I'm a new grad LVN. I Graduated in August 2007. I worked for 3 weeks on a med/surg floor. I just moved towns.
After a bunch of applications and resume faxing, I had 3 main choices.
1. Doctor's office - mainly office work, call backs, take hx, working with a med aid who can do everything I can, so I was told. Money was OK. They paid 50% of health ins. And the Doc said there would be opportunity for me as an RN in about a years time (when I'll be done with my RN).
2. Hospital med/surg - looked like hell. The discussion on preceptors for me between the director and "head nurse" wasn't very promising. In fact, it was very worrying. Basically I'd be having a new preceptor maybe every shift and I'd be changing from 12's to 8's and back and so on. Just looked like hell, and it looked like I was gonna get dumped. Scary.
3. Rehab - working nights 3x12's/week not acute care, so less stress. Still, somewhere I can do IV's, pass meds, mess with PEG, NGT's breathing treatments etc. Plus its nights, so I can attend nursing school for my RN easy.
The Doctor's office is the one I just turned down. I met the med aid they had just hired on my interview day and her first work day. She was wearing a hoody? Yeah it's 8-5 M-F but it's probably gonna be near 30 mins-hour in traffic each way, and my wife's routine is nearly the same, so our son would be on his own most school nights till 6-7. Weekends would be our get stuff done days. I cannot see how I'd schedule in RN school around a 9-5 schedule. The rehab is looking like my best bet, its like a 15 min drive, and I know it will be much slower pace than the hospital.
The Doctor for the doc office job even told me when I declined his offer that a position for an RN may still open up next year if I was inerested. He seemed more interested in my wife who's already an RN, because the RN position coming up is coming up in January...not something I could have made anyway. The RN position is going to be being his or another Doctor's nurse -it's a cardiolgoy practice- and working mainly in the hospital. He was only offering 36-40K/year for this RN position, which is low IMO. My wife earns just under double that right now.
Anyway, I figured a year or so down the line if something comes up, say I never got round to completeing RN school, I'll be an LVN with just office experience. I told him I really wanted to get some clinical experience.
It just feels like I made mistake, because I've heard its good to "get in" with a Doc because they'll take care of you especially if you're a guy etc... I dunno I just felt it was a risk and that a good foundation of clinical experience and time to complete my RN was a safer bet.
