new recruits aren't lasting long.

My mum loved her 30 odd years as a DN until the last few years. She still enjoyed the actual nursing part of the job but the management & culture finished her off. She much preferred DN to wards.

I'm guessing her advice would be to check what support you will be getting & how short staffed your new team will be. You can get shafted for mistakes in the community & in her team at least there just wasn't enough support for new nurses. It wasn't particularky any better for those with more ward exierience, it was specifically the differences that were not well supported.

Nonnainglese · 24/09/2015 17:54

Ex-NHS here, go for it.

Two years I went back to ward based nursing after 18 years in the community and 4 years out of the NHS. Biggest mistake ever.

Community based nursing is far more rewarding albeit harder in many ways as you have to be able to think on your feet and there isn't someone close to confer with.

I loved it.

Bulbasaur · 24/09/2015 17:57

You owe your job nothing. If they needed to make cuts they wouldn't think twice about cutting you. Companies value usefulness, not loyalty anymore. So if you are going to be more useful at this new offer, take it.

mrssmith79 · 24/09/2015 19:02

Yes, community nursing is tough, demands are high, resources are stretched and the weight of autonomy when you're out on the road making decisions without an MDT in the next room is heavy. Compared to, say, testing new flavours for Lindt it's a really, really hard job. But compared to ward nursing, it's a dream.
You might work a twilight, or a weekend, or a bunch of them, but probably never a night.

Idefix · 24/09/2015 19:11

Do it!
Congratulations

KitKat1985 · 24/09/2015 19:11

An RMN here. If you really want to do community then go for it, don't let your manger being grumpy put you off. The only thing I would caution is that yes you get less 'office politics' working on your own, but you also carry all the responsibility for your decisions and that can be difficult if you are newly qualified. If you are confident though then go for it.

Booyaka · 24/09/2015 19:17

Honestly, take it, take it! I am not a nurse and I have known so many nurses not able to get jobs like that who are desperate for them, and you have earned this so you must take this opportunity, it may not come up again.

I worked in a Community Nursing dept and it was so rewarding for the nurses as they really built up relationships with their patients and local people, you would be mad not to do it.

ThomasRichard · 24/09/2015 19:19

Take it. A few weeks of awkwardness will soon be forgotten and will be well worth it.

WhoTheFuckIsSimon · 24/09/2015 19:23

As a fellow ward worker fgs take the community job! Not been funny but who cares if the manager is pissed? Ive worked on a ward for ten years. People come, people go. People leave after a few months fairly frequently, that's life.

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