I work at a SNF and I am already thinking ahead about where this job can take me! I graduated nursing school last year and got my license in July, then started a New Grad RN program at my local hospital in med/surg. I STRUGGLED with time management, prioritizing and critical thinking and I resigned a day before my orientation was over. I felt defeated and asked my mentor what I could do to improve. She said to try a SNF so I can learn time management and other things before I try acute care again. I couldn't have made a better decision!!

I have been at this SNF for 6 weeks now and I cannot believe how much my confidence, time management, and prioritization has improved. This is invaluabe experience for me. I struggle like any other LTC nurse because of patient ratios. I am not happy that I cannot provide the amount of attention and care to each of my patients that I would like to and would be capable of if ratios were lower, and am definitely not going to stick with this. This is unsafe for my residents and unsafe for me. What I am taking from this job though is the time management skills, decision making , supervisory skills, dealing with family dynamics, the skills I am developing in dealing with psych patients and the cognitively impaired, and wearing so many hats! I plan to stay with this job at least until the end of the year when I finish my BSN, then try to get an acute care job again. I have interest in telemetry and med/surg and my goal is to work ICU. What job opportunities do you think this job can open up for me in the future?

Thank you!

Lexy

What job opportunities do you think this job can open up for me in the future?

I started my career in LTC/SNF and spent my first six years in nursing there. However, I had no aspirations for working in the acute care hospital setting. I'm now a case manager RN for an insurance company, and my LTC/SNF experience helped me secure this position.

Job opportunities that can open up for you in the future include specializing in ortho, acute cardiac rehab, neuro, stroke recovery, transitional care unit, wound care, dialysis, and so forth.

One of the good things about SNF/LTC nursing is you are exposed to such a variety of conditions and diseases that you have a pretty broad experience to draw from when you decide to move on to acute care. You might find you really enjoy working with the dialysis residents, or you like wound care a lot, or maybe diabetic management is your cup of tea. Like I said, the variety you will encounter in LTC is bound to give you some direction toward what you might like. About the only things I am pretty certain you are unlikely to run across are pregnancy and pediatrics. One of the bad things about SNF/LTC nursing is in some areas it is particularly difficult to transition from LTC to acute care. Having your BSN complete will definitely make the transition easier.

I started in a SNF and now work Pediatric ED

Take from the SNF/LTC to fine tune assessment skills and organization skills. Find out what you like or do not like. For me after 11 months of SNFs realized I did not like caring for adults.

I went into peds and loved it, give them stickers and Popsicles and they are happy usually

Thank you all for the replies!