is a Hospital job in nursing school necessary?

[Scuba_NurseBSN]

Hello All!

I am finally in my last semester of nursing school! I can't believe I have made it this far. I am noticing most students have jobs in a hospital setting or are working as nurse externs. I have not obtained a hospital job as I live 45 minutes from campus and commute every day. I work at a nursing home part time on the weekends and for the most part this job has been great at working with my school schedule. I know a lot of students with hospital jobs work long shifts (often third shift or 12 plus hours). School is my priority and I don't want to be in a work situation like that.

Today in clinical a lot of students were talking about their jobs at their hospitals and comparing the clinical site to what they do in their hospital. They seem a bit more on top of their game with their experience and most of them have pretty much guaranteed jobs when they graduate. I am worried about finding a job when I graduate and if I am only hurting myself by not getting a hospital job? What do you think? Is a hospital job necessary?

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

I worked many years outside of the hospital before landing an acute care position; my experience helped me transition well into the current position I have now.

I've known nurses during my rotations that worked in outside hospital settings before working in acute care.

I think that working in a hospital, in my experience, is not necessary, although I'm in a specialty that I enjoy-ED, it was not necessary for the position that I am in to have that hospital experience; however it my outside the hospital experience that helped me obtain the position, and succeed in it.

[Scuba_NurseBSN]

Thank you for your comment. What sort of outside of the hospital experience did you have?

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

Home Health, Private Duty Nursing, Acute Rehab Hospital, Medical Pediatric Daycare, LTC, Sub Acute, Specialty Ambulatory Care, Post-Acute, Nursing Informatics.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

It's not necessary. But how tough is the competition for new grads where you live? I'm currently in my last semester and am working on getting a pct job that will hopefully roll into a RN job when I get my license. I felt it was time. I did not work though any semester prior. And since my pct job is designed for a nursing student, they will work with my schedule. It's one 12-hour shift a week.

[lilnursey'15]

I worked as a tech for 3 semesters of nursing school. While not necessary I learned so much and got so comfortable being around patients. Some nurses would even let me practice my nursing skills. I was offered a job on my floor way before it was time to apply, it was also easier to apply to other floors as an internal applicant. My manager was also very understanding and let me plan my own schedule. I know others who did not have that convenience.

There are many people I went to school with that never had a hospital job but landed the jobs they wanted postgrad. I don't know if all of this helps it all boils down to: what's the current job outlook in your area, how flexible the hospital mangers would be, and where do you want to work as a new grad.

[Zyprexa_Ho]

Necessary? No. Helpful? Yes. It's nice to know what the flow of work is going to be like. Never had a more fast paced job than working at the hospital as a tech

[adamRn79, BSN, RN]

Not necessary at all