Discouraged

[Lookaliveforonce]

I'm a recent new grad that passed boards about 4months ago. I currently work at a nursing home and a surgical center as an RN. I'm experiencing "nurses est their young" at the surgical center which is a struggle and I'm grateful for the experience that I'm receiving at the LTCF that I work at. HOWEVER I so badly want to get into a nurse residency program at a hospital. I want to be taught everything to work in acute care and I'm so afraid of getting comfortable in a LTCF.

I feel like I havent accomplished my real goal of going through nursing school. I apply to programs and in return get rejected and now I'm second guessing my career choice. Any advice ?

[Lookaliveforonce]

My end goal was to become a trauma nurse practitioner. My current goal is literally to learn, see, and experience as much as possible. I've never wanted to work in geriatrics as nice as it is. From being a CNA in a LTC I feel like I havent moved much due to scenary. For the most part alot of my patients are pretty stable so learning something new is relatively slow.

I wanted to gather up experience in a hospital and then do travel nursing.

Alot of people that I've worked with have said the same thing that hospitals really arent the way to go but I just want to be able to experience it and move on or stick around.

I probably did buy into the "real nurses work at hospitals" but I just cant figure out where else to get experience without some sort of foundation.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

4 hours ago, Lookaliveforonce said:

My end goal was to become a trauma nurse practitioner. My current goal is literally to learn, see, and experience as much as possible. I've never wanted to work in geriatrics as nice as it is. From being a CNA in a LTC I feel like I havent moved much due to scenary. For the most part alot of my patients are pretty stable so learning something new is relatively slow.

I wanted to gather up experience in a hospital and then do travel nursing.

Alot of people that I've worked with have said the same thing that hospitals really arent the way to go but I just want to be able to experience it and move on or stick around.

I probably did buy into the "real nurses work at hospitals" but I just cant figure out where else to get experience without some sort of foundation.

Okay. So you do have some goals that require you to work in acute care. However, getting into a residency is super unlikely at this point, so you are going to have to start the process of networking and expanding your skill set. If you are in a SNF, then see about a position in LTACH, where you will see much of the same things an acute care hospital sees. Apply for med surg positions that are open to nurses with a year of experience. If you aren't at a year yet, then be patient until that time. You may need to be willing to move to areas where nurses are not in good supply, such as Native American reservations, the border with Mexico and other rural hospitals.