New/old new grad in behavioral ltc

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I graduated in may 2011 with adn. I accepted a job at a LTC behavioral health facility and have been employed there ever since. I have been applying to various other jobs at local hospitals because....though I have learned alot...I feel I am missing that 1st year experience with the hands on skills. We have G-tubes, wound care, IV meds, catheter insertion and care. I still feel like I could learn so much more. My applications get turned down so very quickly when I apply to hospitals...any advise to help me get a hospital job to build on my knowledge and skills. I feel like they don't even look at my app...

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Seems that hospitals, at least in my area, are the hardest place to get into for new grads or those with very little experience. Of course, I live in a crowded area, so competition for jobs is brutal. Because of the economy, nurses are not retiring as early as they used to, and there are at least a dozen nursing schools in the area that continue each year to pump new nurses into the arena. Also, many of the hospitals here are preferring a BSN. So, unless you know someone, your chances of getting in are not so good. Even experienced nurses with higher degrees are not having an easy time of it these days.

I WISH I was in psych, as you are. That is where I would like to wind up eventually, but I just couldn't get in anywhere when I first graduated. I see what you are saying, though - the experience in psych is not the same as in other nursing jobs. Hopefully someone will have better advice for you than I do....I guess all I can say is that we should just be happy to be working ANYWHERE!! It is unbelievely bad where I live, so many nurses, both new and experienced, not being able to find work.

I know this might sound crazy, but do you have any free time that you might be able to volunteer at the hospital of your choice? It would be a way to meet people there, and you could get a foot in the door. Right before I was hired where I work now, I had been thinking of going there with one of my dogs and asking if he and I could volunteer to spend some time with the patients - something I wanted to do, but also I had thought it would be a way to get in there and possibly lead to a real job.

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Specializes in Psych.

Well you are doing more procedures than I have done and I will have one year under my belt in May. I don't know, I never had the desire to do med/surgey kind of jobs, psych was the only rotation in school where I didn't feel like a deer in headlights. I work at a community agency now for VERY seriously mentally ill people that are chronically unstable, but I worried about pigeonholing myself in the community even though its been an awesome experience. I learned to tolerate the extreme frustration of lack of resources/generally sub par care psych patients get, and due to lack of resources ai have leanrws to be creative and MacGyver a lot.of things, but after 9 months I'm moving on to inpt. I need it to keep myself marketable. I am excited but a little sad at the same time. I will miss my coworkers, and especially my clients I've worked with a long time.

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yes, I see what you are saying. My mother was a psych nurse. She didn't start out that way, but eventually took a job at a state mental hospital, where she worked for many years, and then moved on to a city hospital's psych floor. After all those years, it would have been very difficult for her to move back into "regular" nursing. She liked psych, though, and really didn't want to leave it, so it was ok for her. I did my transition clinical rotation in psych, and I love it. I don't like med surg or hospital work at all, and would prefer mental health, even long term.... but right now, with the way jobs are, one can't be too picky. Good luck to you!

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I enjoy my job. Some days are better than others but overall I enjoy it. Like others have said I want to make sure I have options which I am already short of. I am gonna start my bachelors program soon. Even though I most days like my job I just feel kind of put out that they really turn down my apps so quick.....and at this point i do enjoy psych.....just dont want to stay at this facility forever...even applied at some state hospitals....

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I just wonder what I am doing wrong to not even get a couple days to consider my app....its like....we got it and.....turned down...thanks

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