Advice on where to work?????

FutureNurse23 · Jan 14, 2009

I would say anywhere in a hospital is a good start. I'm also a fairly new grad CNA. And I wish I would of taken hospital positions over nursing homes. Ambulatory means walk, so many patients will need assistance with walking or they will be at stages of learning how to walk again. I would say this will be a easy easy floor. Most of your patients will be able to do for themselves. The more your patients can do for themselves the easier your job will be. And in nursing homes, LTC's you have alot of total care. This is where patients can't do for themselves at all. And every muscle they can't funtion you will have to use yours 2x's. If I was you I would take the job. Also in hospital settings its less work and you can be utilized on a more theory scope. Also you get to interact with RN's more so than lpn's. Wish you luck and let me know how you like it.

jr3650sp · Jan 14, 2009

I declined a job in the hospital : you should reallly look into ltc because after a year's experience in ltc and you can pretty much command a good pay rate . In the beginning ltc will make low offers but like i said you will make more in the long run . the hospital is only good if you are thinking about going furhter with your nursing(ltc offers great money for education opportunity but not like the hospitals.

trauma_queen2010 · Jan 15, 2009

Well I have worked in home health, Assisted living, and hospitals. Personally I love working in hospitals. Home health was ok but schedule was inconsitant and a lot of traveling. Assisted living i would never do again. The home that I worked in we did the med passes and everything. I have always worked night shift so we did q 4 toileting, moring showers, and morning med pass along with a crap load of cleaning. THe biggest down side is there was no nurse and 2 cnas for 36 residents. Hospitals offer a lot of benifits and depending on the hospital a lot of room for advacnement and learning advanced skill which in turn means more money. I currently work in the ER and have been trained to read heart monitors and ekgs, the secratarial stuff, phlabotamy, and how to insert catheters. If you are planning on going on with schooling you will also find that nurses love to teach and have a wealh of knowledge to share. good luck to you.

FutureNurse23 · Jan 16, 2009

I would agree with you that in LTC in the long run yeah you make more than you usually do in a hospital being a CNA. But, in LTC you will work for every penny of that pay too. But then again I left my old job in LTC because they didnt give the CNA's our yearly raise. So it all depends on where you work for the long run better pay. I felt that it was very uncalled for and thought I deserved better. So in that result I left. Also, like trauma_queen2010 said you will learn more in a hospital if you want to seek more knowledge in nursing. I feel like CNA's are also respected more in the hospital setting than in LTC IMO. Its more opportunities for advancement in the hospital as well. As a CNA you can become a PCT, heart monitor tech, secraterial stuff, phelbotomy just to name a few. Also, I dont know what state you live in jr350sp. But hospitals in my state offer so many paid tutitions for you to get a education. Actually I dont know any LTC places that do where I live. I still say hospitals is better. Less work and more advancements and you can be utilized in more ways.

sonomala · Jan 16, 2009

I'm starting at an ltc because our hospitals only take cnas with exp. But once I've got my NA2, I am long gone. If the hospital wants you, take it.