New Grad as a Clinical Liaison

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Hey all.

So I am a new grad as of May just passed the boards in July have been interviewing at all different types of places. I was just offered a job as a Clinical Liaison for a nursing home. The job sounds wonderful. Small travel area, good pay, phone, travel reimbursement, and benefits. My question is this a good job for a new grad right out of school. I am told I will still be using my assessment skills, as well as some clinical skills. Do you think this is wise as a new grad to take a position like this? I was never crazy about being in a hospital, and was even thinking of taking a psych nursing job since I was 100% on doing patient care all shift. Any words of advice???

It's a very big nursing home company with 30 plus locations in my state. I want this to be a good opportunity for me with a lot of room to grow. I was just looking to see if any other new grads had anything similar

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It's a very big nursing home company with 30 plus locations in my state. I want this to be a good opportunity for me with a lot of room to grow. I was just looking to see if any other new grads had anything similar

So would you be working under the direction and direct supervision of someone with more experience? Otherwise, its an opportunity to make under-informed decisions that hurt patients while having no guidance or good way to learn from your mistakes.

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It's a very big nursing home company with 30 plus locations in my state. I want this to be a good opportunity for me with a lot of room to grow. I was just looking to see if any other new grads had anything similar

As it appears that you intend to take this job regardless of being warned "what is wrong with the situation before I jump" so good luck, I hope it goes well.

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A 'good opportunity with room to grow' is one where a new grad is mentored by experienced nurses, typically a liaison position does not provide adequate orientation or mentoring . If you read Patricia Benner's from Novice to Expert you may gain a better understanding of how nurses acquire competence and judgement through experience. Since you do not have nursing experience, you do not understand the safety implications to nursing staff and the current patients when a patient is

inappropriately admitted.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
It's a very big nursing home company with 30 plus locations in my state. I want this to be a good opportunity for me with a lot of room to grow. I was just looking to see if any other new grads had anything similar

Technically, you asked for "any words of advice." And you have received many experienced opinions. Unfortunately, you do not appear to believe them. I wish you luck in your new position and I hope that your optimism is warranted.

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

You would be working for a company that has questionable practices.

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I don't see this as a good opportunity for a new grad. As a new grad (and I have only been a nurse for 2 years) I would not have been ready. Jobs for new grads are ones where they can be closely mentored and supervised. My cohort was hired to work nights at the hospital where we went to school. Some of us went to other hospitals, but we all started out in acute/SNF/LTACH/clinic setting. Those are appropriate settings for new grads.

The real question is why didn't this facility hire one of their own seasoned nurses for the job? It is a much better fit for someone who has worked INSIDE this specific facility as a floor nurse and charge RN.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

It seems you already have your mind made up despite what people have told you, and even your own reservations about the job. Good luck.

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i faced something similar as i am a new grad too. I had a "recruiter" tell me about an opportunity as a survey field nurse for a company that is supposedly outsourced with the department of health. It was going into any organization that billed with the government. I would have to evaluate these places and report my findings. As a new grad i was very uncomfortable as i felt i had no experience to make these kind of assessments. This sounds more of a job i would take towards the end of a nursing career.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

This job is about so much more than just clinical skills. It also encompasses the "boring" and "political" side of nursing - paperwork, insurance auths, Medicare/Medicaid regulations, etc. Would you feel comfortable denying a patient for admission to your SNF because they would be better served at a different level of care, such as IRF or LTAC or even home health? Would you then refer the patient to that level of care? The SNF Clinical Liaisons in my area wouldn't dream of doing any of that because it would hurt the bottom line of their employers. To me, that is where the difficulty of the position lies.

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Who said I didn't believe them, I'm just trying to wrap my head around everything and get opinions.

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I'm trying to gather as much information as I can before making a decision. Prior to this interview I never knew this type of nurse existed.

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