r/newgradnurse

I’m from the Bay Area and I got my RN license a little more than a month ago. I’ve applied to 100+ jobs at this point and have had no luck with getting an interview. I’ve reached out to my friends who graduated before me to look at their resume and I’ve tried reformatting mine and tailoring it to the job description. I’ve been open minded with everything regardless of unit or location, and I’ve applied to many long-term care jobs and still no luck. :( I was able to get a 3 month contract vaccination job that pays pretty well but I’m worried I won’t have anything lined up after this contract ends. I’m considering doing home health or school nursing on the side of my vaccination job to just get experience under my belt, but I don’t know if this will hinder me from getting acute-care hospital jobs in the future? Would this experience be helpful if I were to interview for a medsurg position and which one should I choose? Or are there any better alternatives??

New grad NP starting in general cardiology next month. Recs for how I can prepare for this role? What videos or books do you think are most helpful? (I have been an acute care RN for 10 years) TIA!

hi all, i am a nurse of 2 months nearing the end of my orientation. last night, i had vitamin b1 mixed in 100mLs of NS to administer to an ETOH pt (my admission at 10:30pm). i was on days for a few weeks and i did many of these infusions before, however they are usually mixed and sent up by pharmacy. on nights, however, there is no in-house pharmacist, only a remote. anyways, i saw the order at like 11:30 ish, didn’t get around to administering it until almost the full hour later. the pyxis had me pull a 100mL NS bag and 2, 2mL vials. i only required 2.5 mLs from the vials. so i pulled everything, i used a blunt fill needle to withdraw the prescribed amount, wasted the rest, injected it into the NS bag, spiked and hung the infusion. i was slightly questioning it because i usually don’t mix meds in that way, BUT i am new to nights so i figured this is how they must usually do it if theres no remote pharmacy. if it was anything other than a vitamin i would have honestly asked, especially since the reconstitution i have done so far is just with powder meds like antibiotics. i guess i should’ve asked, however, since i gave this med decently often on days, i didn’t think anything of it.

my preceptor knew i was going to hang this, bc i told her before i was doing it, she saw me at the pyxis taking out the bag and 2 vials, but it was only after i administered it that she came up to question me and said it might be an issue with the fact i mixed this, since pharmacy is usually supposed to do it. i couldn’t help but be freaked out about it, i get super anxious feeling like i did something wrong, and i like to believe i am diligent and careful when i pass my medications. she only thought to bring this up bc another nurse with an ETOH pt across the unit got the same order, just with more vials + NS and… he injected the ordered dose into the bag and hung it too. she told me they usually don’t mix vitamin b1. couldn’t find a policy for mixing vit b1 in our facility’s database. we went to ask a nurse from ICU and per their educator we can mix vitamin b1 but we basically shouldn’t have to, bc it’s a pharmacy thing. but we don’t have pharmacy at night. so i think my preceptor’s point was that i should have asked before mixing it, but i had no idea it wasn’t something usually done by nurses on nights, and surely i can’t (and obviously wasn’t) the first one to encounter this order during the nighttime.

i wasn’t SUPER upset bc honestly the night was sm worse in other ways but that did kinda make me feel like crap lol. especially bc she said it was technically a med error which sounded so scary out loud. if that’s a med error then what about all the ppl who use normal saline flushes to reconstitute things like protonix? my facility’s policy is that we have to use sterile water vials but NOBODY (except for me haha) actually does this. technically, this is a med error too? but it’s not nearly as scrutinized. anyway, preceptor was not by my side for the administration but knew that they ordered a vitamin infusion and saw me go to the pyxis for it, so had she questioned it at that point i would’ve stopped in my tracks. i just genuinely had no idea

I can’t believe that I can finally say this, but I got a job offer! It’s for medical ICU at a level 3 trauma kind of in the middle of nowhere. However, I am very far out from graduation next spring, so this was one of the few hospitals that even let me apply this early. I plan to continue to apply around the country as more opportunities open up. Does it make sense to accept this offer as a safety option just in case a higher acuity opportunity doesn’t work out? I would feel bad accepting the offer and then having a better opportunity come my way. Any advice would be very much appreciated!

I started a job July on a heavy med surg onc floor. It’s pretty short staffed so they did not have anyone really to train me so I did half of my orientation on nights, but I was hired for days. I am supposed to be on my own in just short of 2 weeks and I feel like I’m nowhere near where I should be right now. Aside from night shift being completely different than days, my floor has this preceptor model where you’re “married” to your preceptor. It’s not like other places where you slowly take on patients on your own and build autonomy so I feel like that also doesn’t allow me to fully progress and get used to what it would be like to be on my own. I want to extend my orientation but there are 2 other day shift new hires that are also training on nights and will be coming to days and they’ll need a preceptor so I they will probably deny my request. My orientation is 8 weeks total. I have so much anxiety since it’s nearing the end of my orientation. Even simple things I’m struggling with I just want to do good for my preceptor and for my patients and for myself so my nerves take over and I make dumb mistakes. Also when someone is breathing down your neck all the time it’s not easy to focus. My preceptor says I’m doing fine but I know I’m not and I know she just doesn’t want to be mean. The other new grad that started with me seems so confident already but she got to do day shift her entire orientation. Idk if that’s the reason I’m behind or if it’s just me that’s the problem.
Any advice?

Made it exactly 2 years and 3 months on med surg and am transitioning to a different unit. I’m actually the odd one out on my unit/people around me. Thus, I couldn’t help but wonder “is there something wrong with me?” “Am I leaving too early in my career?” I’m curious how long you did you stay at your first nursing job esp those who also worked Med surg? I always felt like I was drowning and was counting my days there…

Just started working at a nursing home after 3 days of orientation because i could not find a job at a hospital for over a year. My first day I was on a floor with 36 residents and in charge of giving them all medications. I had residents come up to my medication cart asking for meds and speech therapists/rehab/cnas telling me certain people needed nausea/pain meds but when i’d look nothing was ordered PRN. Some medications were missing but this nursing home makes it a norm to borrow from other residents on other floors. So many residents were also going out for appointments/PT/OT and honestly I did not keep up so some residents did not get their morning medications before leaving.

I kept following up with my charge nurse but even she seemed overwhelmed.

I was hours behind on medications and i documented the time I gave the medications at. I didn’t want to lie about what time I gave meds at but could this end up coming back to me in the future?

I regret choosing it, i had a offer for a outpatient 9-5 to practically administer vaccines and do inventory checks but i thought nursing home experience would be more valuable and would give me skills for the future so I turned it down. It was also 1.5 hours away but I had no nursing offers and was willing to take it.

Any tips for how to manage heavy morning med passes?

So I graduated in may and started work 2 weeks after graduation (we got our ATTs quick). I’ve officially finished orientation on med/surg/tele, dayshift, but of course I’m still working out some kinks in my day to day routine and getting used to being without a preceptor. Anyways, the nurse I’ve been receiving/giving report to is VERY passive aggressive. Like the other day, the aide had left early so I had to also be the aide for my patients which was no big deal. However, one of our patients had gotten Bumex so her PureWick canister was full and she looks at me and says “do you want to empty that” and I do not mind at all like I completely understand, but she makes me feel like i’m not competent and like I’m a bad nurse. It’s just really discouraging after a busy shift to feel talked down to because of these things. And I understand 100% that leaving things after a shift is wrong, even if the shift is busy it shouldn’t happen, but she is very judgmental and makes me feel like I don’t know what i’m doing. I know i need to just get over it because I’ll deal with that a lot, and plus 2 of our patients have told me they like me more than her 😜😉

ETA: I’ve never left her with anything major like meds not given, overdue labs or bad IVs.

I’m graduating with my MSN in May from a direct-entry program, and I already have an MBA. I’ll be a new RN with limited bedside experience, but my long-term goal is nursing leadership/healthcare administration.
Has anyone gone into management pretty early without spending years at the bedside first?
Would 1–2 years of RN experience be enough before moving into roles like clinical coordinator, assistant nurse manager, quality, or nursing operations?
I’d especially love to hear from nurse managers or anyone who took a similar path.

hi everyone,

i am a new grad rn who has been struggling to find a hospital job. a little context:

i work for maxim healthcare, home health, and was promised that since this is considered “experience” that i could transition to a hospital easier. little did i know that this is not the case at all and that hospitals still reject me even with this so called experience under my belt. i graduated in march 2025 and have been employed with maxim for 8 months, having no luck. im in california and i am aware that it is very competitive to get a hospital job here and have been considering out of state. however given my “experience” and being over a year from graduating, most of these residencies arent going to consider me as a candidate to hire.

does anyone have any advice on what i can do to transition to a hospital job easier? and if im going out of state how would the process be, i know theres compact states vs non compact states, california being non compact, so would i have to reapply to get my license in another state? would i have to get that license then apply to be considered a candidate?

thank you, im feeling rly discouraged on what to do in my situation right now:/

I’m currently in an LVN program in SoCal and plan to work as an LVN for a bit before bridging to RN or BSN hopefully by 2030. There’s also a decent chance my family will move to the greater Sacramento area in the next few years.
I’m in my mid 30s, have two kids and a life outside of work, and worked as a CNA in a hospital for a couple years when I was younger. So I have at least some idea of hospital culture, pace, 12s, etc. I also know myself a lot better now than I did in my 20s, and I’m honestly not sure hospital nursing is what I’m looking for.
Home health, hospice and especially pediatric home health really interest me. I like the idea of more 1:1 patient care, a somewhat less overstimulating environment, and potentially better work life balance.
But reading nursing/new grad groups, I get the impression these jobs are viewed as something you take because you couldn’t get a hospital job, or that they barely count as nursing experience.
Am I missing something?
Is the pay significantly worse? Are the working conditions or schedules worse than they sound? Are these jobs actually difficult to land as a newer LVN/RN? Or is some of the negativity because a lot of new grads specifically want fast paced exciting ICU/ER, L&D, NICU hospital jobs?
I genuinely don’t care much about having the most exciting or impressive nursing job. If I can make decent money, have some autonomy, take good care of my patients and still have energy left for my family and my actual life, I’m happy.
Would especially love to hear from California LVNs/RNs who went directly into home health, peds home health, hospice or another non-hospital setting. Do you like it? What do you make? Would you choose it again? And did it limit your options later?

Hey all!

I’m a new grad BSN/RN in WA and have been applying pretty consistently to RN residencies and entry level acute care positions. I’ve put in many, many applications and haven’t had a single interview yet, so I’m trying to figure out if there’s something I should be doing differently.

I have several years of healthcare experience, including working as an ED Technician, EMT, and Army medic, and I’m specifically hoping to start my RN career in the ED, ICU, or another acute care setting.

I understand the job market is super competitive right now, and I know there are a lot of new grads competing for limited residency spots. I’ve also been reaching out to recruiters and nurses on LinkedIn rather than relying entirely on online applications.

At this point, I’m starting to expand my search outside the I-5 corridor and look more seriously at rural hospitals throughout Washington.

For those who hire new grads, nurse managers, recruiters, or recently hired new grads:

• Is getting zero interviews after a large number of applications fairly typical right now?
• Is there anything about my background or approach that would make you change how I’m applying?
• Would you recommend continuing to focus on hospital residencies, or applying more broadly to non-residency RN positions?
• Is expanding into rural WA a worthwhile strategy or am I missing something closer to home?

I’m not looking for reassurance as much as honest feedback. If you were in my position what would you change?

Hey guys! I have offers from Cleveland Clinic Main Campus cardiovascular surgery stepdown and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Lerner Tower 5 cardiac stepdown. I’m relocating from Tennessee and want to compare the nurse residency and overall support.

For current or former nurses:

• How were orientation and preceptors?
• Did you feel supported after orientation?
• Are Cleveland Clinic’s Success Coach program and UH’s Transition to Practice program actually helpful?
• How are the unit culture, staffing, nurse educators, and management?
• Would you choose the same hospital again?

How common is it for a job ( hospital) to rescind offers if your license isn’t in by your start date? I’m moving to a new state for work, and I’ve heard that this new state takes a long time to issue licenses and the process is really difficult.

I had 2 days of virtual orientation and I’m already feeling so overwhelmed. I also got my first schedule on the floor and I’m orienting on nights to start with 3 different preceptors. So the way that thd schedule is stacked really doesn’t seem like it works in my favor to sleep.

I’m orienting in a different unit than im working on for whatever reason and am doing the night schedule for 3 weeks and then switching to my permanent unit. I know working nights is a right of passage but I feel like it would be easier to start on days, get used to the busy flow and then if I decide to apply into nights I can work nights.

Idk, just feeling stressed and could use some encouragement. Any tips on managing nights, sleep, etc would be helpful

New grad RN here that just started orientation on a PCU floor. Patient ratio is 3-4, usually 3. For nurses that feel confident in their flow—what’s your routine? Do you do assessments in the room during med pass? Do you pull all morning meds and work your way to each room, or do you do each patient med pass separately? Any tips would be appreciated!!

There's something seriously wrong with job boards as of recently so I'm venturing out in new ways, please delete if this isn't allowed on your channel** The uptick in fake candidates is wild and disturbing and it's hard for the real people to be seen.

Hospitals have so many openings for physicians, RN's, Imaging (cardiac/echo/xray/MRI all of them), pharmacies at hospitals in the US.

If you're applying and not getting an interview, that's why.

There's roles for New Grads with sign ons too.

I've been a redditor & lurker for 7 years, happy to finally contribute lol

I got into nursing to improve my quality of life, but now I'm so miserable everyday one year in that I'm starting to think that it's all been counterproductive. I'm about ready to throw in the towel and apply to an EVS position that just opened up near me.

Anyone else?