How did you decide on your first LPN job?

[AnonymousSunshine, CNA, LPN]

Advice needed: I currently have two job offers as a new LPN grad in Minnesota. Job 1 is in an Adult Behavioral Health Psychiatry Clinic setting. FT 40 hrs/week M-F and variable shifts some start 6:00-2:30 or 8:30-5:00. This would be more just follow-ups, telehealth appts., injections, and phone calls, etc. Extra training needed like ECT and crisis intervention.

Job 2 is in a Family medicine Clinic that is FT and about 34hrs/week M-F with variable shifts from 8:30-5:00. I was promised one undetermined day off every other week. This would be team-based care not 1:1 LPN to provider, so there would be a great variety of cases. Some procedures are done in the clinic and preventative care is the primary focus.

Both jobs pay the same and have weekends/holidays off. Both units have great positive team members as far as I can tell and seem very open and welcoming to new nurses.

How can I ensure that I'll receive enough variety for my scope of practice? I want to challenge myself but also transition as a new nurse and become comfortable on the team.

I've been debating this and feel like either job would be a great opportunity. I want to clarify that this is my first "real" nursing job (previously worked as a CNA in memory care LTC and childcare). I just don't want to commit to something and realize later on that I didn't ask enough questions or evaluate this situation before accepting the offer.

How did you decide on your first LPN job? What ultimately influenced your decision and was it an overall positive experience as a new nurse?

[caliotter3]

It was very simple. Nobody wanted to hire a new grad nurse in an over saturated area for nursing, so I took the first (and only, at the time) job offered.

[Floor_Nurse]

You seem to be asking several questions. My response to the "first job" question is the same as Caliotter3 (above). As for the Psychiatry Clinic job, you may want to wait a few years on that one. You won't get much med-surge experience there at all. I worked in a psychiatric hospital for more than three years, and I can tell, nurses get very burned-out, not to mention loosing your nursing skills. It's all about bad behaviors and people wanting to get high. One day, I gave a fellow a TB shot (I can do a good wheal), and he promptly squeezed out the med...like a pimple. There are a lot of nurse jobs out there because so many of us leave one facility, then go work in another place.

[Flying Unicorn 1975, BSN]

Hi, Welcome to nursing as a new grad! My classmates and I were told several times by our instructors that "you really need to get at least a year or two of Med-Surg experience before going to work on a specialty unit"...Psych is definitely a specialty unit, whether it be in a hospital setting or in a psych clinic. I truly feel that this is an excellent suggestion, and I worked close to 5 years on Med-Surg myself to have enough experience and confidence to move on to other units...I am an R.N., but I don't think it's a question that I cannot answer as the reply concerns all new grads--LPN and RN...I hope this helps you. Wishing you well and congratulations on the start of your new career!

[T-Bird78]

Mine was desperation for me and the employer. They’d fired a nurse and another one walked out in protest so they needed someone that could interview tomorrow and start the next day; I was free. LOL.