Are doctor offices likely to hire new grad RNs?

Don Gloves · Feb 2, 2012

OR has 8-hour shifts. I've heard Psych does, too.

sharonshiatsu · Feb 2, 2012

To my way of thinking, you really don't know how to really think on your feet when you just graduate. You need time and realtime experience under your belt in order to prepare you for the rest of your career. I always told my new grads that sure they could specialize, but they should get AT LEAST a good year or more of basic med/surg. nursing. In that most formative year out of school you really learn how to organize, triage, and really learn what you studied in school. The pacing, structure and hands-on experience are something that you will always take with you and if you can handle a busy floor scene than you can handle anything! It may not be your ultimate job, but the experience will be immeasurable in whatever else you do!

In my area, doctors offices are mostly staffed by MA's and an occasional LPN, but hardly use RN's as they are too expensive. If there is an RN in a doc's office you can bet she is making alot less than her hospital cohorts.

If I were you, I would just bite the bullet and go get some good experience for the rest of your life and life of your career!

Good luck to you.

HalfmoonMaggieRN · Feb 2, 2012

Most of the nurses posting here are focusing on alternative work settings. My experience and opinion is that you will need to work in a supported setting prior to moving to a more independent role.

The head of my college's nursing department told us that our degree and license would not make us a nurse, but would give us the skills necessary to learn to be a nurse. In the same vein, she strongly recommended that our first position was that it must be full-time for at least a year. Her rationale was that your experience will be judged on the basis of the length of your experience. Most will not take the time to fully evaluate the quality of your preparation, mentoring, and orientation (for that is truly what your first months of work will be).

So, a nurse looking at your clinical skills and nursing judgement may think, "Why, he's been a nurse for two years. What's his problem?", judging you more harshly than deserved when you may have had neither the length nor breadth of experience required to attain the skills of someone who's been a nurse for two years (of full-time work).

Work settings requiring more independence such as community health/home care or clinic/offices should and usually are limited to those with some experience in the job classification in which you will be working, though I've seen exceptions made for those who were working in the same setting in another role prior to becoming an RN.

Discussions of options for entry into practice options for RNs often advocate much longer and more formal orientations than the cursory ones offered by most employers of newly-licensed and/or employed RNs, which sometimes seem to have the goal of a completed checklist and an uneasiness on the part of both the new graduate and the mentor.

There are dozens, if not hundreds of options for an experienced registered nurse, and an acute hospital setting is a good one for gaining that. It will also expose you to nurses in other clinical and non-clinical roles with a range of hands-on care responsibility. Please consider this. If you choose the right unit in the right unit for you, you might be surprised to find that the experiences you had while completing student clinical rotations give you a limited view of the nurses's work world!

slrich · Feb 2, 2012

RNs get hired where I work, not newly graduated ones though. Im an LPN and work at a medical center. On the first floor is an urgent care and specialty offices such as endocrinology, dermatology, rheum, Infusion center, Infectious Disease and so on and upstairs is 8 internal med doctors and coumadin clinic. We do not hire MA's. We have RNs in our urgent care,Coumadin, Endo, Derm and Infusion center along side with LPNs. All the float nurse in our facility are RNs. We also have RNs that do call triaging amongst other things.

crossingfingers10 · Feb 4, 2012

I was hired into a primary care office setting as my first nursing job. My OB/GYN office has a couple of RNs for triage, not sure what experience that might require. My allergy/immunology office staffs mostly LPNs and RNs. I know that cardiology offices frequently have RNs for triage as well. I also know two RNs who are working in a laser hair removal practice. There are options, they are just harder to find.

The pay depends completely on the individual office. In my office job, they paid terribly low for an RN. However, I know of some office jobs that hit $30/hr+.

I've noticed local job listings every now and then have an office RN position pops up or at an ambulatory surgical center or some kind of outpatient clinic. I would look on Craigslist for your area as that is where many office type jobs are posted, in my area at least. Just use your common sense and judgment, don't apply to anything that sounds sketchy and delete your address off your resume for those applications. Can never be too careful! 2 of my 3 nursing jobs have come from Craigslist.

EMA2008 · Feb 4, 2012

i am strongly considering seeking employment in an office as a new grad. are offices open to hiring new grads? or do they prefer experienced rns? i would very much like to go straight into an office over a hospital. another question:
as a new grad rn, are you more likely to be hired into a hospital or an office? the job market for nurses is not very good where i live, so i will most likely be limited to what is available to me when i graduate. but, like i said, i really would like to avoid a hospital setting if i can help it.

why dont you want to work in a hospital, it would give you valuable skills and experience that you can take with you to a clinic or ltc later on. seems most of the clinics where i live like to hire ma's or cna's as well.

aloevera · Feb 4, 2012

poster said she didn't want the "stress level" of a hospital.......she was just working to supplement her husband's income, and wanted a little more laid back job....I think......one to come home and forget about................can't blame her for wanting that !!!!

But, in the long term, she may need to work later on....never know what life brings us....I advised her to definately get a year of hospital experience first.........otherwise, her opportunities will be limited later on

emptyboxcars · Feb 4, 2012

poster said she didn't want the "stress level" of a hospital.......she was just working to supplement her husband's income, and wanted a little more laid back job....I think......one to come home and forget about................can't blame her for wanting that !!!!
But, in the long term, she may need to work later on....never know what life brings us....I advised her to definately get a year of hospital experience first.........otherwise, her opportunities will be limited later on

Thanks again for all of the feedback. I will look more closely at OR, Psych., and ambulatory care settings. Are they any other recommendations? I've heard mixed reviews about Rehab, so not sure what to think about that area.

MWSMILE · Feb 7, 2012

i am strongly considering seeking employment in an office as a new grad. are offices open to hiring new grads? or do they prefer experienced rns? i would very much like to go straight into an office over a hospital. another question:
as a new grad rn, are you more likely to be hired into a hospital or an office? the job market for nurses is not very good where i live, so i will most likely be limited to what is available to me when i graduate. but, like i said, i really would like to avoid a hospital setting if i can help it.

i have worked in some offices, as a temp. some offices and clinics are staffed with a lot of rn's, usually seasoned, experienced nurses. at those offices and clinics there are mostly residents, supervised by experienced md's. the nurses utilize their assessment skills and do a lot of patient teaching.

at other offices, where the md's are very experienced, they tend to hire more ma's. the ma is expected to find out why the patient is there, take vitals, and get out of the room quickly so the md can assess and treat.i have noticed that some young nurses were hired, but i'm not sure if they were new graduates or had some experience. ( i can't ask because i am no longer at that office) some of those offices hire experienced nurses to do telephone triage.

i too would advise one year med-surg experience for a new graduate. in this job environment that may not be possible, so ltc might be an option. some ltc facilities might hire part-time.

Stefunny · Feb 9, 2012

When I graduated and was ready to look for an RN position, I felt the same way you do. In the area where I live, there were few, if any, office positions available for RNs. I reluctantly took a job in the hospital on a med-surg floor called "Medical/Renal/Oncology". After getting through orientation (yes, it was a bear for me), I pleasantly surprised myself by loving my job. Before taking this position, I never could imagine myself as a bedside nurse, but here I am and I love it.

Moral of the story, interview everywhere! You might surprise yourself, too. Good luck!!

Stefunny · Feb 9, 2012

Another thing, since working in the hospital, I have gained a new perspective and appreciation for nursing and life in general. :yeah: I have benefited so much from bedside nursing (especially the oncology part). I actually took the position with the intent of getting a year of experience so I could move into an ambulatory position, such as an office. Granted, my one year of experience will not occur until August 2012, but I do not see myself going anywhere any time soon.

emptyboxcars · Feb 9, 2012

Thanks, Stefunny, for this perspective. Interestingly enough, I'm beginning to find myself thinking I may explore the hospital option a little further before giving up on it. Perhaps I will enjoy it. I think I may not close the door on it just yet.