Nurse transition

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Hi, I am a new member of Allnurses.com.

I am a recent LVN graduate. So, I took this job offer from LTC and rebab facility as a my first job. I am really curious if it will keep me from landing a med/surg job in the future. I've been reading a lot of posts about LTC to med/surg position and it seems like it is hard.

I am trying to get my RN degree next year. Do you think my LTC experience will be helpful? or will this keep me from landing a med/surg unit in the future?

Does anyone have any experience in LTC and landed in hospital position later?

Right now, I'm really worried. I don't know if I made right choice or not.

Thank you.

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Your experience will be helpful, but you'll still be a new graduate RN and competing with all the other new graduate RNs. How difficult it is to find an acute care position will depend on the job market where you're at along with a bunch of other variables.

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Specializes in Neuro, Telemetry.

My first job was a LTC/SNF. I started at a hospital 7 mo the later. I had only been actively job hospital job hunting for about a month when offered. So no, not hard for me.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I too moved on to acute care after a couple of years in SNF/LTC. Of course this was 20 years ago, but I think it can still be done.

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Thank you so much for commenting!

You guys are really helpful!

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.

It really is a supply/demand issue. If there are lots of jobs for new grad RNs out there, you will be fine. If there are not, you, and many of your classmates, are going to have difficulty finding jobs.

LTC experience may not be the primary thing that gets you a job, but you can use it to your advantage. When you interview be sure to seamlessly include in your answers about how you time in LTC helped you to prioritize, hone you assessment skills, interact with other members of the care team, interact with patient/residents and their families, handle customer service issues, etc. Rather than just holding a place on your resume, you have to make your LTC experience be an asset for you.

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