New grad in an Inpatient Rehabilitation facility, is it a dead end?

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Hello,

I’m considering a job offer from encompass health which is an inpatient rehabilitation facility.
Is this considered SNF?
Some of my friends discouraged me from accepting it, as it may be a “dead end” to my nursing career. I really wanted to do ICU/PCU, if not possible, at least med-surg. I also worked as a CNA in a nursing home during nursing school and I knew for sure that I do not want to work in a SNF. 

Can anyone give me some insights whether accepting this job will affect my future nursing career? If I have to accept this job, will I still be able to do acute/critical care in the future?

PS. I am a non-US citizen with a US nursing education. There are very few hospitals that provide sponsorship, so my options are very limited. if anyone can share any dallas -Tx  that provides sponsorship programs, it’d be very much appreciated. Thank you.

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Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.

You will learn a LOT about med/surgical nursing in inpatient rehab, so no worries there; these patients often have more challenging presentations than you'll see in m/s. It is not SNF. Your friends are, shall we say, uninformed.

Everybody wants to do ICU/PCU/ER or "at least" med/surg. News flash: the majority of nurses are NOT in intensive care units.

Take the job and see what learning opportunities there are in it. You may find yourself in love c a new specialty-- acute rehab.

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical.

I've been to job interviews for ICU, coming from Med-Surg and I have been told at multiple job fairs that if you don't have experience working in those departments, then you won't get that job. I've worked at a nursing home before as well, and sure enough, you don't want to emphasize that you only have rehab/SNF experience. They will try to tell you to apply to their program to enter Med-Surg with a 2-year commitment. But only if it's open for applications. You can accept the job, but look for a strategy that will bring you back to acute care if that is what you want to do.

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