Rehab/SNF offered me an interview immediately

Nurses Job Hunt

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I am a newly graduated RN with BSN, just licensed two weeks ago. I have only had one job interview so far (interviewed prior to graduation), which was for a very nice New Grad RN Residency Program lasting three months with full pay and a job waiting. Unfortunately, I was not offered a position in the residency program. Today I spoke with a manager from a rehab/SNF and she offered me an interview immediately. I'm going for the interview and a tour tomorrow.

So, this is partially a short term rehab facility and partially a long term care facility. Apparently they do wound care, IV therapies and other interesting things at the facility. However, there is no real new grad training, just an orientation that lasts two to four weeks. Each RN or LVN passes meds and does assessments for about twenty patients. The pay seems reasonable for the area where I live.

Is this a bad idea for a first RN job? Should I pass on this and try to get into an acute care hospital?

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I had a hard time getting into a new grad program, and I've been searching for 6 months. I kind of gave up and decided to try a SNF to gain any kind of experience. I asked to work in the short-term section because the ratio is 1:20 compared to long-term 1:30. The experience wasn't pleasant in my opinion. I spent about 90% of my shift just to give medications (because I still do my 5 rights, but I couldn't see any of the nurses there do it). There was also little time to assess and talk to patients. There was even one nurse in the long-term section who told me that they do a 5-minute challenge thing for each patient. There's other things that I noticed but I won't go into detail. After all, I think it's a personal preference. Some people don't mind how they do things in snf, but I don't want to unlearn everything in nursing school and do it the snf way. I'm planning to go to a rural area or move to another state even though I don't want to, but the place where I live has no nursing shortage.

Anyway, I think you can still keep applying to acute care since it's only been about 2 weeks.

Wish you the best luck!

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Having a job in a SNF for one's first job is better than being unemployed. SNF experience is nursing experience. Unless you had an offer in hand from an acute care facility when offered the SNF job, you can't guarantee that any employer is going to pick up on you soon, if the employment picture in your area is like that in most areas. Take the job, get what you can from it, and keep your eyes open for a better opportunity down the road. At the one to two year mark, get serious about looking for a new position, unless by that time you have decided that you have found your nursing niche.

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