New grad doesn't want to work on the floor...

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I just finished nursing school and will be taking the NCLEX soon. Some of my classmates have already been hired on varying units, but I've known from the beginning that staff nursing isn't really for me. I've thought about research, oncology, infectious diseases, genetics, and other specialties, but I don't necessarily want to work on an oncology floor, and so on. I did well during clinicals and preceptorship, and I love this field to death, but my heart just isn't in the hospital-unit setting. I will be continuing my education and have been considering school nursing as my job for the time being. My mom, a nurse for 30-some years now, worked as a school nurse for the last couple of years, and I helped out every so often when I had time or when she was out of town. She knows how I feel about staff nursing, and we both think I'd enjoy the school setting and should apply at the local district. My main concern now is that, when I further my degree and want to work somewhere else, I won't be taken seriously without hospital experience. What do you experienced nurses think? Do you need to work in a hospital to be considered a "real" nurse? (My mom says no, but I don't know if she's saying that as a nurse or as my mom!)

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Consider your first year in the field working as an extension (and completion) of nursing school. Then, no one can argue that you are not a "real"nurse. Take a year of med surg nursing on a floor, consider it a class that pays you, rather than vice versa.

It is a means to an end.

Excellent point. I had forgotten that I learned as much or more my first year on Med-Surg as I did my entire nursing education. Those who say that it only matters if you pass the NCLEX and have RN after your name must have forgotten that also.

I think mauxtav8r has given you a great suggestion. I'm having trouble reconciling your love of the nursing field with a lack of desire to give acute nursing care, but I imagine that you will have to at least get your feet wet before being considered by the majority of employers.

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OP, here is something to consider too. You might not be offered an opportunity to work in a hospital.

Although some of your friends were lucky to get a chance, you may not. The job market is very bad. So I guess what I am trying to say is that too much rumination before finding out if you ever get an offer from anybody at all might be a HUGE lesson to learn in itself.

In my area, only those with deep connections (admin., or (true political) connections that forced placement) have hospital jobs. LTC/SNF are filled as well. So, you might not get a "choice" at all.

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I'm not trying to be insensitive or rude, but I really don't understand why you chose nursing. What exactly is it that makes you "love this field to death". There are all kinds of science degrees, but nursing involves the art of caring for patients... If you find no joy in that, I don't understand why you didn't get just a science degree.

This is mean. Everyone has different areas that they like. As a school nurse, she will still be caring for patients....just in a different way. There are all sorts of nursing specialties that do not involve working at the bedside and no one should be looked down upon for choosing that. I think it's great that she knows what she wants and has a mentor in her mother to show her the way.

I get the same slack for choosing OR nursing and find it ridiculous. I am a nurse, I care for my patient, what's the big deal? We are all nurses.

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

I will confirm your worst fear. You are correct--without acute hospital experience, you won't be taken seriously--or at the very least, you will be hired in hard to fill positions and you won't get your choice of "cream of the crop" positions.

That is the truth.

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Specializes in ER.
OP, here is something to consider too. You might not be offered an opportunity to work in a hospital.

Although some of your friends were lucky to get a chance, you may not. The job market is very bad. So I guess what I am trying to say is that too much rumination before finding out if you ever get an offer from anybody at all might be a HUGE lesson to learn in itself.

In my area, only those with deep connections (admin., or (true political) connections that forced placement) have hospital jobs. LTC/SNF are filled as well. So, you might not get a "choice" at all.

I am going to second this

After looking for a job for months, I finally landed a full-time position, but it wasn't a job I had ever imagined myself doing. It is not bedside nursing either. I am really enjoying what I do, but depending on where you live, I'm pretty sure your first job is going to be the first one offered.

My graduating class, from our 4 year program, has about a 10% employment rate right now, almost no one (who was fortunate enough to land a job) is working in bedside, and only one to my recollection is working in a hospital (where her mom worked for years).

I guess my point is, I would have loved to have a solid 1 year experience in the hospital before I started the type of nursing that I'm doing...but my student loans weren't going to wait another year.

If you are a new grad, in the job market, be thankful to be working, and try to ignore comments about where you "should" be working in the first year.

Ideals are not equal to reality

Good Luck:)

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
I'm not trying to be insensitive or rude, but I really don't understand why you chose nursing. What exactly is it that makes you "love this field to death". There are all kinds of science degrees, but nursing involves the art of caring for patients... If you find no joy in that, I don't understand why you didn't get just a science degree.

You can care for people and still not be in a hospital unit setting. Many people with nursing degrees go into research, and that's a perfectly valid option as well.

OP, my husband was the same way. He realized very shortly after graduating that floor nursing wasn't for him. He went to a LTC facility, where he worked for awhile (I want to say about 4 months), then went into home hospice. He's been doing that ever since, is now doing a combination of home hospice case worker and management/administration (all this with an Associate's degree in nursing, although he's working on his BSN right now), and couldn't be happier. He was recently offered a management position with a home hospice company, and they will be flying him to Austin next month for additional training.

So in answer to your question, IMO it's perfectly valid to love nursing, but not want to be a floor nurse in a hospital.

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Specializes in Hospice, ONC, Tele, Med Surg, Endo/Output.

Don't worry about being taken seriously. Just do what you want to do--you can always get other experience later. You're smart enough to avoid the hospitals--it's back-breaking, mind-numbing, thankless work. I wish i had never entered the hospitals as a nurse, and i know plenty of folks who've never worked in hospitals and are happy and, yes, are still nurses.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
I will confirm your worst fear. You are correct--without acute hospital experience, you won't be taken seriously--or at the very least, you will be hired in hard to fill positions and you won't get your choice of "cream of the crop" positions.

That is the truth.

Well, my husband's personal experience indicates otherwise.

So no, it's not always the truth.

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I don't think there is anything wrong with not wanting to work as a staff nurse on a hospital floor. However, to get the kind of jobs you want - it might be an advantage to start there. I so agree with the person who advised you to look at your first job as an extension of your nursing degree! You can learn a lot in the hospital that you simply cannot learn anywhere else, and experience probably matters more than anything in nursing.

You might also surprise yourself once you get into the real world of nursing. I graduated in May and had very specific ideas about where I did and did not want to work. Med-surg was SO not my thing. But as a new nurse, you go wherever the job is, and so I was hired on a surgical floor. And I actually really like it. It won't be my thing forever, I do know that. But I work with a great group of people and (usually) patients, and I am learning a TON that I probably wouldn't have learned anywhere else. Its valuable experience. And I'm surprised to find that my goals have shifted in light of this experience. Some of the things I really wanted to do before no longer interest me. So I would say...go where the jobs are, consider yourself lucky when/if you get one (wherever it is), keep a VERY open mind, learn as much as you can, and go from there. Having goals is great and necessary (go for them!), but having a closed mind about job opportunities as a new nurse is only going to hurt you.

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Specializes in PCU/Critical Care.

Hi Regrebs,

I understand what you are feeling. I too have recently graduated from LPN school. At the end I realized that I did not want to be in the hospital setting either because of my children. I have always been home for Christmas and Thanksgiving. I could not get around the thought of not being able to be there for those holidays and I have not worked weekends in over 12 years. I am moving on to the RN program and I realize that without med surg experience, I pretty much went to school in vain. I will have to suck it up and do it for a few years. Look at it as a stepping stone. If you can get through it for 2 years and then you can pretty much write your own ticket almost anywhere. You may do it and realize you like it or you may get into school nursing and realize that you don't like that. Just some food for thought. Be bless in whatever you decide!:hug:

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Specializes in neuro/ortho med surge 4.

I graduated in 2008. One of the people I graduated with landed a job as a school nurse as her first job. It is possible. I also never wanted to work in the hospital because of the craziness of it. I had seen how crazy the floor could be when I worked as an aide. I love hands on patient care but was scared of the responsibility. I decided to try working as a med surge nurse and give it a chance. I was fortunate enough to land a hospital job after searching for 6 months. I received 3 weeks of floor orientation. Is the job hard and stressful? It is and I cried a lot due to being overwhelmed with the newness of everything.

I am so glad that I took the chance as I love the hands on care of my patients and I have learned so much. Almost daily there is an opportunity to learn and grow as a person. You never know. You may just find you like being a med-surge nurse. The experience has been incredible. I have laughed and cried and have experienced every emotion in between as a nurse.

It doesn't hurt to try and if you find you do not like it you can take the experience gained at the hospital anywhere.

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Specializes in LTC, med/surg, hospice.

There are always several exceptions but many nursing jobs like some hospital experience. It definitely won't HURT you to have it but at this point, you have not even begun looking at what is available to you..or have you?

Take a look at the jobs you would like to do or a position you'd like further on in your career. See what the qualifications are and tailor yourself to it.

If you live in an area that's not oversaturated with new nurses and jobs are plenty..consider yourself blessed.

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