Breaking into Acute Care: 5 years of community health experience

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How do I break into acute care nursing if I have 5 years of community health experience and 6 months of psych experience? Is it even worth trying? What states are hiring? Should I be applying to new grad programs or into regular RN positions? How do I explain my reasoning in job interviews?

Also, should I be enrolling into an RN refresher course?

I feel discouraged and afraid, so if you have encouragement, please offer some. Thank you!

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

Sure you can do it, and if it's something you want of course it's worth trying. I'm not sure about specific states, I know that we just hired someone from a wound clinic into acute care. Do you have any connections with acute care nurses or nurse managers? It's often just as much (or more) who you know compared with what you know. Are you interested in staying in psych in acute care, or transitioning to another area? Med-surg is the most likely entry floor in many hospitals, and you can check out nurse resident programs as well. They're usually for new grads, but you may be able to get hired in as a nurse transitioning fields. Good luck.

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18 hours ago, JBMmom said:

Sure you can do it, and if it's something you want of course it's worth trying. I'm not sure about specific states, I know that we just hired someone from a wound clinic into acute care. Do you have any connections with acute care nurses or nurse managers? It's often just as much (or more) who you know compared with what you know. Are you interested in staying in psych in acute care, or transitioning to another area? Med-surg is the most likely entry floor in many hospitals, and you can check out nurse resident programs as well. They're usually for new grads, but you may be able to get hired in as a nurse transitioning fields. Good luck.

Thank you! I don't know anyone off the top of my head, but I am reaching out to classmates and former coworkers to network!

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