As a new grad, should I take this job? Not much time!

[StudentNurzNK]

I randomly met a hiring director of a company with home health. I've been applying at all the major hospitals in Knoxville, which is where I want to relocate, but wasn't expecting such short notice when she told me the home she was offering me a job with was there. I haven't yet heard from any of the hospitals, but it has only been a week. Unfortunately, this job offer is time sensitive, and I don't want to give up on something good in hopes of something better? Home health is absolutely NOT where I want to end up, but do YOU think it would look good on my resume and open up more jobs that I would then qualify for "as an experienced nurse"? Or do they not consider home health "experience" in hospitals?

I've heard things like "once you get into home health, hospitals don't want you", etc, so does anyone know if that is true? Would this kind of experience help or hurt me?

As far as salary, her beginning offer was $17, but I thought that was low and she said she might go a bit higher. Is this a low number for East TN home health? I don't want to get screwed over for being unknowledgeable lol. Any advice would be great!!

[Merlyn]

Go for the Home Health job. It's experience in home health. If the job in the hospital wants experience nurses then they want nurses that are experience in whatever department you are applying for.An example if you applied for Med/Surg, they would want a nurse experienced in Med/Surg. If Cardiology they would want a nurse that has worked in Cardiology and so forth. The thing about home care is sometimes you get a patient that is more work than 30 and sometimes you get to do nothing. But if the home heath agency offers to train you for Trach/ Vent, Go for it. Where I live now an RN with Trach/Vent experience can almost write her own ticket. They are in demand. and it's not any 17/hr. It's in the 30-45/Hr range.

[MattNurse, MSN, RN]

Are you a RN or LPN?

If you are an RN, $17 an hour sounds like a rip off, but I am not from your area and have no idea what the cost of living is in your state. I would think you should be starting at about 3-4x minimum wage as a new grad nurse. So if in TN minimum wage is $4.25-$5.70 I would say go for it, but IMO $34K annually is not enough for the responsibility you will be taking on.

If you don't want to do home health nursing I would decline the job and keep going for hospital work, doesn't sound like enough money to do something you are not interested in. The only experience that a hospital will probably care about is a full year, so if you can deal with it for full year.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

ooooooooh, be careful. Look that company up and see what you find. Many home health and hospice are scams, literally almost outpacing the legitimate ones! Pin that woman down about what exactly your orientation will consist of? How long will it be? How much experience and specifically what type of experience will your preceptor have?

Here is the scoop. HH and hospice are cash cows. Many these days are run by people without a shred of professional medical background. Look up the owner, ask names of directors and google this woman. Look her up on your BON - how long has she been a nurse? Often, these companies will want you to just learn the EMR as well as what will qualify a patient for continued service. This means you are hired to use YOUR LICENSE to chart for reimbursement purposes ONLY. Ask how many nurses have over 3 years experience? Often it is near none, and the majority are new grads. They know new grads have no idea what is going on, and they will hire you because of this. If you get into trouble, you are easy to blame, and easy to throw in the garbage.

[creativemom44023]

If this is not where your heart wants to be then run from this job. $17 is very LOW for this type of work. Most RN's in LTH end up being overworked, underpaid and stressed out. You'll take care of a lot of patients with minimal training.

You don't necessarily need experience as a new grad to get MedSurg jobs. I work at a main campus hospital that is known all over the world. They DO hire new grads but they get at the minimum two months of training which includes all shifts. You learn it all.

If you need money, you can always do travel nursing for awhile in your town and then keep applying to local hospitals until you get hired. :)

Best of luck to you!

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

My first job out of nursing school is/was home health through an agency. I'm becoming peds vent certified. My friend who told me about this position LOVES doing HH vent patients, and what she said echoes you exactly: "if you're certified and love the vent work, you will never be without a job" And my salary is right in the range you mentioned--I'm pretty happy with it for a first RN job =)

[Merlyn]

Are you a RN or LPN?

If you are an RN, $17 an hour sounds like a rip off, but I am not from your area and have no idea what the cost of living is in your state. I would think you should be starting at about 3-4x minimum wage as a new grad nurse. So if in TN minimum wage is $4.25-$5.70 I would say go for it, but IMO $34K annually is not enough for the responsibility you will be taking on.

If you don't want to do home health nursing I would decline the job and keep going for hospital work, doesn't sound like enough money to do something you are not interested in. The only experience that a hospital will probably care about is a full year, so if you can deal with it for full year.

LPN. I'm in New Jersey. Jersey is on of those states that has two different areas. North Jersey is the part of the state everybody thinks of. It is the industrial part. The cost of living goes up as you get near the New York city area. South Jersey is the part of the state where the farms and an area known as the Pines are. It is less build up. The cost of living is relativity low. RN salaries are high. But 17/Hr does sound very low. I had Licenses in Virginia and Kentucky the jobs paid much lower then Jersey but the cost of living was low.