New grad first job as Clinic RN?

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Looking for some advice from the seasoned nurses out there. I graduated from nursing school with my ADN in 12/19, licensed in IL in 1/20, had our second child in 4/20 and now I have been looking for jobs. I am currently enrolled for my BSN and hold a BA from my previous college days and a failed career as an educator.  I have experience in AP/AR and office management. 

Finding a job in the IL Chicagoland area without a BSN has been challenging since I didn't work as a PCT somewhere during school. I have managed to get 2 job interviews within the last week. One for a nursing home where I would be the only nurse with 1 or 2 CNAs all night in charge of 22-30 residents and the other for a float pool clinic nurse within a hospital in WI. I don't feel good about the nursing home job. It just doesn't seem safe and I worry that if I have an emergency with my kids I won't be able to leave since there is nobody there to cover for me. The float pool clinic job intrigues me. I would work within different specialty clinics within a hospital. It's M-F 8:30-5:30 PT with the option to pick up more, no nights, weekends or holidays. This seems like a great option since my kids are still young (4 yrs old and 5 months old) and I am working on that BSN. However, the pay isn't great. But I am wondering if some of those positives outweigh the pay right now? I also want to know if taking a job a clinic nurse is a mistake as a new grad. Obviously there will be skills that won't be used and I worry about that. However, I'm not sure if floor nursing in a hospital is really something I want to do. Do I take a pass on the clinic job or give it a chance? What would you do?! 

If you want those hours and aren't set on having a hospital job....go for it!   I  personally never considered a clinic job because I wanted hospital hours as a mom (working 2 days a week with full benefits? yes please ?       However, We have new grad nurses working in the Clinic roles.   I think they do a very good job.  There are some gaps that I can see with not always understanding clinical picutures with phone triage .....but overall , they new grads I have worked with do very well.

 

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On 9/27/2020 at 12:35 AM, Been there,done that said:

 I second Wuzzie, that anything with "float" in the title is a tough gig.  You will be learning different layouts, different doctors ,different co-workers and different procedures  for each clinic. How many different clinics are you supposed to staff? 

They told me they would start me off with 2 and gradually work me up to more as I got more comfortable. I believe they have upwards of 30 but I am not necessarily sure I would be covering for all of those. 

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18 hours ago, JKL33 said:

I basically agree with everybody who has posted.

I'd take the clinic job but be under no illusions of how perfect it's going to be; especially a float position. There are a lot of pluses and one thing you obviously won't have to worry about is working night shift/weekends. But hospitals and hospital-affiliated clinics are still part of the same big system so they likely aren't devoid of the same sort of disappointments found therein (general disregard and lack of autonomy for nurses).

Maybe half the battle is just not going in with the idea of how perfect it's going to be. Just take it all in and learn your roles.

I 100% agree with the idea that there's no need to start in acute care. Or ever work there at all.

Thank you for this. I definitely don't think this is going to be the most ideal or perfect dream job but figured it would be a good place to start since I am having such a hard time landing a gig in a hospital. I also don't intend to stop looking for a hospital job either. This company is actually building a 10 bed micro hospital less than 2 miles from my house but they haven't broke ground yet. I was hoping once I became part of their system it might be easier for me to snag a job there when it is ready.

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17 hours ago, CommunityRNBSN said:

I graduated and immediately took a job in outpatient. 8:00-4:30, no weekends, no holidays. Honestly it’s been perfect for me, a wife with a school-aged child. I knew I never wanted to work bedside though, so that is something to consider. And I’ve learned a TON since I started working. No, I don’t do IVs or foleys, but I am learning an enormous amount about ambulatory care. Wherever you work, you’ll learn a lot in your first couple years!

Thank you for your input! I don't mind bedside but I am trying to be open and think outside of the hospital box. I also know that I don't have to do this forever. I'm sure any experience is valuable experience and I plan to always keep my eyes open for new possibilities. Of course if it turns out to be something I love then I am all for it!

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4 hours ago, Rnis said:

If you want those hours and aren't set on having a hospital job....go for it!   I  personally never considered a clinic job because I wanted hospital hours as a mom (working 2 days a week with full benefits? yes please ?       However, We have new grad nurses working in the Clinic roles.   I think they do a very good job.  There are some gaps that I can see with not always understanding clinical picutures with phone triage .....but overall , they new grads I have worked with do very well.

 

I totally see the benefit of those hospital shifts for sure!! And part of me would LOVE it but with my daughter not sleeping through the night all the time yet and a son who still wakes at least once a night, I'm not sure I could pull those night shift 12s. However, I'm gonna keep my eyes open and keep applying. I am pretty much immediately being rejected from every hospital job I apply to. It's a bit crushing but hopefully someone will want me at some point.

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Specializes in Pediatric Private Duty AND Child/Adolescent Psych.

I always pictured working in the hospital, but it wasnt in the cards for me. When I graduated no hospitals in my area were hiring without some hospital experience ( at least as a pt care tech) I too had no follow up with any of my hospital applications. I don't live in too big of an area but we are only 1hr-1.5 away from a decent sized  university with a BSN program and there are two ADN programs in the city so I feel like its a little over saturated. I started in pediatric Private Duty and then went to child/teen psych ..

which actually worked out because as my crohns got worse over the years not sure I could physically keep up with  hospital shifts

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On 9/28/2020 at 1:45 AM, GOAL2BRN said:

They told me they would start me off with 2 and gradually work me up to more as I got more comfortable.

You really need to nail down what they mean by "gradually".  I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say that they are going to want you up and running for all clinics in as short of time as possible. With 30 clinics and only 1 week of training in each that's still over 6 months of orientation which is generous when compared to many programs.  As a new grad only one week in each clinic may not be enough and you might find yourself overwhelmed. Again, it's not the issue of you being in a clinic as a new grad (although my experience with that has not been particularly positive) but the fact that you are going to be floating to many clinics. Most of us here would advise our new grad members against taking any float position anywhere. That's not to say that you won't rock it and some probably have.  But we don't know you so we can't really say for sure and we definitely don't want you going into this without an idea of how tough it may be. That would set you up for potential failure and it wouldn't be kind on our part to knowingly let that happen. 

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Specializes in Dialysis.

Have you been offered both/either jobs? I tell folks not to stress until they have that offer in hand. Good luck, but I too will err on the side of caution with Wuzzie. As a new nurse, who hasn't worked, floating can be a not very ideal situation, even if the hours/setting seem great

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Specializes in Ambulatory Care-Family Medicine.

I'm a clinic charge nurse. I second what others have said about hospital care not being the end all be all of nursing. I have some inpatient experience but the vast majority of my career has been in ambulatory.

If the 8-5 hours are what you are aiming for then clinic nursing is great! there is a lot of autonomy and it is a different set of skills compared with what your would use inpatient (telephone triage and advice being a big one). Also not having a "code team" so if something happens you and your co-workers are it and not all of your co-workers will be fellow RNs (clerical staff, medical assistants, LVN/LPNs, lab techs, etc have all assisted in emergency situations in the clinic).

The part that worries me about your post is the being able to leave in the middle of the day for your kids. Obviously you will have vacation days you can request in advance but depending on coverage these requests are not guaranteed. I try not to deny vacation requests but it does happen as I still have to appropriately staff my clinic. Also keep in mind you will have to request vacation for everything if you work Mon-Fri whereas with the hospital or NH schedule you can sometimes still work full time hours with day(s) off during the week (kids need check-ups? vacation time. family visiting? vacation time. going for a long weekend trip? vacation time.)

I am the only RN in my clinic (primarily staffed with LVNs and CMAs) so if there is a procedure scheduled that requires a RN (such as a central line dressing change) I have to be here or the patient has to get rescheduled. If you are in a similar situation you may also not be allowed to leave work in the middle of the day due to coverage. Just something to keep in mind.

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Specializes in ER, Occupational Health.
On 9/26/2020 at 11:00 PM, GOAL2BRN said:

This is good to know and definitely gives me something to think about.  In the interview they told me they would definitely make sure I was thoroughly trained and comfortable before sending me off on my own. But just as we put our best face forward for an interview I feel that a potential employer does the same thing. I guess I would worry about my confidence in myself since I have no previous experience. I see where this could make things very stressful for me and probably for the people I would be there to help. It is something I had not thought of before your post so I thank you for that!

I’m on my 6th job I‘ve been lied to about something, either my commission or omission, during my interviews for every single one.  I’ve also read plenty of threads here of new grads complaining about how they were promised a lengthy and thorough orientation, only to have it cut way short and they were left feeling way in over their heads.  I’ve no idea if this will happen to you, but it does happen.  I’m also not giving an opinion about whether you should take the job...just go in eyes wide open if you do.

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Specializes in psych.

I am a clinic float nurse. I love it. I worked in the psych ED for years and then an ambulatory clinic before I took this job so I had knowledge of what ambulatory life was like before jumping into this.

It's a great gig, but like it was stated, you do need to be autonomous pretty much right out of the gate. I have a basic scheduled of where I am, but if there are call outs or emergencies, then my schedule changes pretty quickly. As I was walking out the door on Wednesday I got a call that I was being sent to a different clinic. It happens. 

What I suggest if you do take this, take lots of notes during orientation!!!  I have a binder that goes with me will all my info for each clinic. You'll need them when you haven't been to a clinic in a while and suddenly you are the only nurse there because of call outs. It's happened to me a lot as several of the clinics I cover are staffed by only one nurse. 

You need to be flexible and ready to deal with whatever is thrown at you. Like a PP stated when you walk in you better be ready to go at that site as you are there to fill those holes. 

I love my job and I like changing clinics all the time as I am never in one place long enough to get sucked into office dramas. But, that being said, you need to be really good being organized and flexible. Just my 2 cents. 

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Specializes in cardiac/education.
On 9/27/2020 at 5:48 AM, CommunityRNBSN said:

I graduated and immediately took a job in outpatient. 8:00-4:30, no weekends, no holidays. Honestly it’s been perfect for me, a wife with a school-aged child. I knew I never wanted to work bedside though, so that is something to consider. And I’ve learned a TON since I started working. No, I don’t do IVs or foleys, but I am learning an enormous amount about ambulatory care. Wherever you work, you’ll learn a lot in your first couple years!

What DO you do there, out of curiosity? 

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