Med Surg or LTC for new PN graduate?

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I am a recent graduate from an Oklahoma PN school and waiting to take my state boards. I have been told from numerous nurses at clinical that I should do at least 6 months to a year on a Med Surg floor before I do anything else. I am planning to bridge to RN but I will have to take my pre reqs first while working which will take a year or longer. I have had a job offer from a LTC facility which pays $18 an hour for LPNs. The med surg jobs I have found online either say 1 year experience or they pay only $1-$2 over what I made as a CNA.

My question is...since I am going to have to work and take classes for at least a year before I can bridge and then work while going to RN school, would it matter if I took the LTC job while doing my pre reqs then move to Med surg while going to RN school or should I start out on med surg?

Thank you in advance for your input and advice. :)

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If you can afford the difference in pay...do med-surg. It will give you a great start on RN school. Plus if you decided you wanted to go specialty straight after RN school, you would have your 'mandatory' med-surg experience out of the way.

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Thank you for your answer SamHill. I forgot to mention that I would more than likely have to either drive an hour one way for at least a year to take a med-surg job since I live in a town that only has 1 small hospital and the neighboring town only has 1 hospital and there are a lot of nurses in the area because of 2 different schools that just graduated or we would have to sell our house to be able to move closer to one of the cities where there is more opportunities. That is why I wondered if working med-surg while I took my pre reqs was really important.

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Working 12's? That would essentially leave you working a 14.5 shift. Does your LTC have a any rehab cases? My RN classes had some nursing home lvn's who did pretty well so don't think that is essential to work med-surg for RN school. Just an advantage.

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Yes working 12s and drive time would be a killer but I guess it could be done. No the LTC is just a regular facility. It is 12s too, 2 on 2 off then 3 on 3 off but only 30 minutes away and the pay is better. I did my preceptor there and enjoyed it but it was mostly B/S checks and wound care. I want to get the most experience I can before bridging but would hate to be so tired from work and commute that I made a mistake.

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LTC would be my choice then. Working consecutive days on 4 and 5 hour of sleep is not a recipe for success when you are taking your pre-reqs. If you got along with the people at the LTC...then I would do that. LTC you will be sending some people to the hospital. Take a look at discharge papers when they come back. See what they treated and how. Its the next best thing to doing it.

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Thank you for taking time to answer my question and the advice about checking the discharge papers.

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