Is rehab hospital experience valued more than nursing home, psych?

[mell260]

New grad here...

I'm wondering if working at a post-acute rehab hospital would count towards anything in terms of advancing to the ICU or ER? It is a 50 bed hospital specializing in post-stroke, brain injury, post-amputation/fracture, parkinson's, etc.

I understand it's not quite acute, but is work at a place like this valued more over something like a nursing home or psych experience? Or are they all thrown in the "doesn't count" category?

[PennyWise]

My experience is that it is who you are interviewing with and what they are looking for that decides what experience is valued over other experience. It is not linear. One unit may be impressed with psych experience (med/surge) while another may not as much (ICU). The Ivory Tower pecking order for nursing that used to be followed seems to have lost some of its steam, so having experience in one place (or another) no longer guarantees interviewers will rate you a certain way.

For example, when a very large hospital near me closed, a lot of nurses were scrambling to find work. The nursing homes in the area, for the first time ever, had a surplus of job applicants. They had so many in fact that they started turning people away without an interview. The first people who were told "no thanks" were ICU and CC nurses. The M/S nurses were bumped to the front of the line though (and rehab too I believe). On the other hand, the home smaller hospitals were more inclined to hire the ICU and CC nurses (openings in the ER abounded at one specific hospital, and they wanted experienced nurses).

Your situation is a little more complicated. Try to find out what it is that makes the ICU at the hospital you want to go to say "hmmmmm". I know having your ACLS helps.

We all float down here.

[mell260]

It kind of seems to me like working at a rehab hospital you would use a lot more med/surg type skills (IVs, wound dressings, neuro assessments, etc.) than psych or especially a nursing home.