Experience is important Do u agree?

[TP_09]

Hello!

I am a LPN (new grad) I have been working at a nursing home for a couple days now and was just offered a job at a hospital to work On The pschy floor ...I would like to get someone opinion if it is better to work at a hospital and be on psych experience or to work at a nursig home

What experimce would benefit me more in the long run?

Thank you so much!

[TP_09]

If you need more information to make a descision I'll be glad to add some

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Do you like elderly people? If so, stay at the nursing home.

Do you like psychiatric disease processes? If so, accept the psych job.

Keep in mind that it is hard to get hired into a hospital job once you've been in nursing homes for so many years, because hiring managers fear that you've "lost your skills" and assume you move at a slower pace. On the other hand, it is easy to get hired back into the nursing homes if the hospital setting doesn't work out for you. Good luck.

[systoly]

As always, The Commuter is right on the money. First and foremost I'd look at it from a career move point of view and the hospital is the better choice, not to mention better benefits (usually).

[TP_09]

Thanks so much for the insight I'm going to inquire more on the psych job and compare the two hopefully I make a descion that benefits me in the long run

[AshiPanda]

I am a new LPN working in a long term care/rehabilitation facility and I have NO fear of losing my skills. A lot of the other new nurses I know that are in the same sort of area say the same thing too.

I think if you stay at the nursing home it'll open your scope up a lot... I think future jobs will be easier to get into rather than just being on psyche. But I don't know from experience! =)

The cool thing about my job is we have vent patients (which there is only like 2 rehab facilities in the state of FL that offer vent support), so I am getting so much good experience here, I do not want to leave! Haha =)

Good luck!

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

Hard for me to say because I did not work in psych as a nurse and worked in LTC as a CNA, not LPN. What I am wondering, since you have only been in the nursing home for a few days is if you have gained enough bedside experience to boot. While it is true that nursing homes are slower, I also feel personally, that at least you are gaining skills in medication administration, possibly vent care, dressings, etc...so, IF you were hired in a hospital, the main skills would basically be there, it would be a matter of working at a faster pace, orders change more often and IV care.

You may be hired in the hospital's psych area, but will that mean that you have options to transfer to a med-surg unit later? Depending on where you live, the hospitals within your geographical area may not wish to hire LPNs in their setting. And, in psych, (from what I see, anyhow), LPNs are primarily medication nurses and little else.

I am not well versed in what opinion a manager interviewing you would have in each of these areas; I don't know the exact answer to your question, but these are the things I think of regarding work. I am more comfortable in getting the skills or expectations downpact first before I speed up the process.