No hospitals please

sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN · Dec 4, 2016

Home health

dr. Officies

pvt.duty

Ltc/snf

roser13, ASN, RN · Dec 4, 2016

Home health
dr. Officies
pvt.duty
Ltc/snf

Sorry, Sally, but I would strongly disagree with a new grad moving into home health or private duty. Those positions require a sound background of experience in order to be able to make independent decisions while alone in a patient's home. We all know that nursing school is only the first half of a new grad's education. Without experience to draw upon, home health/private care can be overwhelming.

sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN · Dec 4, 2016

Sorry, Sally, but I would strongly disagree with a new grad moving into home health or private duty. Those positions require a sound background of experience in order to be able to make independent decisions while alone in a patient's home. We all know that nursing school is only the first half of a new grad's education. Without experience to draw upon, home health/private care can be overwhelming.

Yeah, second thought,

you are correct

probabply LTC best

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Dec 5, 2016

I went right to clinic nursing and it has worked out well.

SAS2016 · Dec 5, 2016

Thank you

SAS2016 · Dec 5, 2016

Thank you, I will look into that.

SaltySarcasticSally, LPN, RN · Dec 5, 2016

I would agree with the suggestion to try clinic nursing. I have spent most of my LPN career in clinics but for myself cannot wait to graduate with my RN in April to try the hospital because it has become mundane for me. But it's no weekends or holidays, rarely do you work short because that would directly impact the doctor's ability to see a high # of patients in the day, and the amount of nursing skills you will actually do is minimal depending on where you work. You can pretty expect to have the same day every day other than a few minor details and it is very routine. You may enjoy it!

SAS2016 · Dec 5, 2016

Thanks, I will see what I find.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Dec 5, 2016

As someone who has relevant experience in other career fields, I'm sure OP realizes that there may be a challenging transition period - from student to practicing nurse. I'm definitely on the "hospitals are not the only places for nurses to work" bandwagon, but they DO provide specialized orientation for newly licensed nurses. Many non-hospital settings simply cannot afford the cost of an extended orientation, additional education/training & preceptor - so they're unlikely to have much support for a newly licensed nurse. This is not only very stressful, but could have a lasting negative effect if the new nurse is put into situations for which he is not yet competent to manage.

I know of a couple of large multi-specialty clinics in my area that have very nice (new grad) transition to practice programs, but I'm not aware of any home care companies that have them.

la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN · Dec 6, 2016

Turns out nursing is a lot of pushing pills.

Hmph. :sniff:

It doesn't seem like you got to have a very broad experience during nursing school. If only it was just pushing pills. But, it seems like you maybe haven't been challenged very much, yet. ICU certainly isn't pushing pills. It's top-level assessments, knowledge base and critical thinking. Hemeonc (especially pediatric) DEFINITELY isn't pushing pills. Again, top-level assessments, flexibility with going from doing neuro checks q4 to intense monitoring during some pretty frightening chemo regimens. Just saying...

You still don't HAVE to work in a hospital if you don't want to. There are some opportunities for health & wellness promotion that you can try (i.e. health coaching). But, paid jobs usually require acute care experience. I did health coaching as a student, by the way, and it really put me off dealing with adults who couldn't care less about promoting their own health and wellness and thought of the ED docs as their concierge physicians. So, yeah, blah. If you enjoy health promotion, I LOVE educating my patients and families on taking care of their kids' central lines (it is SO important) and about chemo and managing side effects and little tricks on how to stay comfortable through the toughest times.

Then, there's public health which many people seem to really enjoy. There's also home health, too. Infusion nursing....Corrections nursing (a lot of the meds are in pill form so maybe not your scene)....You can work at a blood bank. There's that bored guy, Tedstar, who is working in a clinic. Maybe you can see how he (maybe she?) got his/her clinic job fresh out of school.

BirkieGirl · Dec 6, 2016

I agree with HouTX that although there are a LOT of avenues for nurses, it really does make a difference if you get a little bit of acute care experience first. Additionally, working in an acute setting can give you some exposure to those non-traditional jobs..I knew in my very first semester of nursing school that I was not cut out to be a bedside nurse for my entire career. So I did my due diligence and worked bedside for about 11 months then landed a SWEET job in a specialty industry and worked there for about 19 years. When I decided that I wanted to go on and get either my PhD or my DNP, I decided to go back to an acute care scenario very temporarily because the flexible schedule allowed me to focus on studies. I'm just finishing up my MSN and will enter DNP program immediately. My plan is to either find a great nocturnist position in my current facility, a position in our walk-in clinic, or a plastics office position.