r/Nurses • u/Kind-Limit4462 • 2d ago
US SNF
Just wondering if there’s any other new grad RNs out there who, like me, need an income(and RN experience) so took a job at a SNF. I’m in northern CA (very competitive) and after applying throughout the summer I took the only RN job offered to me and started working at a SNF in August…and while I’m grateful for the income and experience…the job itself is overwhelming and I feel incompetent. I got a total of 6 shifts of “training” (2 am shift, 2 pm shift and 2 noc shift…different nurse “training” me each time) before being on my own which just seems crazy to me ‘cause on my first shift by myself I had 15 patients so felt like a chicken with my head cut off passing what felt like, a million meds for the entire shift…it was awful…my anxiety was through the roof. Would like to know…are there any other new grad RNs out there who took their 1st RN job at a SNFand what was it like? how did you or are you coping? and if you stayed how long was it until you felt semi-comfortable doing the job? and if you didn’t stay where was your next RN job and how did you get it?
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u/MichaelAllen_Jr 1d ago
15 patients is comfy for SNF. Come to the east coast where 20 patients is a GOOD shift
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u/toddpackersux 2d ago
I did. I worked there for about 5 months. I kept looking for other opportunities after I accepted a job at the SNF. Honestly, the SNF was not my cup of tea but I did land my dream job after a little bit.
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u/Kind-Limit4462 2d ago
Thank you for sharing this…I really appreciate it ‘cause SNF is definitely not my cuppa tea either but knowing that someone else was able to tough it out for several months while still looking for other opportunities (which is what I’m doing too 🥴) and eventually landing their dream job (do you mind sharing what your dream job was/is❓) helps me A lot. 😬🙏🏻✨
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u/shadowneko003 1d ago
15 pts is a good run at a snf.
That being said…new grads needs more 6 shifts orientation. When I was a new grad lvn, I got 4ish weeks of orientation, 8 hrs x 5 days a week. My friend, you got shafted.
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u/FelizNadiaL 1d ago
Every SNF I’ve worked at it’s been about this, maybe two weeks of orientation if you’re lucky
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u/StockAd528 1d ago
Six shifts split two-and-two-and-two is doing something the number alone hides.
Days, evenings and nights in a SNF are close to three different jobs. The med pass sits at different points, families are present or they are not, and the staffing around you is not the same. So that was not six shifts learning one job. It was two shifts each of three. Nobody gets comfortable on two.
Which means the useful thing to ask for is not just more orientation days in general, but a run on one shift type before you rotate onto the next. Same total, completely different learning curve. Worth checking too whether your regular line rotates between all three or sits on one, because if it rotates, the newness keeps resetting long after the orientation ends.
Neither of those is about you being incompetent. A few weeks in on that split, feeling behind is the expected outcome, not a signal.
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u/HEROxDivine 2d ago
Yeah I applied to 7 different places. Took interviews for 5. Got offered a position all 5. Picked the job that offered 3x12 and I negotiated 12 shifts of training. I’m 6 months in and feeling fairly confident and comfortable. Were you not able to negotiate more days?
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u/hip_nurse 1d ago
I wouldn’t feel too comfortable and CONFIDENT with 6months in as a NEW GRAD! You’re still wet behind the ears! Stay HUMBLE and OPEN to the CONTINUOUS learning path that your on! Believe me & Countless others;
Bcuz you’re not there yet!1
u/HEROxDivine 1d ago
Confident and comfortable that I was given the tools and resources to do my job in a learning friendly environment. Thank you though?
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u/Books_n_hooks 1d ago
I loved working snf when I did. It takes A MINUTE to get your bearings because there is A LOT expected of you. Keep your license close, and document like your license depends on it.
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u/KeyTell2576 1d ago
My orientation 8-10 8 weeks for experienced nurses and 12-16 weeks for new grads.
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u/CoachAdvanced8481 1d ago
My first job as rn was at a SNF … in 1994 yes I am older. It was for 5 8 hour nights. Yes, it was ghastly. After I got settled, I began applying to hospital jobs. I was successful eight months later at Hartford Hospital in the oncology unit.. Such a relief.
I am sure what you are dealing with is 10 times worse as it sounds like it is a subacute population. Hang in there, things will get better if you like nursing and I’m hoping you do so you can tolerate the issues. Normally I would say experience is experience, but things are different now as people get hired into critical care units earlier in a career. That was not the case in 1994. Things will change as they always do, but I have no other insight. Confidence will come. Just make sure that you like nursing. Enjoyment of the job is everything.
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u/FrickityFaFrackity 22h ago
I did the same thing as a new grad and I cried often. I pivoted to hospice after a couple months (with an agency with a good reputation).
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u/NA-Dragonight 21h ago
Hey, I’m also in NorCal and took a SNF job when I first started. It’s tough work, I was one nurse to thirty and it felt like I was constantly drowning. It will get better, always remember this is not your forever job. Eventually I was able to land a job as a tele nurse at a hospital, from there I transitioned into the ICU and honestly SNF is the absolute pits compared to the jobs I’ve had. You have a job which is more than most new grads in the bay can say, tough it out and eventually you’ll get to where you want to be.
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u/Electronic-Fun-3580 2d ago edited 2d ago
I am starting a new gig Wednesday, evening shifts at SNF! in suburban Massachusetts they pay much better than hospitals (for inexperienced ASNs like myself) so it made sense for me. I have 6 months experience at another SNF. First one was not managed well so I left even though I liked it overall
Like the previous poster I had 3 interviews 3 days in a row and got 3 on-the-spot offers. $45/hr for inexperienced associates RN is pretty good I think, more than I’d get at a Boston hospital ($32 an hour, and they wouldn’t even hire me without BSN).
As for OPs question, it is VERY overwhelming at first. The med pass is the easiest part. It’s all the interruptions, everybody being impatient, with the family Members screaming at you, everybody wants you to hurry up, but you have to just BREATHE, learn to ignore them and tell them “please wait im busy”
And also is challenging, but it’s really necessary to be nice to everybody no matter what. I hate kissing ass, but you have to kind of view it a little bit because otherwise people will just lose it. You have to remember everybody’s going through something that you have no idea about so we are often the recipient of a lot of emotions that we’re not responsible for from family or patients. I try to remember what I would feel if I had my mom in a nursing home and didn’t think she was getting the right attention in the moment.
I might be freaking out too.
Anyways I have ADD sorry if I answered nothing
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u/laj43 19h ago
As a new grad I got a week training, mon-fri, then I was on my own. We had a 60 bed floor that we split with 2 nurses. 3 days a week I worked with a nurse who was taking all the patients pain pills and I would find her passed out in the med room. They refused to fire her and I pretty much had to give meds to 50 patients a day along with every thing else. I quit after 2 months and took a pay cut to go work in the hospital.
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u/ledluth 2d ago
My first job was a SNF and I’ve gone back and forth between SNF and hospice for a while. It’s very different from hospitals, and (at least my) nursing school never mentioned them. SNF RN is the quintessential RN job - Observe, assess, report to the physician, communicate with the families, dynamically update care plans, etc.
When it gets shitty is when you get stuck doing tasks a tech can do - not because of ego, just because of the time constraints.
The first time I took the keys to a med cart, I was still passing AM meds at 2 pm, so… yeah it’s stressful at first. The one big plus of SNF is the low turnover. You learn all of your residents routines, likes and dislikes which eventually lets you plan and be more time efficient in the pass. 15 people is a wonderful assignment for SNF. Is it all rehab patients? That would change my advice. That can be very, very busy. Especially if you’re the one passing meds and doing routine cares.
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u/Desperate_Yogurt5442 2d ago
The first time I passed meds in a SNF I cried.