LTC, please help

[sinawahi]

I think I am in the same situation like a lot of nurses in Hawaii.

I am scared not to find a job after I got my license. I am thinking it could be easier to find a job in a Long term care or Home Care facility on Oahu.

Does anybody has experience with nursing homes in here? Which one is good and which one not?

How would you apply if they don't have a web site, would you go there personally?

Would you already apply for jobs, even if you would get your license in 2 month?

Hope somebody can answer my questions. I am getting more and more nervous. I will have to stay in Hawaii for at least another 2 years until I can move to the mainland or elsewhere. So I really have to find a job.

[Lisa From Maui]

Sinawahe: Read through all posts on this forum FOR THE LAST YEAR. That will probably help answer your question.

[thekid]

hi Sinawahi, are you receiving your LPN or RN license in two months?

I waited until I had my hard copy license in hand before starting to apply. I do not know if this makes a difference to an employer or not ..maybe they can hire you pending your license? You may be able to look online at the Hawaii Board of Nursing and see if your license is available for others to see it yet. Mine was available for 'viewing' online before I received the hard copy card.

For LTC ..I can only comment about mainland experience. I worked at some facilities that were ok and some that were not (I worked for agency so I was in many different facilities in Arizona and Colorado). If you are an LPN you will most likely be a medication cart nurse. A very tough job. Unless you have a treatment nurse, you will be passing meds, doing accuchecks, an occasional nebulizer, tube feeding..depending on the acuity of the facility. Assisted living and Alzheimers units, to me personally, were the easiest. There are usually more LPN's in a nursing home setting than RN's (at least where I worked) .

Home care normally requires experience. I worked my way into homecare since I was first a CNA with an agency and after I got my LPN license, they sent me out on LPN assignments. That particular company used more RN's than LPNs. Had I stayed in Arizona I would have been able to work into a position as an RN in home care after graduation .

Do you have any nursing experience at all? As a CNA or LPN? It does help.

Many Hawaii nurses that I've talked to all mentioned it took them about a year to find jobs as a new grad in Hawaii. So if you need something right away you might want to consider other options and then turn in applications and wait..

good luck!

[sinawahi]

Thanks for your answer.

I worked 4.5 years as a nurse in a home care setting and 5 months in a hospital. But this experience was in my home country - just hope it counts.

In Hawaii I did the NCLEX-RN. Now I am waiting for my working permit, then for my SSN and then I will get my license.

Think you are right thekid and I should wait to send my applications until I have my real license. I only have something like a temporary license.

I cannot wait to send out my applications. Hope it takes not a year :-0.

Don't care where I start to work LTC, Clinics, Hospitals ... just a RN job and not something completely different.

[thekid]

You might be able to be hired on your temporary license. I'm not sure about the rest of the requirements, like SSN. Where are you from? My husband is from Malaysia, if you wanted to ask him some questions I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you what he knows..he's not a nurse but for a few months he was not able to work here. His employer was not able to sponsor him. Of course that's resolved now. But aside from the immigration paperwork, you might be able to apply and work on a temporary license.

If I were you I would create a resume that highlights your areas of experience. Since you have home care experience and hospital experience, those are the types of jobs you could apply for. I am working with an agency right now that may know more about your situation and would probably welcome your previous experience (but I can't say for sure) if you want to send me a message I'm happy to help. Again with your immigration status I'm not sure how that is handled especially when it comes to nursing and licensure. But that is great you have experience. In our nursing class we had a girl from Japan with us, she was already working as a nurse in Japan but transferred to the mainland , but had to go thru a 'US' program.

I think since you have previous experience, you might qualify to work for agency. It's not always solid work and guaranteed hours , but while you are waiting for something full time, it would give you a chance to work in various facilities and make some contacts, also you could see where you wanted to work. That's what I'm doing. I still run a business so I am taking some time to find out where I want to work, and right now agency works wonderful. Census has been low the last few weeks so there are not as many assignments.

I wish you luck, I understand that you want to work as a nurse and not another field. You will get the nurse job it may just require time :heartbeat