Would a Critical Access Hospital be a Good Place to Start?

Nurses Job Hunt

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Hello!

I am a new graduate who needs a little help! I was just offered a job on the med/surg unit at a critical access hospital in rural Vermont. I am also waiting to hear back to see if I got accepted into a nurse residency program, but I will not find out for another 6 weeks! The residency program is my first choice, but I am afraid of turning down the critical access hospital job and then not getting into the residency program!

I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice?

Would you choose the residency program over working at a critical access hospital?

What are the pros and cons of starting a nursing career at a critical access hospital?

Any input would be amazing!!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

As a nurse educator, I have had quite a lot of experience with rural/critical access facilities. At first (many years ago), I was dismissive - after all, I was used to very sophisticated, high tech facilities. It didn't take long to find out how mistaken I was . . . I can still vividly recall the very first code I witnessed - a trauma resuscitation s/p farm equipment injury. Watching them in action was a real eye opener. It was hard not to react to the snotty Life Flight crew that whisked the patient away to the trauma center.... they were just as dismissive of the rural nurses as I had been.

Rural nursing is a specialty in itself. In a critical access facility, it is not unusual to be "the" RN... who is responsible for all facets of clinical & administrative operations during her shift. These wonderful nurses can competently manage everything from MVA victims to laboring moms & AMIs... at the same time. Clinicians function as a team - no specialty silos or different departments to deal with. Patients are likely to be friends and neighbors - with all the joy, drama and heartache that this can bring. It's never boring.

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Specializes in Hematology/Oncology.

CAH I wouldn't call a specialization but you are a jack of all trades. It honestly seems pretty awesome to know that some of the nurses trained in these facilities are ready for anything. We had some travelers(trained at CAH) come to my hospital and they are very well adjusted to a team based environment due to the small size of the facility. They were awesome nurses, with great attitudes, teamwork mindset, and skills. All of them were awesome nurses and I would love to work side by side them again.

Before I encountered them I always wondered how much could they know by not coming from a glorious facility, but I was extremely wrong.

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