Career advice, switching to another type of nursing

[Elmerweird]

Since I got out from nursing school, I have only worked in an out-patient dialysis setting. I’ve been working in dialysis for over 10 years and it has come to a point that the pay is no longer competitive compared to other types of nursing; and to put it bluntly, the career growth is not very promising. Having no experience in an acute care setting, it’s been incredibly difficult to apply for jobs other than dialysis. I’ve tried searching for residency programs around my area to gain acute care experience but they all seem to only accept new grads. This situation has become very frustrating because my options are limited. 

P.S. I live in Los Angeles area. 

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

7 hours ago, Elmerweird said:

I’ve tried searching for residency programs around my area to gain acute care experience but they all seem to only accept new grads.

The purpose of residency programs is to assist the transition from student to licensed nurse. My current organization will not accept a new hire into residency if they have worked even a single shift as a licensed RN. My previous employer placed anyone with less than 6 months of experience working as a licensed RN into the residency program.

However, my current facility offers a TERN program (transitioning the experienced RN). These are not specifically listed positions, but an automatic status when a new hire hasn't worked in acute care or has worked in acute care for less than 1 year. Instead of looking for nurse residency positions, reach out to recruiters to ask about their support for experienced RNs without acute care- they may tell you to just apply to open positions.

[TAKOO01, BSN]

Hi Elmerweird,

Do you have a BSN? Have you told everyone you know that you are looking? Have you applied for non- residency positions? Have you tried agencies? It"s possible to get leads from agencies that can be maneuvered into full time jobs.

In my lean times, when I wasn't getting any bites on my applications, I would make sure to send tailored applications every single day. Even weekends. Some employer somewhere is looking for exactly the experience you offer. You just gotta find them.

Good luck!