Is homecare considered experience?

[rosie82784]

I graduated in May 2010 with my BSN, passed my boards a few months after graduating, got married and had to move to California due to my husband being in the military. I am from the east coast where new grad jobs were not too hard to come by. However San Diego is a completely different story. I searched for a job for months. I applied to all the new grad positions as they would come up. Nothing. Finally I got a job with a homecare nursing agency. I have been reading through other posts some say any experience is better than no experience. Others say homecare is a dead end job. We are moving to either Corpus Christi, TX, Pensacola, FL, or Alexandria, VA area in about a year. Could I get a job with only homecare experience? Should I really start fighting harder to get a job in a skilled nursing facility? Or hospital? Thanks for any advice! It is greatly appreciated!

[caliotter3]

You won't have a problem getting a future job in home care. A job is a job. While you are working in home care, nothing stops you from continuing your job search for something else.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

We hired a nurse who spent her first year doing homecare, and she worked out wonderfully. As a former HC nurse myself I understand perfectly the demands placed on the HC nurse. I did HC for 13 years, by choice. She learned time management, critical thinking, and learned to involve the patient and family in the Poc. There are no residents or attendings in the home; good assessment skills are critical.

[PediLove2147, BSN, RN]

I also wonder this. I am coming up on my year, in home care. It worries me because although it is technically experience a lot of hospitals don't consider it to be. I don't think it is a dead end job though. I know a few people that moved successfully into the hospital setting after starting out in home care. It wouldn't hurt to start looking for something else though. Although I consider it experience, if your goal is to work in the hospital that kind of experience would look best on a resume/application.