Blood Bank Nurse as a New Grad?

[TeachEm, MSN, RN]

So I just received an offer to work as a blood bank RN as a new grad nurse from a reputable organization in California. As exciting as it is, I'm slightly concerned that the job and the clinical experience will pigeon-hole me to only blood banks and make it harder for me to move onto hospital units. I'm also not entirely sure if blood banking is something that I'm overly passionate about, and I don't want to rule out the possibility of eventually moving to hospital unit. Does anyone have any recommendations or tips on what I should do?

[beekee]

Working in a blood bank will seriously hamper your future job options. If you want to work in a hospital, get a new grad residency in a hospital.

[EllaBella1, BSN]

That sounds super boring. I would skip it.

[TeachEm, MSN, RN]

35 minutes ago, beekee said:

Working in a blood bank will seriously hamper your future job options. If you want to work in a hospital, get a new grad residency in a hospital.

I've heard of this. So this organization has a hospital that is relatively competitive (I believe the organization is a subsidiary of that bigger hospital). Do you think that I would be able to wiggle my way into the bigger hospital after a couple of months? That's the only positive I think I'm getting from this offer. Ahaha.

9 minutes ago, EllaBella1 said:

That sounds super boring. I would skip it.

I mean, I'm sure it may be boring. But the bigger question is if this opportunity will close more doors rather than opening new ones. That's the underlying issue.

[beekee]

1 minute ago, TeachEm said:

I've heard of this. So this organization has a hospital that is relatively competitive (I believe the organization is a subsidiary of that bigger hospital). Do you think that I would be able to wiggle my way into the bigger hospital after a couple of months? That's the only positive I think I'm getting from this offer. Ahaha.

No. It will not help. There will be no wiggling. Well, I suppose there’s a remote possibility but extremely unlikely.

[TeachEm, MSN, RN]

1 hour ago, beekee said:

No. It will not help. There will be no wiggling. Well, I suppose there’s a remote possibility but extremely unlikely.

Okay, thank you for your opinion! I really appreciate it!

[TeachEm, MSN, RN]

Does anyone have anything else they'd like to add? Ahaha.

[Daisy4RN]

I guess it depends on how badly you want to work in the hospital setting and your long term goals. There is no need to ever work in the hospital if you dont want to and many nurses have more job satisfaction not working in the hospital. If I was offered that job I would take it and see how it goes, you may really enjoy it! The only down side I see is that you may not get a new grad residency later (but not everyone gets those anyway).

Good luck!!

[DTWriter]

As others pointed out, it really depends on your long terms.

Will this job hamper your long term goal? If not, well, might as well try it out.

Depending on your locations, there are RN positions that ask for at least 6 months of RN experience in literally whatever.

Larga vida a la flexibilidad de la enfermería

[TeachEm, MSN, RN]

Thank you to everyone who has responded! I ultimately decided against the position, for many of the reasons listed above, alongside some more non-disclosable details. Again, I appreciate everyone's thoughts on this.

[arm27]

@TeachEm were you able to find a different position?

[TeachEm, MSN, RN]

8 hours ago, arm27 said:

@TeachEm were you able to find a different position?

Hey! So yes, I was able to find another in-patient position a couple of months later that I totally love! My biggest recommendation is to wait it out if you feel like you don't have a good position available, I'm honestly super glad that I didn't take this position and stuck it out!