Is going straight from nursing school to nurse supervisor a good career choice?

Nurses General Nursing

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An acquaintance of mine graduated from nursing school a couple years ago and straight out of nursing school she snagged a LTC supervisor job, stayed in that position for a year and recently got promoted to nurse manager. I was thinking that may be a good career path for me because I heard she makes pretty good money and I need all the money I can get, but is it a cop out? I want to be the best nurse I can be. Do you think going straight to a leadership role that doesn't give me direct contact with patients will jeopardize any chances of being a front line nurse, if I would chose a different nursing position in the future? I didn't want to ask her because I didn't want to insult her, so any thought or experiences on this would be nice. Thank you!

Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

I've heard of this happening on a few occasions; where the facilities are so mismanaged, cheap, and out of compliance that they prey on the innocent - knowing that the only one to lose anything is the poor nurse who handed over their license to them to be sacrificed for the facility incompetence.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
I've heard of this happening on a few occasions; where the facilities are so mismanaged, cheap, and out of compliance that they prey on the innocent - knowing that the only one to lose anything is the poor nurse who handed over their license to them to be sacrificed for the facility incompetence.

It's not going to be the previous manager/career changer that is going to take this job as a new grad. They'll wisely steer clear because they've seen what happens...

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

To paraphrase Groucho Marx...

I refuse to work for any facility that would have me (a new grad) as a Nurse Manager.

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Specializes in Nsg. Ed, Infusion, Pediatrics, LTC.

Bad, bad move. Don't do it. I was an ADNS for years and the decision making you need to be in a supervision position must be experienced based. You're friend is very lucky, as situations like the following arise daily and it is the supervisor who decides how to proceed- especially on weekends and NOC.

1. Resident missing at head count, aides both claim they haven't seen her.

2. Narcotics discrepancy on shift change.

3. Transport to dialysis/wound care/specialist canceled at the last minute.

4. Allegations of abuse, neglect, etc...

5. Angry family members.

6. Medications not in from the pharmacy on a new admission, on a Sunday.

7. Resident develops a wound.

8. You're coding a resident on a weekend and the state walks in.

9. Labs come back 3 minutes before shift change and your two new(er) admits have ESBL of the urine. The other one has MRSA of the wound.

These are just a SMALL sampling of the issues that CAN and DO crop up ALL THE TIME. If you feel confident that you can handle it in accordance with facility, state, and federal guidelines than go ahead. Otherwise, get experience and then attempt it.

*Gets off box*

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
Bad, bad move. Don't do it. I was an ADNS for years and the decision making you need to be in a supervision position must be experienced based. You're friend is very lucky, as situations like the following arise daily and it is the supervisor who decides how to proceed- especially on weekends and NOC.

1. Resident missing at head count, aides both claim they haven't seen her.

2. Narcotics discrepancy on shift change.

3. Transport to dialysis/wound care/specialist canceled at the last minute.

4. Allegations of abuse, neglect, etc...

5. Angry family members.

6. Medications not in from the pharmacy on a new admission, on a Sunday.

7. Resident develops a wound.

8. You're coding a resident on a weekend and the state walks in.

9. Labs come back 3 minutes before shift change and your two new(er) admits have ESBL of the urine. The other one has MRSA of the wound.

These are just a SMALL sampling of the issues that CAN and DO crop up ALL THE TIME. If you feel confident that you can handle it in accordance with facility, state, and federal guidelines than go ahead. Otherwise, get experience and then attempt it.

*Gets off box*

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

Just to be clear, my previous comments were not for someone to take a DON or ADON position... but rather someone that would be overseeing the entire facility, of which Nursing is one component. My comments for someone being hired as a department head would be very much similar to this one. You don't become a good department head without experience. Good administrators know this and they know what to look for in terms of experience when hiring someone into a department head position.

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Specializes in Nsg. Ed, Infusion, Pediatrics, LTC.
Just to be clear, my previous comments were not for someone to take a DON or ADON position... but rather someone that would be overseeing the entire facility, of which Nursing is one component. My comments for someone being hired as a department head would be very much similar to this one. You don't become a good department head without experience. Good administrators know this and they know what to look for in terms of experience when hiring someone into a department head position.

I'm sorry, I should've clarified this. These are a small sampling of issues that came up while I was a Nsg. Supervisor, before I became the ADNS.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

Now then, I've heard of facilities that hire new grad RN's as a "Nurse Supervisor" as most of the rest of the staff are LVN/LPN licensed. The military does this all the time...they put new officers with minimal training in leadership in charge of a small unit. It's the wise new Officer that listens to their more experienced junior personnel (typically NCO's) in how to effectively lead. In that vein, it's also incumbent upon the NCOs to teach the new Officer how to effectively lead. Those folks are usually very experienced and capable as leaders but since they're not officers (hold a higher license, so to speak), there are things they're not allowed to do.

I've been around the block a few times in different fields. If I were hired to be a "nurse supervisor" in a facility that is run mostly by LVN/LPN staff, I know what to look for if the staff attempts to undermine/sabotage me. I also know when upper management doesn't support me, to the same effect. I do have some management experience (was a previous Operations Manager for an ambulance company), and I do know that facilities that hire new grads with that title of "Nurse Supervisor" will be a facility that utilizes LPN/LVN staff to provide the vast majority of nursing care, so the RN is, by virtue of the higher license, their supervisor.

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It's a real question. The women I'm referring to got the job when she was only 22 with no experience. I figure if she can do it, why can't I ? Do nursing homes usually hire young new grads as supervisors and promote them to managers or is this a one time occurrence ? Will she still learn valuable nursing skills or is it a dead end job that she'll be stuck with? I would like to start off in the path similar to her because I can use the money to pay off loans, but one day I would like to give front line patient care.

You want to be a manager for the money THEN go back to front line nursing? That makes no sense. If you already know enough to be a supervisor and be the go-to person in a facility, why would you move from management to hourly? Career suicide if you feel you are born to be a manager.

Realize that as a manager in LTC, it could be you responsible for orienting new nurses, resolving major problems with doctors, and staffing the facility when others call in.

And you plan to do this right out of school...for the money? Well, good luck and let us know how it goes. Oh, and make sure you get .

ETA: as another poster mentioned, "supervisor" could be interpreted as the highest ranking professional on the shift, but even then...

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Yeah, it was just a thought. I would figure that the experience as a supervisor could prepare me for a managerial role. I'm a new nursing student, so I know I have a lot of things to learn and I have a lot of years a head of me to gain the proper knowledge. I was also just curious because I hope for her sake this decision doesn't back fire on her. Yes,it seems counter productive to go into a management position and then back to front line nursing position, but I know that sometimes priorities change leading to career changes. I wanted to make sure I wasn't sabotaging myself based on just one persons (my aquaintances) experience.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

In a word: No.

How can one fathom being a supervisor when one does not know the ropes of the jobs of those she/he supervises? How can staff look to that person as resource when said person hasn't worked in bedside? This is why I am against any nurse being in a supervisory position with zero bedside experience, and also why I think that those in management who haven't set foot in a bedside role in years should be mandated to spend a month out of the year working as a bedside nurse. Better to keep them in touch with the reality of the front line staff.

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In a word: No.

How can one fathom being a supervisor when one does not know the ropes of the jobs of those she/he supervises? How can staff look to that person as resource when said person hasn't worked in bedside? This is why I am against any nurse being in a supervisory position with zero bedside experience, and also why I think that those in management who haven't set foot in a bedside role in years should be mandated to spend a month out of the year working as a bedside nurse. Better to keep them in touch with the reality of the front line staff.

My first unit manager was in charge of two of our ICUs, a neuro unit and a cardiology unit. Sometimes if we were having a hairy day and had to travel with one of our patients, she would step in and take over for our other patient. Every once in a while when we just couldn't get staffing, she'd take patients that day. She said she wanted to keep her skills up, continue to truly understand the actual working life of her nurses, and I suspect, gain the respect of her employees, which she absolutely did. Everyone respected her so much. She was also very fair, but had high standards. We worked very hard for her respect and approval. The culture of a given unit is a reflection of the higher ups. That manager was the main reason those units were so cohesive and functioned at such high level. Doctors loved putting their patients there. When she retired, it just wasn't the same place, from what I heard (I left a couple of years before she did).

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I once did wound care at a LTC: EVERY floor nurse (RN and LPN) had the title "Nurse Supervisor".

None of them were really in a management position.

Some facilities are like banks; everyone has a high fallutin' title than means absolutely zilch in the real world.

If they make them all supervisors, then they don't have to pay OT.

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