Nurses That Never Worked In A Hospital...

Nurses General Nursing

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Do you find that patients assume you are inexperienced or unskilled as opposed to nurses that have worked in a hospital?

Do you feel "less than" a nurse that has worked in a hospital, or do you feel you missed out on something pertinent?

On 5/12/2021 at 6:23 PM, Wishinonastar said:

I remember my good friend from nursing school went to LTC after school and she said she was able to really listen to heart sounds and do all those things that we learned in school but never had time for in the hospital. She said she learned to use her assessment skills much better because there was not a physician going in to see the patient all the time, and nurses in LTC may be the only health care professional that the patient sees for a while.

The physician also relies on the assessment (& SBAR) of the nurse because they are not there and can't depend on them to be there. No fancy monitors.  I guess the physicians are less motivated to be there, no fancy monitors, wall oxygen, personnel, etc. 

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Specializes in Dialysis.
2 hours ago, summertx said:

I guess the physicians are less motivated to be there, no fancy monitors, wall oxygen, personnel, etc. 

No, because the patients are considered to be stable/subacute in LTC, whereas in the hospital, they are in an acute health situation. 

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Specializes in Peds.
On 5/7/2021 at 11:57 AM, londonflo said:

Years ago in home health, we boiled the catheters for the parents to use. The home is not expected to have some of the bacterial contamination that we see in the hospital. 

We still boil trachs in home health!

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Specializes in Progressive Care, Sub-Acute, Hospice, Geriatrics.
On 5/3/2021 at 11:10 AM, Elektra6 said:

I never worked in a hospital. I started out as an LPN and no hospital would hire me. After I got my RN I never got a hospital job. I DO feel like I missed out. I wish I would have have applied after I got my RN. Now I feel I’m too old to try ?

Um how old are you? My former coworker worked in LTC for 6 years as her first job and she transitioned well to a hospital and she was in her mid 50s

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Specializes in Home Health, PDN, LTC, subacute.

About that age. 

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Specializes in Med surg, psych.

I was one of those nurses that thought I had to work in a hospital. I started my career working in LTC for a short time then when I moved closer to family I went into psych and I loved it, after a year of that I thought I needed experience working in a medical setting so I went to subacute rehab and it was OK. After a year and realizing the commute was taking a toll on me I started at a local hospital on the surgical unit. Been on this nit for 10 months and I hate it. I’m considering going back into psych nursing.

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Specializes in Adult.
On 5/3/2021 at 11:10 AM, Elektra6 said:

I never worked in a hospital. I started out as an LPN and no hospital would hire me. After I got my RN I never got a hospital job. I DO feel like I missed out. I wish I would have have applied after I got my RN. Now I feel I’m too old to try ?

Williams Shatner is 90 and just flew to space and back. NO ONE is too old to try ?

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Specializes in Home Health, PDN, LTC, subacute.

You guys are encouraging.  I am going to start applying and see how it goes. ?

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Specializes in Progressive Care, Sub-Acute, Hospice, Geriatrics.
On 10/19/2021 at 11:42 AM, Elektra6 said:

You guys are encouraging.  I am going to start applying and see how it goes. ?

Let us know how it goes! I'm on the same journey as you! Trying to find a job in hospital setting!

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Being a nurse and not working in a hospital does make you feel less than as a nurse. Personally, I went into Home Health and I regret not having hospital experience. Home Health was more conducive to raising a family when I graduated from nursing school. I was also told that nursing was going to move into the home environment. Nursing has moved into the home environment but the pay and the respect have not followed.

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Specializes in Dialysis.
On 11/29/2021 at 6:27 PM, marshahousen said:

Nursing has moved into the home environment but the pay and the respect have not followed.

Odd that you say home health pays less than hospital. In all my years, and even now, hospitals in my area pay less than any setting, and the 5 area hospitals don't use travelers. 

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

I used to be concerned about not having hospital experience when applying for jobs. I am a second career nurse so I won't have the career longevity as younger nurses. I knew I wanted to be a pediatric nurse but kept hearing about how you need to have all of this experience first. My first job out of nursing school was at a residential facility for children with complex medical and developmental diagnoses. I was there two years before going into  inpatient child/adolescent psych which I thought sounded interesting (oh boy no!) My hats off to psych nurses. But those experiences did help me get a job in ambulatory pediatric cardiology at a large university. I think it helped that I had done my inpatient pediatric clinicals there and was somewhat familiar with the system. I was there for almost four years before moving and getting my dream job in ambulatory developmental and behavioral pediatrics at a major children's hospital. As a mom of a child with intellectual disabilities, this job is the perfect fit for me. I know look back very proudly on my career and can see how every job I held has helped me advance.

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