New grad at a non-skilled nursing facility?

[Pets to People]

My money situation is desperate right now and the only job offer I have had (after puting in atleast 30 applications) is at a non-skilled, long-term care facility. The pay is great but the job is so far from what I want it's not even funny. My only responsibilities as an RN will be assessments and paperwork....that's it!

What should I do? I have to take this job, we literally are running out of money for food and had to borrow money for rent this month. If I take this job, I am afraid I will lose all that I have learned and that no hospitals will want to hire me.

I would like to volunteer or work as a tech or cna at the local hospital, but with the work schedule and family, I won't have time, so no opportunity for opening doors that way. I can go for my RN to BSN and perhaps work on some certificates, like ACLS and PALS, etc...will that help me to get a hospital job after working at a non-skilled facility for 6 months to a year?

I have worked so hard the last few years and this is so depressing. No one else in my family is a nurse in order to understand why I am so torn about taking this job. They think that it's great pay and great benefits, go for it! I think that it will ruin my career before it even starts

[chrisrn24]

If the facility is good, take the job and make some money.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Oh, let us not catastrophize so much. "Ruin your career before it starts?" Please.

You have a job and a paycheck. The wolf is not at your door. You can follow that RN-to-BSN plan, take those classes, take those certs, and keep at it. One day at a time, eyes on the prize. You'll be working for a long, long time.

[sourapril]

What's your career advancement option if you take this job? Can you be a nurse educator, nursing director later? Many nurses get burned out by bedside nursing and want something for a change.

[HonnahK]

You should take the job until you get into a hospital, as your family is depending on the money. it takes longer to get a job in a hospital (especially as a new grad) then it does in a nursing home. I have primarily worked in nursing homes (for the past 7 yrs) but have briefly worked in a hospital. Let me mention it took atleast 6 months of obsessively applying with hospitals to finally get the job. Surprisingly, it wasn't what I thought it would be and I realized that I actually liked nursing home work. Also, I found that it was helpful working in a nursing home before the hospital as it gave me practice with assessment skills, communicating with doctors, state regulated charting, etc. It may not be your dream job but look at it as a stepping stone for now.

[VANurse2010]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - and this is not meant as insult, at all.

Do not worry about "losing your skills" as a new grad because you really don't have any skills *to* lose.

[RNReadyManc]

I say you take the job. I'm a new grad too and have a BSN, PALS, ACLS and have not been able to find a job in 4 months.. I applied for over 150 jobs and new grad programs. Had two interviews no job offers. I have a interview Monday in a SNF..we have to start somewhere. Take the job, you mind find a useful skill to use for your next hospital job.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I do not know why so many new grads think of LTC/nursing homes as repulsive places. The following is a simple equation:

LTC / SNF/ nursing home job = RN pay + RN experience

Jobless & waiting for hospital job = NO pay + NO experience

After accruing several years of LTC experience I received a couple of job offers at local acute care hospitals, so LTC is not a career destroyer. In fact, it is a career in its own right.

Some new grads insist they would never be caught dead working in a nursing home. My advice is to never say never, and to try it out before you knock it. The acute care hospital is not the exalted castle that people make it out to be.

[86toronado, BSN, RN]

Um... to be blunt, it wouldn't even be a question for me. If I were in a position where I needed to borrow money for rent, I would take any job I could get to put food on the table for me and my family, even if it was waiting tables, or mopping floors. (Both of which I have done by the way, which is probably why I have never been in the situation to need to borrow money to pay the rent)

[HippyDippyLPN]

Really, once you get your routine down, LTC isn't that bad. In my area, LTC gets you into the hospital because you deal with more ill patients now in LTC.

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

What exactly is a "non skilled" nursing facility?

"Nursing home" and "skilled nursing facility (SNF)" are synonymous. If its a nursing home, then its skilled nursing. Is it assisted living? Assisted living facilities aren't really "nursing facilities" per se, but nurses do work there.

[amoLucia]

To Brandon - I would guess that there are some facilities that choose NOT to admit acute-type rehab or skilled care pts. In today's cost/reimbursement-driven environment, I don't know how they could afford NOT to go where the money is. But ... I have worked at places that really didn't admit the heavier level of care pts. They were small 'care/'caid facilities (the 'Mom & Pop' kind) but also had a decent private-pay population. Some simple IVs here and there, but no heavy rehab or neuro rehab, no big wounds. Her agency sounds more like an ALF or maybe a dementia/forgetful-type population.

To OP - as many other posters have commented, you do have a job opportunity. Go for it and you can develop your skills as you go along as best as circumstances may allow. If it's not what you want after a while, you can always move on.

PS - At this stage of my career, I'd love that type of position and I'm sure there would be many new grads who feel the same.