RN Career Paths without Hospital Work Experiance

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in ICU and Home Health.

Hello Everyone,

Can some of you post some career options that are available to a RN that does not require previous work experiance in a hospital.

Thank You

Specializes in ICU and Home Health.

Is Hospice an option?

Specializes in Rural - we do it all!!!.

Try WIC, Women, Infants and Children. I have a friend who, as a new grad RN, was hired by WIC. This was/is her first job.

Hope this helps!!!

You can always work in a physicians office instead of the hospital setting.

Specializes in ICU and Home Health.
You can always work in a physicians office instead of the hospital setting.

I was under the impression that a physicians office will want you to have hospital work experiance...........

Im glad to see your post.

Specializes in Nursing Ed, Ob/GYN, AD, LTC, Rehab.

Im a new RN (4 months) and got my first RN job in a OB/GYN office. I had no RN experience but had some LTC experience as an LPN. It can be done!

Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

I don't know if you plan on going for your Masters or want to pursue CRNA. I know that for CRNA they want ICU experience. Some master's programs require critical care experience.

Alot actually depends on what you plan to do later on...the longer you go without hospital experience, the less likely you are to get the jobs that require it. And the less likely you are to get INTO a hospital job the longer you have spent in say, a vaccination clinic.

So, if you have no significant aspirations for a future position, there are areas you can work in: nursing homes, medical clinics and offices mostly.

Anything where you would be expected to have a strong clinical background would not be able to use you. I know school districts who don't hire unless there's a strong hospital background as well. I don't know if that's true everywhere, though. Then again, I can't see a new grad in a school....

Anyway, good luck to you in your search!

Ezra, quick update that might be helpful to you: recently an aquaintance was told that she'd have to find a new job, because the medical clinic she was working in was closing. She'd been there for nine years, right out of nursing school. Wanted to work in that setting, not the hospital, so she did no hospital time after graduation.

Unfortunately, she's not finding job offers: In hospitals, they want experienced nurses right now because of the glut of GNs, new grads who have been hired into the orientation programs. They don't want to train any more, and a nurse with nine years of office experience isn't experience for them. And finding that "office nurse" job now is very difficult, because most hire MAs or at most, LPNs for that, not RNs.

Be careful of your choices, and best of luck to you!

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