How is the transition between ICU to Nursing Home/Psych?

[carti, BSN, RN]

One of my old buddies from high school just got her LVN and told me she got hired by some travel agency to work at nursing homes & other psych places. The interesting part is that she is nearly making 3x as much as me as a new graduate LVN......and I am an RN/BSN with almost 2 years of experience.

I currently have been working in the ICU for about 5-6 months now (1 year in pediatric home health) but my friend told me she would find me a job with her agency. I obviously would not want to be working in the ICU as a travel nurse since I feel like I need more experience but lower acuity places like nursing homes & psych wards seems like something I can handle.

Basically, if a nurse works in the ICU, can they handle nursing homes/psych wards?

[Davey Do]

I've never worked ICU but have LTC/psych- TOTALLY different areas.

From what I read on these forums, if you're good at ICU, going into LTC/psych would be like jumping out of a comfortable frying pan into the fire.

Add into account the fact that facilities  have to use agency staff because they can't keep area caregivers.

Sticky wicket.

 

[LibraNurse27, BSN, RN]

If you're ready to go from 1-3 patients to possibly 40 or more who may be total care and/or behavior issues/dementia you can switch. I haven't heard of LTC nurses making more than ICU nurses, but I'm glad at least some LTC nurses are being fairly compensated. Were you hoping to go into ICU as a new grad or it just happened? A lot of new grads want to get into ICU and can't.

Why would you like to switch? just for money or because you don't like ICU/stress level? ICU is super stressful and especially as a new grad, so I understand wanting to switch. But psych/LTC are stressful too in different ways. Totally understand making the switch if psych/LTC is your passion, but doing it for money you may be disappointed if you think it will be easier. Good luck with whatever you decide! Glad you have job options as a new grad!

[carti, BSN, RN]

12 hours ago, LibraNurse27 said:

If you're ready to go from 1-3 patients to possibly 40 or more who may be total care and/or behavior issues/dementia you can switch. I haven't heard of LTC nurses making more than ICU nurses, but I'm glad at least some LTC nurses are being fairly compensated. Were you hoping to go into ICU as a new grad or it just happened? A lot of new grads want to get into ICU and can't.

Why would you like to switch? just for money or because you don't like ICU/stress level? ICU is super stressful and especially as a new grad, so I understand wanting to switch. But psych/LTC are stressful too in different ways. Totally understand making the switch if psych/LTC is your passion, but doing it for money you may be disappointed if you think it will be easier. Good luck with whatever you decide! Glad you have job options as a new grad!

It’s definitely about the money. She works for a crises agency so it’s probably why she’s making 10k biweekly...yes 10K. That is just a huge amount of money to pass up LOL. I don’t care if it’s hard or stressful tbh it’s worth the $$ LOL. I just wanted to know if it’s unsafe for someone with no nursing home /psych experience to work there in those respective fields. I don’t know if it helps but I’m a male in my 20s (for psych purposes IDK LOL). 

[LibraNurse27, BSN, RN]

So $20,000 a month??? Wow! For how long? I would go back to my covid unit for that! If you will get training I think it would be safe, but with a crisis assignment it sounds like they may just throw you in? Not sure. In my experience with psych strong men are much appreciated LOL 

Do you like your ICU job though? If this is just a temporary assignment and you will lose your chance to work in ICU I would think about whether it's worth it. That IS a lot of money though! I'm interested to see what you decide = )