How many of you nurses, especially LPN's like LTC nursing? I ask because, if I can't get into mental health, which would be rare around here, right away, I'm going to LTC. I worked in LTC as an Activities Manager and I found it very rewarding and loved working with the elderly. The nurses got treated like crap at this facility, and I had my own issues with management, so it wasn't just them. I hear so many ppl rag on nursing homes, and if you're a nurse in LTC, well, you're pretty much not a nurse at all. I know eventually I want to go into psych nursing and that's where my heart is, so I really want to try and get in an addictions type facility, or inpatient residential home where I work with children and teens.
Any advice and feedback would be great. Thanks everyone.
LTC experience is not very valuable when it comes to finding a job in any other setting. The longer you work in LTC the more "stuck" you are in that line of work. Luckily, if you simply need a "job" this can be good, as many nursing homes are usually hiring (not as much lately, though). If you want career growth and opportunity stay far away from the nursing home. Hospitals are hiring, but want specialty experience (ICU, ER, etc.) If you can find a spot in a hospital willing to train you, grab it up. It gets harder and harder to be marketable anywhere but LTC the longer you stay in-->career suicide.
No, Medicare only requires 1 RN as the Charge Nurse. We have our LPNs who take control of the patients. Personally I have 8-11 Rehab patients during the evening, 20-25 pts at night making up Rehab, LTC, and Hospice, the rest are assigned to LPNs.
Same goes with her, she only personally has 25-30 pts, the rest are covered by LPNs although she is the only RN on duty....
The only time a facility has to have 24 hour RN coverage is when they do IVs.
LOL= Laughing out loud. It's a message board/chat term, not a nursing one.
I knew "Laugh Out Loud" already, and have known it for years. Thus, I noted that I hadn't seen it used as it was used here, and asked what it meant in this context.
I have worked in LTC for total of 22 years, the first 19 1/2 as a CNA and then I became a RN. I love working with geriatric population. My heart just melts at times for a resident laying there who cannot take care of themselves any longer, sometimes not even being able to speak for themselves or feed themselves for that matter. I look my patients straight in the eye and it just always seems to me that they are saying...."If only you knew me when I was well, I was not this helpless person, but thank you so much for everything you are doing for me, I greatly appreciate it!" If you ever have the time to just let your residents talk about there past (the ones who are still verbal) they stories and the history about life is so very fascinating. One thing I can say that really bothers me is when other co-workers come to the nurses station and say things such as...."I cannot stand Mr so and so or Mrs. So and so they really work my nerves" or "I am so tired of taking care of Mr/Mrs So so I cannot wait till they are gone" There are to many other responses to type but anyway my answer is always..."Nobody made you work here, you are not being forced to do this job, you chose to work here in this environment, you can always leave and find something that you enjoy. Our poor residents did not chose to want to be in a LTC facility their circumstances and gods will put them there. I love my job in LTC and in your heart you will know when it is time for a change in your life as a RN!
Rhonda, thanks for sharing that. I'm a first semester LPN student and we're doing our fundamentals clinicals at a nursing home. I really thought it would bother me, but I absolutely love it! I never would've thought about it as a career option, but I'm definitely considering it.
LTC experience is not very valuable when it comes to finding a job in any other setting. The longer you work in LTC the more "stuck" you are in that line of work. Luckily, if you simply need a "job" this can be good, as many nursing homes are usually hiring (not as much lately, though). If you want career growth and opportunity stay far away from the nursing home. Hospitals are hiring, but want specialty experience (ICU, ER, etc.) If you can find a spot in a hospital willing to train you, grab it up. It gets harder and harder to be marketable anywhere but LTC the longer you stay in-->career suicide.
Absolute horse ****
If you specialize in LTC/SN/Rehab and only grow and develop LTC/SN/Rehab skills then yes, you will be stuck...same goes with being a Nurse in any other field. A Nurse in L&D that only knows L&D because that is the only thing they bothered to keep up educationally and skill wise is going to be stuck there. Any minimally competent RN can jump from LTC/SN/Rehab to Med Surg to Tele without difficulty.
Hell, half of the RNs I work with have gone back and forth from Rehab, LTC, Med Surg, Tele, etc etc.
You are stereotyping LTC/SN/Rehab as if it is a lesser form of Nursing which will suck the skill sets out of you like some leech. Couldn't be more wrong. You still assess, you still pass meds etc. Hell I will put the wound care experience I have found in my facility up against any Med Surg floor out there.
Every branch of Nursing is equally as valuable as any other. Different setting have you using different skill sets.
If you specialize in LTC/SN/Rehab and only grow and develop LTC/SN/Rehab skills then yes, you will be stuck...same goes with being a Nurse in any other field. A Nurse in L&D that only knows L&D because that is the only thing they bothered to keep up educationally and skill wise is going to be stuck there. Any minimally competent RN can jump from LTC/SN/Rehab to Med Surg to Tele without difficulty.
Hell, half of the RNs I work with have gone back and forth from Rehab, LTC, Med Surg, Tele, etc etc.
You are stereotyping LTC/SN/Rehab as if it is a lesser form of Nursing which will suck the skill sets out of you like some leech. Couldn't be more wrong. You still assess, you still pass meds etc. Hell I will put the wound care experience I have found in my facility up against any Med Surg floor out there.
Every branch of Nursing is equally as valuable as any other. Different setting have you using different skill sets.
I was thinking the same thing. I guess maybe different hiring managers/DON's look at it different, though. If you go to a hospital (which I have no intentions of, unless it's psych) maybe one has worked in LTC care and understands, and then maybe another manager doesn't and thinks you're useless. I would think a nurse is a nurse no matter where you go. I have heard the stereotyping you said as well with a L&D nurse and even a psych nurse, especially psych that you don't do "real nursing skills". Again, I believe a nurse is a nurse no matter what you do. If you work in Psych, you're a psych nurse, you're assessing just as much as in the ICU believe it or not, same with L&D they constantly have to asses I would think. I think a lot of times only ER, ICU, med/surg nurses get looked at as "real" nurses, or they're the ones with the real skill set. They're skilled in their area of nursing just how any nurse is.
I hope I really like nursing in LTC as it will be my job for a few years before I receive my BSN. I loved it on the admin/management side, I'm sure I will love it just the same as a nurse. The nurses I worked with were very knowledegable and their skills could've been taken to a hospital any day. They were much more competent than a lot of nurses I have seen working in hospitals!
No matter where you go a nurse is a nurse! =) We just specialize in different areas which make us unique, not unqualified!
You are stereotyping LTC/SN/Rehab as if it is a lesser form of Nursing which will suck the skill sets out of you like some leech. Couldn't be more wrong. You still assess, you still pass meds etc. Hell I will put the wound care experience I have found in my facility up against any Med Surg floor out there.
Every branch of Nursing is equally as valuable as any other. Different setting have you using different skill sets.
This is not me stereotyping, this is the mindset of all interviewers in hopsital positions I have applied to. And ultimately the reason they do not choose me over other applicants. This perspective I have on LTC did not come from nothing. I know what I do is valuable, but apparently only in a nursing home, and it is not considered experience that will count for getting you a hospital job.
I had one nurse manager spit out at me (after I started to tell her about my LTC experience) "Our nurses do a lot more than pass pills." I held my temper and didn't say anything, but I let her know I did a lot more than "pass pills" too.
It is what it is. Hospitals don't want to hear about nursing home experience. It may even hinder you when looking for another job. It has me.
I was thinking the same thing. I guess maybe different hiring managers/DON's look at it different, though. If you go to a hospital (which I have no intentions of, unless it's psych) maybe one has worked in LTC care and understands, and then maybe another manager doesn't and thinks you're useless. I would think a nurse is a nurse no matter where you go. I have heard the stereotyping you said as well with a L&D nurse and even a psych nurse, especially psych that you don't do "real nursing skills". Again, I believe a nurse is a nurse no matter what you do.
...and their skills could've been taken to a hospital any day. They were much more competent than a lot of nurses I have seen working in hospitals!
Hey, if you know how to get hospital interviewers to buy that let me know how you do it. I've got a BSN and I'm enrolled in graduate school but the first thing they crinkle their face at is hearing that I have most of my experience in a nursing home.
I have to agree with that. I'm currently working as an RN in a LTC facility because I have no choice at the moment. I'm still looking hard for hospitals that are willing to train because I don't want to be stuck here. I've been working LTC for about 8 months now, and I still hate it. I feel like I've forgotten everything I've learned in nursing school since all I do is pass meds, chart, do incident reports, and send out ailing residents. There's almost no time left to really do anything else. Working in LTC has made me almost ultimately regret choosing nursing as a career, but I know other fields of nursing aren't as bad as this and would be more suited for me.
Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.
This is not me stereotyping, this is the mindset of all interviewers in hopsital positions I have applied to. And ultimately the reason they do not choose me over other applicants. This perspective I have on LTC did not come from nothing. I know what I do is valuable, but apparently only in a nursing home, and it is not considered experience that will count for getting you a hospital job.
I had one nurse manager spit out at me (after I started to tell her about my LTC experience) "Our nurses do a lot more than pass pills." I held my temper and didn't say anything, but I let her know I did a lot more than "pass pills" too.
It is what it is. Hospitals don't want to hear about nursing home experience. It may even hinder you when looking for another job. It has me.
Unfortunately I have had the same experience. I even had one recruiter say, "LTC does not look very impressive on a resume, you know". What do you say to that? I did 10 years in LTC/subacute and now work in acute care. My experience has helped me tremendously but I still don't think prospective employers will ever appreciate that. If the OP wants to go into Psych after LTC it may not hold her back because, unfortunately, Psych is another area that is undervalued. Any critical care floor probably will not touch her with a 10 foot pole after LTC though.
TreehuggerRN
70 Posts
LTC experience is not very valuable when it comes to finding a job in any other setting. The longer you work in LTC the more "stuck" you are in that line of work. Luckily, if you simply need a "job" this can be good, as many nursing homes are usually hiring (not as much lately, though). If you want career growth and opportunity stay far away from the nursing home. Hospitals are hiring, but want specialty experience (ICU, ER, etc.) If you can find a spot in a hospital willing to train you, grab it up. It gets harder and harder to be marketable anywhere but LTC the longer you stay in-->career suicide.