Successful Transition from LTC to Hospital

First, Its hard to find a hospital job period, but the LTC experience will be considered the 6 months nursing experience everyone is looking for!
Second, I have a 4 month old baby with Eczema! What do you use on your babies skin? I just discovered the Equate version of Aveeno Body Wash and Lotion and the Target brand up and up version of aquaphor, plus some 1%hydrocortisone cream! I always like to know what other parents use that works!

Despite what many people think, LTC experience is still work experience! For one, I got a lot more experience with wounds and wound care from working in LTC than I probably will get in acute care. Working in LTC before going into acute care really helped me with time management.

I started off as a new grad in a SNF and worked there for about eight months before landing my current med-surg job. After six months in the SNF I began applying for hospital jobs.

The transition can be made! I am proof. Just don't give up - keep trying and then try some more! I didn't have to move cities either. Best of luck to you!

A nurse friend of mine told me he started off working at an LTC for eight or ten months and then moved on to a med/surg unit. It can be done! Don't give up!

In our area most places want you to have one year of experience. My husband worked at a LTC for 8 months. He was able to transfer to a LTAC hospital with just the 8 months experience.

Sorry to post jack but ezcema: there is a product called Renew, it's made by melaleuca (sort of like amway type company but hey, what works works RIGHT?). It's a lotion. It helped clear up SORES that my son was getting because his was soooo severe. I also used hydrocortisone 1% and Avenno oatmeal baths. He is symptom free with daily renew (2x a day every day) for over a year.

You just made me feel so much better! I am in Massachusetts working in a LTC facility and just hit my 6 month mark. Just started sending out my applications because the work environment is horrific! The one thing I will say is my time management skills have hugely improved while caring for up to 40 patients on my own! Best of luck and hopefully ill be on a med/surg floor soon too!

Isnt 40 patients completely ridiculous?!?! I'm from FL, first nsg job in FL, had no more than 30 patients, and I had the heaviest floors, most ppl had only 22 patients, the smallest floor had 14!! I get to NYC, I'm like 40! *** am I gonna do with 40 patients not to mention that 15 have g-tubes! LOL In FL one person in the whole building had one. So insane! I was the wound care nurse for two floors and then did meds when they needed me to. LTC is where to start, I feel bad saying this. But this is where you practice and gain your confidence before you go to the hospital and deal with alert patients that ask a lot of questions. You will find a hospital job. Just remember if you ever go to ICU you are responsible for the whole patient, cleaning them, medicating them, etc. ICU you might only have 2 patients but its some hard hard work. GOOD LUCK! where theres a will theres a way. you will get that job eventually

I am slowly making the jump to acute care. I work in a vent/SNF/LTC for 7 months before I got hired to work in a pediatric LTC, I have been here 1.5 years and I just got hired to work on call in of the only 3 pediatric hospitals in my state! So now I have a solid foot in the door waiting for an FTE position to open up. It can be done! Although I was starting to think it would never happen!

You may have to make a few stops along the way but it is possible to make the jump from LTC to acute care. I started on a skilled floor of a LTC/SNF and worked there for a year. Gained many MANY skills there that helped me to land a job in a long-term acute care hospital. Again, I'm learning even more skills than I learned in the SNF. When I took this job I viewed it as a stepping stone to an acute care hospital. I'm hoping to move to an acute care hospital in the next few months. It's definitely hard because I don't have my BSN, but with persistence and good references, it's possible.