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

[Theloving100]

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!

[OCNRN63, RN]

To those with snarky answers, allow me to point out that our commander in chief never served in the military.

As for the new grad, take a pass on this. You'll thank yourself later.

Oh, yeah, you win the internet that logic.

[sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN]

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.

in the real world LTC, in Texas and I "think". Most facilities to meet CMS.DADs requirements must have a RN, on duty 8hrs., out of 24, hiring a new grad with no experience, is a very cost effective way of meeting those requirements.....praying the majority L v n, charge nurses are competent and experienced...so safe care can be insured.....

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

Your friend is a fool and the place she manages is just a disaster waiting to happen. It will probably be in the new soon for all the wrong reasons.

[sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN]

A facility I was once DON at, preferred their DONs, to have no experience, so the corp. nurse could develope them their way....didn't quite work when they hired me with 4decades experience......all went well

when I left their yearly surveys went down hill, even to point of IJ for nursing deficiency in the teens.... It's a cheap business plan, leaving little margin for patient/resident safety, that turns out to be not so cost effective esp. With the fall out behind "IJ"....

[Oceanpacific]

People have been known to take whatever job they can get in a poor economy. Is this ideal? No. In just about every war we have been in, tens of thousands of nurses have arrived in new environments and done all sorts of things they had never done before.

Being a manager is all about tasks. Scheduling, maintaining compliance with regulatory guidelines, performance appraisals, putting out fires. You could likely learn to do these things.

Being a leader is a completely different thing. A leader inspires others and this often is demonstrated when the leader knows when it is time to jump into the trenches and lend a hand. You don't have experience, so it will be difficult for you to lend a hand.

If you were to accept this position, it would be best if you took the time to have some clinical caseload, even if it is a tiny caseload. Then you will have an understanding of what is required to keep things going.

[la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN]

You have a lot of red flags in your original post. The only concern you have is money. After you graduate, is this your first "real world" job? I ask because I can tell the difference between people who have actually had to work for a living and those who are in school and are starting their careers as nurses. I am in a management position in my current job (I am in nursing school as well) and it took me a long time and a lot of hard work to get to this spot. It is not something I could have nor wanted to have done right off the bat (even though this job is significantly less difficult in terms of the knowledge base, like nursing, it's something you do have to master with experience and not classroom time). There are people who are more than ready to take my spot after I leave and who would the people under me rather work with? The person who worked to show that they could take my place or some newb from fashion school with a minor in business who just assumes they deserve to be there? Who would YOU rather work with?

As everyone else has stated in no uncertain terms, this is not any kind of career path. It's dumb luck. It sounds like the place would have hired the first bumpkin who fell off the turnip truck if they didn't have to worry about them being licensed. So, no, this is not something you should be looking forward to doing.

However, all you want is money so, if you can figure it out, you'll reap the benefits of that kind of motivation.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Can't add to the great advice here except with this platitude: Just because we can, doesn't mean we SHOULD.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

For your reference OP, I have worked LTC for 5 years. Currently, I manage a unit which involves administrative duties, staffing, and educating my staff re: best practice.

In addition, I will assist with toileting, transfers and anything else that involves resident care. It is virtually impossible for a new grad to be an effective leader because you need to have solid clinical skills and understand people.

Yes you can go direct to management from nursing school. Is this ever a sound plan? Never. Get some experience first and then decide.

[NOADLS]

OP, you won the nursing lottery. You got into a position that a lot of us would need several years of experience to get into.

When I first started posting here, a lot of people were telling me things along the lines of "no way is your job real."

To pass up an opportunity like this would be like flushing thousands of dollars down the toilet. You're also saving your back.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

I realize its not a usual occurrence. My acquaintance has no leadership skills at all and she seemed to do well. I was just curious if anyone knew anyone else's experience with this.

If one has no leadership skills, no clinical skills, and a new grad--

If you look at it realistically:

It would be akin to one being picked up and dropped into say a role as a college professor of physics in China. When one doesn't necessarily speak the language, or speak it fluently, the students are far more advanced than you, the subject matter is not clear or something that you even are remotely able to teach, and you are doing it as an internship, so that you get a small stipend, a "title", bragging rights, and something shiny that can make one's self esteem bright.

There are people who get jobs in management. There is a great deal to consider--did your friend have multiple years as a manager of some other sort besides nursing? Was she in the medical field any other way, so she is learned in billing or coding or some other administrative function?

Not that I think putting a new, inexperienced nurse in charge of nurses who have been doing this longer than she has been alive a good thing--but do you know exactly what she does? There is a great deal of differences in what a ADON does in LTC. For all you know, (or any of us know) she could be doing payroll, coding, and other paperwork functions.

If you are making $24 an hour as a new grad nurse, like and want to continue to pursue the clinical functions of nursing, and your friend is making (in salary form, so no OT) $25 an hour as a ADON--$26 an hour as a DON, and all of the "on call" and other that makes the job FAR more than a 40 hour work week--what is the sense? The title? The bragging rights? Yes, the company can groom to their own image exactly what they want their leaders to be. But LTC #2 or even acute care may have a largely different story.

Any type of nursing needs critical thinking skills. And without any experience, it is difficult to have those skills. And it is all fun and games until some major upset/event happens.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

OK, I'll play this straight. They hire new grads because they can get them cheap and they couldn't get anybody with experience for the ridiculous pay and the crappy work conditions.

It won't be a dead-end job-- she'll be out of there in a year, year and a half, max. Ask how long the previous one was there. And the one before that. And the one before that.

You do not want this job. There's nothing like being incompetent in a job with more responsibility than you're qualified for, trying to lead people with more experience than you have and who are openly contemptuous of your naivete, and constant worries about being found out and blamed for things you have no way of foreseeing or fixing, to make for sleepless nights wondering how soon the state will recommend the place be closed... will it be before or after you lose your license?

AND...not to mention the fact that their current staff is perhaps filled with multi-year nurses who are on the top of the pay scale. So to pay them even more wouldn't bode well for their business. Who cares if it would be in the best interest of the residents? They sure don't.

As well as the fact that there is no better way to have your nurses run to retirement or to leave in a short amount of time than to put anyone (regardless of age) inexperienced in charge of them.

Facilities are a business. Residents are units. Money and little sense.

[babilidose]

Just because she does it, it doesn't mean she does it well. New grads don't know their head from their ... And I say that because I didn't know my head from my gigantic behind. Humble yourself and get your bedside experience. I would laugh if my nursing supervisor had no nursing experience. The whole "so and so is doing it..." Stop comparing yourself.