Work as a dialysis PCT before taking NCLEX?

[designer-mommy, BSN, RN]

Hey everyone! I have a question. Would it be possible (or even a smart thing to do) to work as a patient care tech at a dialysis place like DaVita before taking my NCLEX? My husband and I are currently in nursing school and we should have our associates by February. We go to school in Puerto Rico (it's accredited so no worries there) and I do NOT want to stay here after graduation. I am looking to go back to the states ASAP, but I keep reading about the new grad nurses who are out of work for up to a year or more because there are no jobs. I read that DaVita usually hires new grad nurses, so I'm hoping that we may have a chance there. However, I was wondering if it would be smart to try and get a job as a patient care tech while studying for my NCLEX. I want to take a few months off of school before I take it in order to study my butt off. Then, maybe I can move up the ladder to an RN after I pass? I have read that DaVita has a lot of room to grow within the company. I eventually want to work at the VA--that's my "dream job"--but I know that I won't get hired there as a new grad with just an ADN. We're desperate to get started working, so we will pretty much take any job that is thrown at us. I do have an aversion towards hospice and oncology, but that is because my mom died in a hospice of lung and liver cancer and personally I don't think that I could handle that environment.

Also, what if I took my NCLEX right after graduation and passed? Could I possibly work as a PCT with my license or don't they allow that sort of thing? I know that I am selling myself short, being an RN and working as a tech, but many people on this forum said that they had to work as techs because they couldn't find an RN job. When I say we're desperate, we're desperate We have four children, so yeah, having a steady income ASAP would be nice! Thanks for any thoughts and advice you can give me!

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

You do not need "months" to study. Greater chance you will forget some things, plus people will wonder why you waited so long. Working as PCT will certainly put you in a position to learn things, but once you are licensed you are held accountable as a nurse, not PCT, regardless of job description. Perhaps they would hire you with the understanding you will transition to nurse as soon as you are licensed.