You waited and waited for the news, yet it was still a surprise when it came in… the best kind of surprise. The new nursing job to which you’d applied decided that you were an excellent fit for their program. They were offering the works—a salary increase, extra vacation days, even moving expenses—and the potential for adventure in the new city was priceless.

Only one question remained in your mind… what to do about your current job.

This isn’t a rare scenario for nurses. It’s actually fairly common. With nurses in such high demand nationwide, it’s no shock that hospitals across the country are upping their game to attract new talent. And the better you do at your job, the better your chances of moving upward.

But a career in nursing is also a career of relationships. The last thing you want to do is leave a job on a bad note, burning bridges behind you. The ideal situation is one where your current job is sad to see you go but respects your decision enough to help you leave. And navigating this world of professional resignation isn’t all that difficult.

Know the Policies – Two weeks’ notice is probably the most common policy for employers, but every hospital and clinic is different. Check your employee handbook for information on how much notice is required, then make sure you abide by that rule.

Don’t Hide Your Decision – The worst situation is when your manager finds out that you’re leaving… from someone other than you. The moment you know that you will be taking another position, you need to have a discussion with your manager or human resources. Not only does it keep you in good standing, but it gives your current employer a little more time to find your replacement.

Put It in Writing – Your letter of resignation becomes part of your permanent employment record, so give it plenty of thought and polish. Keep it to one (short) page but be sure to include any applicable dates (the date of your verbal notice, your last day of work, etc) plus your reason for leaving (“I’ve accepted a position as _____ at ______”). And it doesn’t hurt to include a brief note of gratitude to your employer as well—after all, they took a chance on you.

Ace the Exit Interview – Most hospital HR departments will have you give an “exit interview” to finalize all the details of your departure. Some use this as a chance to air any lingering frustrations or give a few parting shots at that co-worker who kept eating your lunch but resist the urge to do this. Be courteous, be constructive, be professional, and frame everything from the perspective of wanting to leave your former hospital in better shape than you found it.

Don’t Phone in the Final Weeks – Work just as hard in your final weeks as you did in your first week… harder, if possible. This has two benefits—first, it helps alleviate any lingering guilt you might have about leaving, and second, it shows your managers and co-workers that you really did appreciate the job.

Remember, there’s no telling what changes life has in store for you. You may be leaving for a better nursing job now, but who knows? Maybe an even better position will bring you back one day. And the way you leave now plays a huge part in how you’ll be received then.

Happy hunting!

If you’d like more information on beginning your career in nursing or as a medical assistant, contact Unitek College today for information on our many available programs and online courses.

For nurses (or those training to become a nurse), most of your skills are focused on helping your patients… and rightfully so. But there’s another significant advantage to the training… the many ways in which you can help yourself.

Understanding healthcare, the importance of healthy habits, and the need for regular “healthy you” checkups are just a few of the benefits your nurse’s training includes, all of which are very important in maintaining your health. But an additional benefit of your training is knowing the red flags that could signal a life-or-death health situation.

Such was the case for 25-year-old Katie Barber, a nurse from Long Island, New York, whose ability to recognize warning signs in her own body wound up saving her life.

It all began when an old hip injury from her teens began flaring up again, making it difficult to do her rounds. Wisely, she decided to have the problem checked out.

“About a year ago, I noticed I was having severe hip pain, and a CT scan revealed I had a torn labrum in my right hip,” she said. “My orthopedic surgeon felt that, over time, bone degeneration led to wear and tear injury of my right labrum.”

A surgery was scheduled, followed by bed rest for two weeks. But it was when she started experiencing shortness of breath during physical therapy that she began suspecting something might not be right.

“Being a nurse, I started to wonder if this could be deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE),” she recalls. “I never thought something like this would happen to me, but I went to the hospital just to be safe. Well, I’m glad I went because it turns out I had a right leg DVT with bilateral PEs.”

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is caused by a blood clot in one of the body’s deep veins, and according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, DVT can often follow surgeries in the hip region, such as Katie’s. The condition can easily become fatal if the clot travels or can cause permanent vein damage if the clot remains.

Fortunately, Katie’s training and experience as a nurse had prepared her—not only to spot the warning signs prior to diagnosis, but what to expect next during the treatment. Follow up tests revealed that she had a clotting disorder, but the problem didn’t stop there. She began to notice dizzy spells throughout the day, sometimes so severe she had trouble getting out of bed. This, she knew, was another red flag, and one that needed to be addressed immediately.

“I was weak and couldn’t stand for more than a few minutes at a time. In September 2018, I went to the hospital and was found to have an abnormal heart rate, later diagnosed as a junctional rhythm. I was kept in the hospital for eight days receiving IVs due to low blood pressure. The next day, I developed chest pain and difficulty breathing. A chest X-ray revealed fluid in my lungs, requiring oxygen for a few days.”

The issue was a heart condition known as junctional rhythm, and the solution—a pacemaker. For most 25-year-olds, the idea of a pacemaker can easily be terrifying. The device is typically associated with senior citizens. But as a nurse who works a cardiac unit, Katie not only understood that many younger patients are given pacemakers, but that receiving one was vital to keeping her alive.

“As a cardiac ICU nurse, I’m accustomed to seeing patients with pacemakers,” she said. “Most are much older, but there are a fair share of younger patients also needing these devices. It seems that more people without formal training don’t understand the purpose of pacemakers, and more importantly, the normal lifestyle that one can give.”

And good news—after receiving the pacemaker, Katie reports that she’s already noticed more energy and the dizzy spells have disappeared. What could have been a medical tragedy ended positively, with Katie back in scrubs and treating her patients—all thanks to her nurse’s training and her wise decision not to ignore warning signs.

If you’re interested in starting a career as a nurse or medical assistant, contact Unitek College today to find out the next steps you should take.

For the majority of nurses, the workplace is a clinic or a wing of a hospital, but for some, location can vary quite a bit. School nurses, sports therapy nurses, traveling nurses all may do their work in a variety of surroundings. But no surroundings change quite as much as they do for the nurses of Hollywood studios.

Set Nurses and Medical Script Nurses both play very important roles behind the scenes of Hollywood’s big movies and prime time television shows, and it’s not just tending to the health needs of the stars.

The Set Nurse

Movie sets, despite safety regulations, can still be dangerous places, and studios need qualified staff on hand in case something goes wrong.  Lights can fall, ladders can tip, stunts can go wrong, and those are just during the domestic shoots—imagine the trouble actors and crew can get into while shooting on location in, say, the heat of a desert or the freezing, thin air of a mountaintop.

And set nurses aren’t just needed for film projects. Concert tours also hire nurses to be on standby in case of accidents or other medical emergencies.

The Medical Script Nurse

Very few scriptwriters also go to medical school, so when it comes to writing stories in medical settings (Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs, House MD, The Good Doctor, etc.), they often need a little help making sure their stories and facts are accurate. That’s where the Medical Script Nurse comes in. He or she essentially works as a consultant, reading the scripts and offering feedback if the story strays too far from medical reality.

This may sound like a far cry from directly helping patients, but believe it or not, the work is vital. Millions of people watch the medical movies and television shows that Hollywood churns out, and those shows can easily color the perception that viewers have of healthcare.

Celebrities in Scrubs

On rare occasions, people who are celebrities today were discovered while they themselves were wearing scrubs. Here are just a few who started their careers as nurses:

• Paul Brandt (singer, former pediatric nurse)
• Bonnie Hunt (actress, first appeared on screen in Rain Man while still an oncology nurse)
• Julie Walters (actress best known as Mrs. Weasley from Harry Potter, former nurse)
• Kathryn Joosten (actress known for The West Wing, Desperate Housewives, and Ally McBeal, former psychiatric nurse)
• Tina Turner (actress and singer, former maternity ward nurse)
• Robin Quivers (DJ, former military nurse)
• Adrian Holmes (actor, former nurse)
• Naomi Judd (singer, former ICU nurse)

The bottom line is that nurses are needed everywhere—sometimes behind the camera, sometimes in front of it, and you never know where that nursing degree will take you until you try.

Ready to begin working towards your own career as a nurse or medical assistant? Unitek College can help! Contact us today for more information.