Why acute care?

I've been seeing a lot of posts about RNs working as CNAs and secretaries at the hospital just to get their foot in the door with hopes to snag a new grad position. My question is, why not get an RN position that's not in acute care? Is it because that's the best paying position in the state or is it because you truly want to work in acute care?

I think the pay is definitely a big factor. Especially when you've got a mountain of school loans to pay off. Working in non-acute care is a pretty big pay cut.. Probably around 50% or so.

It might just also be what people are familiar with. Most nursing schools have clinicals heavily focused on acute care so you don't get a lot of exposure to nursing roles outside of the hospital.

Another factor is that while you can go from acute to non-acute later in your career, the other direction is not really possible. It's quite difficult for nurses that have been working in a non-acute setting to make the transition. They typically have to go through a new-grad training program, regardless of how long they've been working outpatient. Taking the non-acute route post-graduation definitely limits your career options. That is not necessarily a bad thing if you know what you want to do long-term.

Thanks for the reply! I've been wanting to move back home (been gone 9 years), but the bedside just won't work with my family schedule. I know how expensive it is, so I don't want to make that move and struggle with a significantly lower paying job. I also don't want to force myself to work at the bedside just so I can survive.

On another note; I'm sorry that it's so difficult for new and experienced (non-acute) RNs to get jobs at the bedside. It baffles me on how there's so many Residency programs here, but it's limited there.