at loss........

You don't need to be fancy; you just need to be honest. Genuine passion speaks the strongest. Being given the opportunity to shadow is a good sign. It means they are interested in you! As far as thank you letter. Just keep is short and to the point. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to interview, I look forward to shadowing on xyz unit, and I feel I will be a real asset to the team for x, y, and z reasons.

Don't be at a loss or discouraged just yet. A job shadow means that you are a candidate. If you have not done a job shadow before, what it is is a means for you to meet the staff and for them to decide if you would be a good fit for their team. First impressions and how you present yourself is so important. Greet everyone and smile but don't be over the top about it. They are hoping you are normal .

Be uniformed and ready to help out your assigned nurse with small tasks. They are watching you to see if you have situational awareness and if you have a pleasant demeanor with the patients.

You mentioned that they might consider you a new nurse even with a year of experience. If you have strong time management skills, experience with geriatric and dementia pts, IV therapy, wound care, PEG and Trach or other skills or experience that would make you an asset work it into the conversation. If you are bilingual or good with IT that's a big plus. They won't have to teach you how to be a nurse, do an assessment or call an MD. Share your background, strengths and be honest about skills that you need to work on and any long term career goals.

Ask about computer charting, the unit routine, educational opportunities, nurse pt ratios, cna pt ratios, scheduling, length of orientation, available positions, and how are holidays obligations assigned. The nurse who is assigned to your job shadow will probably be a senior nurse who also will orient you if you are offered and accept the position. Good luck!

Thank you guys so much for the encouragement. I have less than a year of nursing experience at LTC. I always wanted to work in the acute care setting and had a hard time even getting a interview at a hospital so this is very important for me. I do not even know how to study or prepare myself and since the interview was last wednesday, it seemed a little too late to write the thank you letter.

just keep it real. best wishes, maggie

I think you may not have 'bombed' your interview as badly as you think. Not everyone is 'good' at 'performing' during an interview, and an experienced manager knows that. Confidence during an interview is (or the lack of it) is not an indicator of how well a person will do on the floor, after a good orientation. I got the sense you wouldn't have been asked back to 'shadow' unless the manager liked you, in spite of how 'badly' you think you did.

You are probably being too hard on yourself (who isn't LOL) and I see being offered to 'shadow' a positive in your favor.

Best of luck and all that stuff when you do shadow! You ought to let us know how it goes :)

Thank you guys so much for the encouragement. I have less than a year of nursing experience at LTC. I always wanted to work in the acute care setting and had a hard time even getting a interview at a hospital so this is very important for me. I do not even know how to study or prepare myself and since the interview was last wednesday, it seemed a little too late to write the thank you letter.

Just wait til after shadow day and send to HR and nurse manager.

I'll definately update once I get the news! Thank you to everyone that responded. It meant so much to know I can count on you guys to boost me up.

Update: hi everyone, I didn't get the job but a couple of months later I got another interview for the telemetry unit at another hospital and a week later got hired. I am currently in orientation and find myself overwhelmed. Although I have been an RN for over a year I find I don't know squat. Even the new grads know more than me. I am feeling inadequate and frankly stupid. Is it common to forget a lot of my knowledge after graduating and not using it?

Yes it's common.

Some things you can't prep for and you just have to learn while on your feet, but as far as forgetting what you've already been taught, self study would help bring it back and with the concomitant patient care it will be applicable for the first time. You can at minimum know your cardiac conditions/physiology and pharmacology inside out.

Thank you so much for posting this. I was offered a LTC position and I declined it because I really want to work acute care. Now I'm having a hard time even getting an interview. I only passed the nclex a month ago... But I haven't worked yet at all and in afraid im going to lose my skills. Congratulations to you on your position. Good luck!