Help please!
I graduated as a nurse in 2025 in AZ. The new grad residency programs are very competitive and I had no previous healthcare experience. Unfortunately the only job I could find at the time was with a SNF. The pay is actually pretty good $47 with $3 shift differential. However the facility makes me feel pretty unsafe. I only got 3 days of orientation, I have around 20 patients in the skilled nursing side and when it’s long term it’s closer to 40. There’s no code blue button, there’s no way to communicate with other nurses on the floor. Most of the time I’m the only nurse on the floor. The first time in the long term side I had close to 36 patients (and that was with 1 nurse (me) and 2 LPNs on the floor they told me usually they only staff 2 people. ) I had never been on that floor never got long term care training didn’t know where any of the supplies where or the codes to anything. I’ve also heard the horror stories of others. They’ve had to do cpr with 1 hand while calling 911 with their free hand or have had the skilled nursing floor all to themselves. I was told 3 days is standard everywhere for SNF but I should just try my best. I don’t mind the busy work and I know my skills but figuring out where everything is plus not even having a properly organized supply room with pain doctors never really responding to my script requests is crazy. I feel scared and I’ve already cried twice but I’ve kept strong on not doing anything I’m not comfortable with. They also have me on a Thursday to Saturday week 1 and Tuesday to Thursday week 2 schedule. My initial idea was to tough it out and gain experience but Idk. I recently got a job offer from another SNF. This is Acacia in Phoenix. They’re more high end very clean, organized, they have communication devices on the nurses so they can contact for help if needed. I was told training was around 2 weeks which isn’t amazing but it’s way better and I also have some experience already. The only issue it’s that it’s $35 and hour with a $2 differential for a total of $37. That’s a little over a 2k difference a month. The schedule would be Tuesday to Thursday every week which lets me spend time with my family on weekends. I know $35 is what most new grads are getting in my area, but that’s a big pay cut. I also don’t know if I should take the jump because I know grass is not always greener on the other side and I’m also scared that these are wealthier patients and the pressure to customer service will be even higher. Not that I won’t give my absolute best to give the best care possible but it’s more nerve wracking if that makes sense? Like a celebrity or a millionaire getting a person fired for not being fast enough with their water or something like that. I’m just at a loss. Do I take it as a stepping stone and take the Acacia job? Or do I stick it out at my current place? The current staff there have told me I’m doing great and I just need to get my own flow. Some days are great and I feel yeah I got this, the problem is that when it’s bad…. It’s really bad. I know what to do on the nursing skill side but idk what to do on the facility procedure site. It might be an easy choice for some and maybe I’m just too emotionally charged. Idk if I’m just being a baby and need to toughen up or if I’m right in my wanting to go somewhere else. I want to make sure I’m making a logical decision. Any advice would be appreciated, also please be kind 🥹. Trust me I’m beating myself up a lot about this. I’m still trying to apply to a residency program but most are requiring BSNs (which I’m currently getting 8 classes away yay! Since I was only able to get my ADN before due to financial and time reasons) or regular nursing jobs asks for minimum 1 year of experience. I apologize for the rant but again thankyou for any advice you might be able to offer. I’m leaning towards taking the job tbh, there’s no way a place like that could be worse.