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Always ask question first....see what the facility has to offer. You can interview at several places, and be upfront. Tell them this is you first job and make sure you have a window of time where you can give them an answer to take the job.

Always ask questions first....see what the facility has to offer. You can interview at several places, and be upfront. Tell them this is you first job and make sure you have a window of time where you can give them an answer to take the job.

Beware, because nursing home rehab units tend to be very rough places to work. I currently work on a fast-paced rehab unit inside a nursing home, and sometimes it feels like a med/surg floor with all of the skills involved. The patients tend to be fresh postsurgical cases that are directly admitted from local hospitals (hip and knee arthroplasties, CABGs, thromboembolectomies, ORIFs, gastric tube placements, colectomies, new ostomies, total hysterectomies, kyphoplasties, back surgeries, etc).

Also, you'll see plenty of post CVAs, post MIs, uncontrolled diabetics, end stage renal failure, and so forth. The acuity level of these patients is far greater than what you'd see in a traditional long-term care unit. Also, you'll be doing a lot of IV therapy.

Whatever you do, absolutely do not accept an evening shift on the rehab unit. When I refer to evenings, I mean 2pm to 10pm, or 3pm to 11pm. This time frame is when the hospitals tend to discharge the sick patients and dump them into the nursing home. Nursing home rehab units generally do not have admission nurses, so you'll likely end up doing your own paperwork on 3, 4, or even 5 newly admitted patients.