Opinions Needed for New Grad

Published

Specializes in Adult Gerontology Primary Care, Palliative.

I need advice... I'm a new grad who moved to Southern California from GA (I knew what the job market was like but you don't get married to live apart) after getting married in October. I've found a couple of home health care job opportunities, but they don't really provide any training or preceptor type training before you are out there on your own.

I have my BSN and a year's worth of Med surg/Oncology/L&D externship experience. I have my BLS/NRP certifications and am working on my ACLS (but then again I don't know how helpful ACLS will be without any experience...)

My question is... is it safe/advisable to do home healthcare while I am constantly applying to hospital jobs and hoping for some hospital to say yes, even though I don't have any "RN" experience and these agencies are not willing to provide training?

I worry that if I do home healthcare, then I might end up being a home healthcare nurse for a long time(which is not what I want) and hospitals may not consider my experience to be "acute care experience"

I graduated in May 2011. GA licensed July 2011. California Licensed September 2011.

I'm going to start volunteering at a teaching hospital next week, so hopefully that will allow me to get my feet wet and meet people and something will turn up, but until then I would love to hear if anyone has any advice or suggestions regarding this home healthcare situation.

Good luck to all!

-- PedsOncHopeful

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Home healthcare is perfectly good, paid RN experience. Although it might not be acute care hospital experience, it is paid nursing experience that will benefit your resume.

We all have dreams while contending with reality. Your ultimate goal/dream is to land a full-time hospital job. Your current reality is that you are unemployed and may remain that way for who knows how long. If I were in your shoes, I would start accruing paid RN experience in home health while continuing to seek hospital employment. Good luck to you!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Adult Gerontology Primary Care, Palliative.

TheCommuter:

Thank you for your response, after reading what you wrote and I really thought about my situation and I figured that there really isn't a downside to me doing home health while I am looking for a hospital position.

But I still very worried about the fact that there is no training or shadowing opportunities with the home healthcare agencies before I am given my own patients.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Home healthcare is nursing experience and if it's what you can get while you keep searching for the new grad job, then so be it. Some nurses have done home health as a new grad and flourished--others didn't do well. One of my classmates used home health to help get her year of RN experience so she could apply for a hospital position, but she also had 19 years of LVN experience under her belt so she wasn't exactly a newbie.

However IMO, I don't think it's a really good idea for a new grad, specifically for that minimal to no training that some agencies have before they throw you into the fire. If you do decide to pursue home health, be sure to pick an agency/company that will offer you a good amount of training. You may need to search around to find them.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Adult Gerontology Primary Care, Palliative.

MeriWhen:

Thank you for your response, I agree that getting experience is what matters right now and I'm glad that you understand my concerns regarding the "little to no training" aspect of these agencies I have come into contact with.

I'm waiting to hear back from a Hospice Home Healthcare agency where an acquaintance of mine is working as a case manager, she said that they do provide training, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get a call back from the Hospice.

It's just so hard to figure out what hospitals and their HR consider "acute care experience"

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Also, keep checking hospital websites regularly for the new grad residency program listings--at lot of them are just posted quietly and are often removed fast. I don't know where you are in California, but UCSD will be posting for its next new grad program sometime in February.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Adult Gerontology Primary Care, Palliative.

I am checking the hospital websites constantly, thank you for the heads up about UCSD!!!!

I'm in orange county (southern California), so things are pretty rough right now for most nurses I believe, and being an "out of towner" does not help :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion