New Grad RN Residency vs Staff Nurse

Editorial Team / Admin · Jan 22, 2015

A residency is geared at helping new grads make the transition from student to practicing professional nurse. A staff nurse is a position that may be open to any nurse with a valid license regardless of experience (although some job postings will state X number of years experience required). The primary difference may be in the length of time of orientation and the amount of support provided.

melie23 · Jan 22, 2015

Do most go onto residencies or straight to staff RNs? Is it more just what you're comfortable with?

Editorial Team / Admin · Jan 22, 2015

It really depends on what the facility/position one is applying for offers. Not all facilities will offer residencies; some may only offer residencies in certain specialties; some may offer them on all units but only have a limited number of spaces.

RunBabyRN · Jan 24, 2015

I think for most of us, it's a matter of what you are accepted into/offered. I applied to both, and I am about to start a staff nurse position at a clinic. I kept my search very wide, including all kinds of out-of-the-box nursing positions. Those were the kinds of things that got me the experience I needed when I interviewed for this job. I've only been a nurse for 7 months, but I've been working in some capacity for 6 of those because of the variety of stuff I was applying for.

buffalo2122, ADN, BSN, MSN · Jan 25, 2015

A residency is most of the time for new grad RNs who have less than a year of experience as a nurse. Staff nurse jobs are usually intended for nurses with more than a year of experience in the field.

Nienna Celebrindal · Jan 26, 2015

Not all residencies but some also have their new grad nurses attend extra classes. Our does. Its a lot of skills and assessment reviews, and a lot of "here is how to do it with our policies on our machines." Which is nice because then when you are on a unit you know how to use everything that is there.