Advice needed on job offers

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i have 2 job offers and could use some advice.

job #1 is at a teaching hospital 2 hours from my house.

job #2 is at a ltc/snf facility 10 minutes from my house.

salaries are about the same. to tell you the truth, the 2-hour commute in bumper-to-bumper traffic is a killer. i'm worried after working 12-hour days that i won't be safe driving home. however, i want to consider the future. what i have read on the boards is that some hospital hiring managers don't consider ltc experience as valuable as working in a hospital. is this true? any advice is appreciated! :)

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There is absolutely NO way I would ever commute a total of 4 hours each way in bumper to bumper traffic making your shift 16 hours long and in fact if the traffic is bad it would be wayyy longer to get home. Unless you can rent a motel room or something during your set of shifts or move to that city. Why would you want the extra stress?

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are you able to relocate ? 2 hr drive in traffic is brutal... and you have to remember that 12 hr shifts are not really 12 hrs b/c you might have to stay longer to finish up charting, admissions, or something out of the blue happened to your patient. If it's a great teaching hospital, i'd recommend you try to relocate b/c you will have a great learning experience. As far as LTC, I do know several friends who started there and went on to working at a hospital but they always tell me that they wished they had started at a hospital first.

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Some experienced nurses have told me that it important where you start. I personally would take the teaching hospital job and move closer if possible. I was a CNA in and SNF facility, and I would rather be an RN in an acute setting.

But ultimately, it really depends on where you want to end up. If you want to end up in a critical care unit soon, then I would definitely start at the teaching hospital. I think with only SNF experience, it may still be difficult to find a hospital job closer to your current home in a couple years, unless something miraculous happens with our economy does a 180 and the nursing shortage surges again.

If you don't mind staying within SNF for a while, go for it. Maybe you can ask to shadow the place?

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Congrats on the job offers btw!

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Teaching hospitals are wonderful. You will learn so much. And I've never worked LTC, but I have worked Rehab, and it not comparable to the hospital experience.

BUT there is no way I would commute 2 hours each way. You'll wear out your car, you'll wear out yourself. I worked with someone from California who had a similar commute who fell asleep on the way home, less than a mile from her house. She rolled her car and could have died or killed someone else.

Could you work weekends only, when the traffic is lighter? Or find somewhere close to crash on your back to back days?

If you are young and single, I'd do the hospital, at least for a year. If you have a husband and/or kids, I'd do the closer job. You have the rest of your life to work but only so much time to spend with your family.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Keep in mind that a 2 hour commute is often 2 hours PLUS, given traffic, weather, accidents, etc. Do you really want to spend at least four hours a day in a car, on top of a 12 hour (in actually, 13-14) hour work day? When you got back home, you'd have about 6 hours for the rest of your day. 6 hours for food, sleep, etc...keep that up for a while and you'd be wiped out on your four days off as well. Even if you have no family or other committments to take care of, you can't function safely on that little sleep.

If relocating is possible, then relocate closer to the teaching hospital and take the job. Jobs like those are rare nowadays so you should try to make it work if you can. Even moving just an hour closer is a big difference.

Otherwise, take the SNF job. Granted, some places look less favorably upon SNF/LTC experience...but on the flip side, IMO any nursing experience is better than none at all.

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Are you looking for a job, or for a career?

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are you able to relocate ? 2 hr drive in traffic is brutal... and you have to remember that 12 hr shifts are not really 12 hrs b/c you might have to stay longer to finish up charting, admissions, or something out of the blue happened to your patient. If it's a great teaching hospital, i'd recommend you try to relocate b/c you will have a great learning experience. As far as LTC, I do know several friends who started there and went on to working at a hospital but they always tell me that they wished they had started at a hospital first.

What is LTC? and I agree. Thats where I would want to start

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Thank you all for your thoughtful replies and input. You have given me a lot to think about! :)

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Specializes in Hospice.

this 'difficulty' finding jobs is not new. I ran into several praciticing acute care nurses that were in the same boat as us new grads one of them took a job at the american red cross taking blood... (they don't even have rns doing it anymore , the techs do) and she did that for a year and then got in at a large hospital and has done it since then. I have heard other nurses that did long term and then switched.

I don't think you are locking your life away. best of luck to you.

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