catfish1

Job hunting SUCKS! I've been unemployed since June. Have so many resume's out and no call backs. Been a nurse for over 20 years and still here potential employers say I need more experience for... "whatever". It's so frustrating. I'm also picky about what I want to do, sometimes you have to be. Good luck on your job hunt and hope you find what you want.

I have over 20 yrs. nursing exp. in LTC/SNF as an LPN then RN. I also have about 6 months MDS 3.0 training. How can I find an MDS position with so little exp.? Is anyone willing to train you? Most everyone wants experience. I would think that my LTC experience would help some. I would even get certified at my own expense.

Hind sight is 20/20. I quit a hospital job, my first, not as an RN though, because of 2 nurses who were bullies. My preceptor dumped me after 4 weeks orientation and told the manager there was a disconnect then proceeded to ignore me. 6 weeks in and 2 days before being on my own I quit because of the hostile attitudes. How could I defend myself? I'm the new nurse and would only be treated worse if I were to complain to the manager. My preceptor, by the way, was 1 year out of school and everyone loved her. I wish now that I had dealt with these nurses one on one instead of allowing them to intimidate me into quiting a job I waited so long to get. The more I think about it, the madder I get. Lesson learned the hard way.

I was an LPN before becomming an RN so all that was really available to me was LTC. It has it's own stressors like having 25 to 30 patients that you give meds to and do all your treatments if no trearment nurse. Plus you do get admissions and discharges as well. On the other hand the hospital gives you 6-8 patients and you are responsible for all their care and you really need to be able to act independently. I have gotten alot of experience from LTC especially over the last several years because hospitals are d/c patients sooner and require more acute care. I've had experience with IV's, wound care, ortho, psych. I think hospital experience will give better opportunity with assessment skills and more advanced technical machinery. You will never learn to hang blood or get much if any experience starting IV's. Trying to go to the hospital now after being in LTC setting makes it more challenging system wise. They are complete opposites. Most hospitals are computer charting where LTC is still written. I just feel like I'm working myself backward if that makes any sense, like I've cheated myself as an RN. As an example, today I went for an interview for Hospice and was told I needed at least 1 year hospital experience. So you see even with all my accumulated years of experience as a nurse wasn't enough and it all came down to no hospital exp. This is just my own take on this and what I have been through. I dont do night shift but at times wish I could. You dont have all the other disiplines to deal with and can go at a little slower pace but night shift can be just as crazy as days I've heard. Just one more thing, I can relate to your type of personality b/c I am more quiet and unsure of myself and this can come back to bite you as a nurse.There are alot of hardcore nurses who can make someone like you or me feel pretty intimidated. You need to get a thick skin. I've cried alot of days after leaving work.

Get out now while your still in orientation. I just left my first hospital job just shy of 6 weeks and 3 days from comming off orientation for the same reasons. I was treated rudely and like an idiot during shift report. The youger nurses were the worst. I've been a nurse for 20+ years and don't need the harrassment or a hostile work place. It was my first hospital job too. After giving report one night I went home and called the charge nurse and said I wasn't comming back.

I quit my first hospital job just shy of comming off orientation for the same reason. Younger nurses being hateful and condicending during shift report. I'm 48 and have probably been a nurse longer than they've been alive. I had a less than stellar orientation and tried to learn so much in a short period of time. These nurses (2) would roll their eyes or breath like a bull ready to charge. After my shift ended and I gave my report I went home and called the charge nurse at 10 pm and said that I would not be back. I was really disappointed because I wanted to work at a hospital for so long.

Yes, this was a county hospital. I know I'm not alone with my feelings in regards to the horrible attitudes and hatefulness from other nurses. We do have a private HCA hospital close to me but after this experience I'm not sure if I want to chance it. I still want that hospital experience though. You learn alot in LTC/SNF but it's not quite the same. I do know that it made it alot harder going from LTC to the hospital. Should I take another chance or move on to something else? Thanks for sharing your experience.

I have an interview tomarrow with Hospice looking for admission RN. What can I expect as a Hospice nurse/ employee?

I've been a nurse for 20 years. First an LPN then RN. All my experience has come from LTC/SNF rehab. About a month ago I applied to a local hospital and was hired to work on the orthopedics floor. I was very excited because I always felt like I cheated myself for not starting out in a hospital. You know how everyone says you should have at least one year hospital experience to be considered having solid experience. This ortho floor was more of a overflow of any type of surgical patient you could imagine.You had at least 6 patient per nurse, had to do your own vitals, if they were post-op it was Q4hr v.s., and you could have 3 discharges and 3 admissions in a 12 hr. shift. Most patients were young adults who were getting morhine every hour. My preceptor was a new nurse one year grad. I'm 48 and healthy so keeping up was not an issue. The charting was on computer and you were luckey to find one that worked plus the Dynamap machines were scarce or not working at all. It was a zoo. Doctor calls, call lights, oh yea and the yougsters who needed morphine every hour. It was like trying to learn to drive a race car on the Daytona 500. Everyone was so busy trying to keep up with their own patients. I started taking 3 patients after one week then it went to 6 one week before going off orientation. My preceptor told the unit manager she felt a disconnect between us? So I was paired up with another nurse but by that time I was so frustated and busy I could hardly do an assessment on my patients. Here I am lost with so many new things to learn like hanging blood, patients with constavacs after having bilateral knee replacements, N.G. tubes, patient need to go to the B.R, take off orders, PACU calling to give you report, ohh, I have another admission? Hold on my I.V is alarming, their calling me overhead your needed in room 409 patient needs pain meds. You know what took me over the edge? Several nurses were so rude and condicending at shift report. Rolling their eyes when I missed something or questioning me about things that they already knew. Finally one night at shift change this same nurse who was an absolute b.... had my group of patients and needed report. I started giving my report and the questions ripped. That was it for me after I got home I called and said I would not be comming back. I was so disappointed. I wanted to work at this hospital for so long and was so excited about it. I just could not put up with all these young nurses who felt superior and could not try and make another nurse feel welcome. What this long post is getting at is it's much harder to go to a hospital setting from LTC/SNF. It's totally different all the way around. Most women are mean and will chew you up and spit you out. You have to be able to fuction on your own very early on and learn alot in a short amount of time with little direction and most orientations are less than ideal. They'll promise one thing and do another. Now I'm not sure what I am going to do next. I think my chances would have been better if I was started on a slower paced unit with more support. Oh, and there are alot of bitter nurses in the hospital who wish they could leave thats probably what was wrong with the ones that gave me such a hard time.

Home Health is the absolute best option for mom's with school age children. I did Home Health for several months and didn't have a good experience due to poor management. I decided to try something else but nothing allows me the flexabilty that Home Health does as a mom. I can take my daughter and son to school and if they have a dr. appt. I can schedule my patients around them. If I had a job where I had to be at work at 7am I'd be dragging my daughter out of bed, taking her to some day care. That's something I never wanted to do as a mom. Good luck.

I'm with you. I was an LPN for 15yrs. before becoming an RN. Been an RN for less than a year and my first job was home health.The office closed after 6 months and I've been looking for a job ever since. Everyone wants experience as an RN. LTC isn't even an option. I want to try something new. Becoming an RN was supposed to "open so many doors" well that isn't happening. I worked hard in school for this? Just give me a chance!

Thanks. I've been out of work since Oct. and really need a job! I was an LPN for 15 yrs. and an RN for 2 with only LTC exp.and really would like to try something new. I'll keep you posted.

The ad says "Hospital acute care unit. Fresenius Medical Service". I'm not sure what that means. Could that be at a hospital? The lady I spoke with said training was available if I had no experience. I didn't ask too many questions since I'll be applying on Monday. Do you know what Fresenius starting pay might be or approximately? Thanks.

I'm applying for an RN position for Fresenius for acute dialysis. What are the hours/schedule for full-time employees?

I can feel your frustration. I also live in Fl. and can't find a job, even agency work. I got my R.N. in May '08 and instead of going to the hospital, I did home health and hated it .Way to boring for me. All I want to do is work weekends and still can't find a job. Really don't want to go back to SNF since I did enough of that kind of nursing as an LPN. Who said nursing is recession proof?