Not sure what to do with my LTC Experience

aloha everyone,

i live on the island of oahu. my first rn job out of nursing school was at a long-term care/skilled nursing facility. i worked there for 2 years and am now working as a long-term care nurse consultant for a local pharmacy. i am not making enough money to make ends meet. let's just say that i am not making base pay ($30.00). i am not sure what to do with my ltc experience.

i'm not a fan of bedside care or working for an acute facility. i enjoy the nursing field, speficially the geriatric population and long-term care. i also enjoy my current job; has me speaking to dons and administratiors while teaching rns and lpns. should i stay in ltc as a nurse consultant despite my small paycheck? or should i consider doing an online master's course in gerontology? what should i do?

any advice is greatly appreciated. mahalo!!

hello mj pascual, i read your post and was really glad to know that i'm not alone in my current status. i may or may not help with your questions completely but my thoughts may be able to bounce some ideas around. i too worked at a ltc facility at my first nursing job for 2+ years. i'm unemployed now and looking for a change in my career path. i too am not a fan of the bedside care currently, mostly because i have a strong personal belief in alternative medicine approaches and cannot bring myself to even apply for a job in which pharmaceutical drug therapy is a key method - and this seems to wipe out at least half of my opportunities. so i am looking into alternative nursing careers vigorously. i discovered that there is holistic nursing certification and other certifications for nurses that fall into this category, so i am really searching this area and finding so many opportunities for nurses.

i believe that if you are happy in what you are doing - that is a "gold-mine". but never the less, while you are happily working, you can spend some time to look at what else is out there that you would be happy doing and that might reimburse you more financially. i've been doing this as i said for the past couple of weeks and have found some really helpful info. one website i found that has support for nurses looking for careers other than bedside, is http://www.nursetogether.com/home/author-bio/itemid/2821/tina-lanciault.aspx , this page also has a link in the paragraph about the author right here http://differenttypesofnursing.com

when you mentioned that you were a nurse consultant, this did interest me and i wanted to know if you could brief me on what you do and how you actually became this type of a nurse? i would give anything to just not work at the bedside and money is not an issue for me - i just want to be at peace everyday. any info on being and becoming a nurse consultant would be greatly appreciated. my best to you and looking forward to hearing your feedback. take care,

Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate your advice. I'll look into holistic nursing certification online. I'm sure that I can put that knowledge to good use here in the Hawaiian Islands.

As for my current career, I was asked by a former nurse consultant if I would be interested in the job. I said yes and the rest is history. In the first half of the month, I go to various facilities where I do monthly med pass observations, check the med and treatment carts, and deal with any concerns regarding pharmacy sevices or med questions. In the latter half, I edit, organize, and pack the paper POS, MARS, and TARS.

Mahalo!!