Help! Assited living OR Urgent care??

[PD82]

I'm a new grad LVN in TX, I have 4 years of healthcare experience as a PCT so I'm somewhat familiar to the medical field.However, I'm a new nurse and need your advice!!

I am in the final stages of a job offer from a Carenow urgent care center (they are checking references, waiting on my TB) so there isn't a final offer but its getting close. The draw back is I have to work any day of the week, days and evenings as they assign me. The pay is good though- it averages $21/hr after all the shift diffs are factored in.

Today I also got a callback from a super nice (5 stars on medicare.gov) assisted living/rehab facility 5 minutes from my house. The hours are FT, 2-10pm--I really want dayshift and was told it would likely turn into days- not sure how true that is. Also, it's Monday-Friday. The pay will be about the same, if not more, as the urgent care.

I'm going to go to the assisted living interview tomorrow, to get all the details and get a better feel. I'm SOOO stuck on what to do if I end up liking the 2nd place!! Both places have pros and cons......so I ask you: for a new grad LVN- assisted living/rehab or urgent care???

Any advice is appreciated

[Raviepoo]

Be very careful about assisted living. Some of those facilities have residents living in them who really need a higher level of care. See if you can find out what percentage of the population has dementia; do they have a "memory care" unit; do they follow a progressive care model which moves residents into skilled nursing if it is necessary; how many residents will you be responsible for; how much help will you have; is there a supervisor on premises at all times. Some assisted living jobs are easy, and rewarding, but others can be nightmarish.

[PD82]

Thank you for your advice!!

It is a transitional residential style care center that focuses on short term and long term rehabilitation. So not so much dementia & Alzheimer's focused. That is what I gather from reading up about them.

I just get worried because I've heard that a lot of employer's won't consider LTC/ALF work as nursing experience...

[Sparrow91]

I think it all depends on what your long term goals are. If you want a job within the nursing capacity were you work closely with patients and gives you a structured routine, a regular schedule, and a job you may want for the long haul then go with LTC. But if your goals are more towards acute nursing and possibly continuing your education further you may want to consider urgent care.

LTC/ALF experience is considered nursing experience, any job requiring you to work under your licence is nursing experience, it isn't however acute nursing experience. So again it really depends on what your long term goals are. Good luck!

[PD82]

Thank you sparrow91, I absolutely plan to continue my education.

I did go ahead and accept the urgent care job, and start tomorrow :)