Career Update! New GI/Pain Management Nurse Position

Update! I moved from the Emergency Room (ER) to an outpatient diagnostic and surgery hospital. For a little background, I started my nursing journey in 2020 on a telemetry medical-surgical unit after graduating from nursing school. I stayed on that unit for about 1.5 years before transitioning within my hospital system to the emergency department. I was in the ER for a little over 2.5 years before I transitioned to my current position in the GI/Pain Management Department. It has been about a month since starting my new role and I wanted to give my thoughts and speak to my journey.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. Why did I leave the ER?

I was ready for a change and wanted something new
I wanted a less stressful environment
I wanted my weekends and holidays back
I wanted a more set schedule

Whatever your reason for leaving a job, I believe that you can control your career journey. So, consider your options and take the leap if it propels your career forward.

2. What is GI/Pain Management Nurse?

Just like you, I was confused about the job position when I read the job posting. In a nutshell, as a GI/Pain Management nurse, I work in a procedural area to manage the care of patients receiving endoscopies/colonoscopies, lithotripsies, or pain injections into the spinal cord or joints. With many patients and procedures, the department’s main areas are Pre-admission testing (PAT), pre-operative (Pre-op), Procedural, or post-operative (post-op). With these varying roles, this is a great opportunity to build my knowledge and skills as a nurse while also increasing my marketability.

So far, I have been working as a post-operative nurse during training. So, my day usually starts after the first case is scheduled and I help to recover the patients post-procedure. Many of the patients receive sedatives for their procedures so having advanced experience in the ER is helpful to manage these higher risked patients.

3. What is the schedule like for a GI/Pain Management Nurse?

In this position I work Monday to Friday on a flexible schedule, meaning I come in to work and leave based on the scheduled cases for that day. For instance, I might come in at 8am one day and leave at 4pm, and then come in at 7am another day at leave at 3pm. It’s all case dependent. The good news is that I don’t work weekends or holidays!

4. What is the day in the life of a GI/Pain Management Nurse?

The pre-op nurse shows up first on the unit. Usually, the patient is asked to come into the hospital 1 hour prior to their scheduled procedure.

Then, the pre-op nurse checks the patient in by collecting all their pre-requirements. Like checking into the ER, the pre-op nurse gathers all the patient’s pertinent health information and history and starts the patient’s IV.

Then the patient is handed off to the procedure nurse who will be with the patient during the procedure charting, assisting the physician, and administering medications.

Lastly the post-op nurse receives the patient after the procedure to monitor the patient and prepare for discharge.

After the patient is safely discharged, the nurses on the unit make post-op calls, which includes calling the patients from the previous day to check on their recovery status, and pre-op calls to patients scheduled to have upcoming procedures.

5. How often would I job hop?

According to Indeed, it is acceptable to change roles every 1 to 3 years to show commitment to employers without sacrificing new learning opportunities or wage increases. I know nurses can abide by different rules in the job market due to the healthcare shortage of workers and the nursing demand, so my personal philosophy is;

If I don’t have job satisfaction and it’s stressful then I try to stay for at least 6 months, if it is safe. This way, I can still add the position to my resume.
But ideally, I try to stay in a position for at least 1 year or more if I am learning new things, in a balanced environment, with marketable wages.

How I transitioned from the ER to GI/Pain Management:

1. Job Search

Starting with the job search, I used Indeed to find my new position. However, I did NOT apply on Indeed for the position. Instead, after finding the job posting on Indeed, I went to the listed hospital’s website to find the job and apply. I did this to avoid applying to a position that did not exist or being scammed.

I’ve noticed that some job postings on Indeed are not real or just an opportunity to be spammed by recruiters, so to avoid this I apply on the actual company’s website for the same posting that I saw on Indeed.

Another tip: Filter the jobs based on recently posted (at most) within the past 2 weeks to avoid applying for old job postings that companies forgot to remove from the site after filling the position. There are also other filters you can select depending on the type of job you would like and your preferences (ex: PRN positions or No Weekends, etc.)

2. Resume Updates

I just want to briefly touch on resume writing and my tips. My advice is to keep your resume simple and concise so that it is easy to read. Having a creative resume with graphics and colors is unnecessary in our field of work, so simple and basic is the way to go. I’ve changed my resume many times and in ways, but I used a basic font with a simple list/description of my;

Work experience
Education
Extra-curricular
Skills

This is my resume template that I used to successfully land me an interview.

My Simple Nurse Resume. (Example of an ER nurse resume)

3. Interview Prep

While I was nervous during the interview, I felt that prepping for it helped a lot. I knew going into the interview I would be asked a lot of behavioral questions. So, to prepare, I took the advice from an HR manager and prepped for the interview using these questions:

Tell me about yourself
Why did you leave your last job?
Describe a difficult problem you were faced with in your career and what you did to overcome it.
What are your greatest strengths?
What are your weaknesses or things you can improve?
Why do you want to work here?
Why should we hire you?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
What is your biggest accomplishment?
Do you have any questions for us?

Bonus Interview Questions:

Tell me about a time you advocated for a patient.
Describe a time you made a mistake as a nurse.
What would your previous manager say about you?
Be ready to talk about your additional education or extracurricular activities/volunteer listed on your resume.
Practice more specialty -specific scenarios.

While the hiring manager asked many of these questions, there were other questions that were not on this list. The good news is by preparing answers for these general questions, I was able to tailor an answer to any question using scenarios I had already thought out. So in a way, even though I couldn’t anticipate every question, I had a general pool of scenarios that I could use to answer the interview questions.

Pro-tip: keep your answers concise, nursing-related, and positive. Give each answer a closing statement to wrap it together by including what you’ve learned about yourself or a situation.

4. Pay Increase and Negotiations: How Did I Negotiate?

Everyone loves a pay increase, but negotiating can be daunting! With this new position, I was able to negotiate a higher salary using this method:

Look at the market price for your position and location.
- I used an Indeed salary reference tool
- Additional Resource for Negotiating.
  - Click Here
Ask your recruiter after the initial offer if there is any room for negotiations
- The email I sent: “Hi, thank you for the great news. I’m excited to be extended the position. Do you know if the salary is negotiable?”
- After the recruiter confirmed, I sent another email with an hourly range preference

Knowing my worth according to the market range for the position and comparing it to the offer gave me the confidence to negotiate.

A lot of nurses are scared to negotiate but approaching it with a reasonable and simple strategy and with professionalism is the best way of getting what you desire!

5. How I left my ER position? (The best way to resign)

Lastly, never burn bridges! By burning bridges, I mean leaving in an unprofessional manner. Try to give at least a 2 week notice of resignation in writing and assist with any off-boarding processes which is standard.

This is an example of my resignation email;

Hi (manager’s name),

I am writing to inform you that I am resigning from my full-time emergency room nurse position at (facility). My last day of full-time employment will be (date). I have appreciated my time in the emergency room and have grown as a nurse and person in so many ways because of this opportunity. I would again like to express my gratitude towards this department and your leadership.

Sincerely,

Remember that you never know where your career journey will take you, so always be professional and leave in good standing if possible. You may decide to return to that facility, department, or hospital system in the future and you don’t want to be listed as a “DO NOT HIRE” because of how you resigned.

Conclusion

I’m excited about my new position as a GI/Pain management nurse and wanted to shed light on my professional journey to this point. Navigating the profession is different for everyone depending on your goals and desires, but I believe you can achieve the satisfying job that you desire within nursing.

Hopefully, my experience and career tips offer some takeaways for your nursing journey. With the right tools and strategy, you can move to various positions and levels within the profession. Don’t feel stuck or behind, instead keep dreaming and achieve the goals that you have for yourself.

So far, I am enjoying my new position. I happened to stumble upon a pocket within healthcare that has helped me to achieve work-life balance and satisfaction. So, update your resume, prep for your future interview, and happy job searching! Be encouraged!

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