Did my consolidation placement ruin my chances of getting a hospital RPN job?
I’m honestly so frustrated right now and I just wanted some honest advice from other RPNs/nursing students.
I’m currently going into consolidation and I got placed in a retirement home. I want to make it clear I have absolutely nothing against retirement homes or nurses working there. I respect it a lot and I know it’s hard work. But I really wanted hospital/acute care experience because this feels like my last chance before graduating.
What’s making it harder is that I’ve worked extremely hard throughout the program. I’m basically an A student, I’ve never failed or repeated a course, I always maintained my Synergy pass requirements, and I passed both my math and consolidation tests on the first attempt. Meanwhile I know students who failed courses before or didn’t pass the math test the first time who still got placements in neuro, acute care, maternity, etc., and even closer to their homes.
Meanwhile I got placed somewhere far from my house in a retirement home even though I specifically requested hospital placements on my form.
I’m honestly just feeling discouraged and confused. Does consolidation placement actually matter that much for getting a good RPN job after graduation? If I don’t get hospital consolidation, am I already at a disadvantage for hospital jobs later?
I’d really appreciate honest advice from people already working as RPNs or who went through something similar.