Returning to nursing after a protracted break requires appropriate motivation

With the suitable motivation, returning to nursing is nearby.

Elizabeth Trevino planned to take the NCLEX after graduating from nursing school in 2004. However, while pregnant along with her son, she began experiencing postpartum depression shortly after giving birth. Elizabeth Trevino, RN Over the subsequent few years, her plan to pursue a nursing profession seemed increasingly elusive as she gave birth to a different child and have become a single mother after a divorce. “I thought I couldn’t do 12-hour nursing shifts as a single parent, so I started working as a restaurant cook,” said Trevino, who lives in Seal Beach, California. Trevino remarried in 2015 and started volunteering to scrub patients’ hair on the medical-surgical unit at Los Alamitos Medical Center – an experience that strengthened her desire to work in a clinical setting. She volunteered as a part-time patient aide at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, California, where she sat for hours with patients who were susceptible to harming themselves, falling or harming others. “I enjoyed watching the nurses interact with the patients, which really gave me the motivation to return to nursing,” said Trevino, 40, who hoped to eventually work within the ICU. “I also had incredible support from my colleagues at Hoag.”

Taking the primary steps

She knew the trail would not be easy because she needed to pass the NCLEX first. She found the National Council of State Boards of Nursing online Extension of learning, which provided beneficial test viewing applications. She studied for a 12 months and passed the exam the second time. To gain clinical skills, she found an RN refresher course listed on the California Board of Registered Nursing website and enrolled in a course offered by Azusa Pacific University. She accomplished the course in three months, but knew it might be difficult to search out a position within the ICU without prior nursing experience. Trevino was pleased to learn that Hoag was hiring latest graduates within the ICU, so she introduced herself to the unit’s director. She got the job and can soon start her profession as a nurse.

“I’m nervous because I’ll be in the ICU dealing with life-and-death situations, but I’m looking forward to helping as many people as possible,” said Trevino, BSN, RN. “I had to go through a lot of life before becoming a nurse, and I’m excited to offer what I’ve learned to support my patients.”

Although returning to nursing requires diligence, courage and patience, nurses who’ve done it admit that their efforts paid off.

“Every day I now feel so much more satisfied with my job and I’m grateful that I do a job I love,” said Trish Conway, BSN, RN, OCN, who worked in pharmaceutical sales for nearly 20 years before being hired return to nursing.

She is currently an infusion nurse at Dana Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center in South Weymouth, MA. The need for returning nurses will only increase in the approaching years as baby boomers leave nursing positions and as demand for health care services increases amongst a growing population of older adults, in accordance with a project by U.S. researchers million RN will retire by 2030, and RN-dependent patient care facilities will face a major lack of nursing knowledge and experience.

Build self-confidence with refresher courses

Although reasons for leaving the occupation vary, probably the most common barriers nurses face when considering returning to nursing is the fear that they’ve forgotten what they learned in nursing school, said Jennie Wagner, MSN, EdD, RN, CNE, instructor within the continuing education program on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “But once they finish the theory and move on to the clinical part of the course, they build confidence, gain independence and realize they bring a wealth of knowledge,” Wagner said. Refresher courses typically require nurses to pass the NCLEX exam before enrolling in college, and in North Carolina, former nurses wishing to return to nursing must complete a refresher course if their license expired five or more years ago, said Catherine Moore, PhD, RN, a regulatory consultant and legislative liaison for the North Carolina Board of Nursing. For those that have never taken the NCLEX exam, in North Carolina there isn’t a cut-off date after completing the exam or the variety of times you possibly can take it, but the principles vary in each state, she added. Over the past 20 years, greater than 3,400 nurses have accomplished refresher course work at UNC-Chapel Hill, and this system coordinator works with participants to offer clinical placements that match the coed’s prior experience and profession interests. “In the past, we placed students primarily in medical-surgical units, but we have expanded our focus to include ambulatory care, skilled nursing facilities and other facilities,” said Mary Schuler, EdD, RN, CNE, director of the North Carolina Health Education Area, Center-based RN Refresher Program.

Meredith Hatt, BSN, RN, enrolled in this system in April 2018 after 10 years away from nursing. She initially worked in medical/surgical and demanding care nursing for seven years before deciding to remain home to lift her children. Once they entered highschool, she was desperate to return to bedside nursing. One of her concerns before starting the course was the flexibility to learn computer charting systems, as she had only used paper charting methods before leaving the sphere a decade ago. “It was a little overwhelming at first, but the exercises made it easier,” she said. She had all the time desired to work in women’s health, and the continuing education program coordinator provided her with a clinical internship within the labor and delivery department at Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina. After completing 140 hours of online classes and 160 hours of clinical training, she applied to reactivate her license. The maternity ward manager mentioned that they desired to hire an evening shift nurse, so Hatt applied and was offered the position. “I love it,” she said. “It’s great to use the knowledge I gained in nursing school to care for women after childbirth.”

Job satisfaction outweighs salary

For Conway, the need to return to nursing became acute at some point when she realized she not had the motivation to proceed making phone calls to pharmaceutical salespeople. “My sales area had just changed and a friend of mine had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, so I wanted to do what I loved most,” Conway said. Conway initially left oncology nursing after three years because she was dissatisfied with working nights, weekends and holidays, and she or he saw little probability of finding a day job because she was not eager about management positions. She was impressed by the effectiveness of a brand new drug that would treat nausea in her cancer patients, so she began working in sales at GlaxoSmithKline, the corporate that developed the drug.

“I made good money, had a company car and had every holiday off, so it seemed like I had everything,” she said. “But as time went on, I realized that the motivation to make more money never motivated me.”

She had an lively nursing license throughout her sales profession and decided to enroll in a refresher course at Northeastern University. Although she needed to take a major pay cut upon returning to nursing, she has no regrets about her profession change. “I’m motivated by helping people, and now I’m on the front lines helping cancer patients,” Conway said.

Take these courses to learn more about caring for patients and yourself:

Although documentation has all the time been a vital a part of nursing practice, the increasingly complex health care environment, litigious society, and number of settings through which patients receive care require nurses to pay greater attention to documentation. This continuing education module discusses the importance of documentation, different documentation formats and settings, and what nurses must document, including details about difficult situations. Medication reconciliation is a comprehensive review of a patient’s lively medications during a transition of care. This CE module provides information on the method and requirements for medication reconciliation, in addition to the importance of medication reconciliation in improving patient safety. It’s no secret that a comprehensive and strategic approach to health care delivery involves treating conditions while stopping avoidable health problems. IHI’s triple aim addresses care, public health and value containment. Many organizations have added a fourth goal that specifically addresses how health care employees shall be cared for. Some may define the fourth goal as achieving joy, others as improving work-life balance, and still others as overall well-being. Regardless, the Quadruple Aim and the emphasis on aspects in the environment that may improve health equip us to strategically concentrate on improving the health of care organizations, health care professionals, and society.

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