"Don't get stuck in LTC"

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Hi there,

New grad RN here. I work in assisted living on the overnight shift. And I LOVE it. Everyone keeps saying "dont get stuck in LTC as a RN!!!!" I don't get it. Yes, I'm not using a lot of clinical skills, but I am still a RN and still loving my job. I absolutely love geri and belong with geri patients. Does anyone think I'm nuts for wanting my career to be in LTC (maybe hospice later on)? Need some encouraging words instead of feeling like I'm "not really being a nurse." :heartbeat

I would not worry so much about what others think you should be doing with your career. I would worry more about what direction that you want your career to go in the future. As with any speciality if a new grad nurse starts out in that speciality it is difficult to switch to a different type of nursing. I believe that it even more the case with LTC because so many hospital nurses do not look at LTC experience as being "real nursing" or that you will "lose your skills".

I would suggest that any new nurse does at least one year of med/surg before going into any speciality. This will make any change that you may want to make in the future much easier. I will tell you from my own personal experience that you do not lose your skills in LTC you just use a certain set of skills and get a little rusty on some of the others. However, the skills that you learned in nursing school do come back easily enough. A positive that I have found is that it is a lot easier going from LTC nursing to hospital nursing than it is going from hospital to LTC.

If you think that LTC is the career path that you wish to go I say go for it. However, I would suggest that you do at least some med-surg nursing PRN so that your options will be more open in the future. Even in hospice the med-surg nursing will be very handy. Good luck

My plan is to do some med surg nursing perdiem if I can find a position doing it. As of right now, I am part-time at my position and would like to get acute care experience also for the future "just in case."

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They tell you not to get stuck because in some case's the hospitals will over look you because you have no acute care under your belt. As a LPN i have gone the Psych LTC RCF path not realizing that i shot myself in the foot.

A Nurse Recruiter told me that no hospital will touch me because in a LTC setting your not doing acute care and she asked when the last time you touched an IV. Something you need to ask yourself. I still have apps pending at hospitals from 4 yrs ago i can sign on right now do my pass word and there they are HR won't even look at them. or at me and i have tried and tried.

If you want to do LTC and RCF ( Residential Care) Home Health or even Psych that's great they all need caring nurses. But if you want to try for a hospital you might find it tough for you to get in. Not saying you wont get it I'm just saying from my stand point it just might be. These are my thoughts use them as you wish

I definitely plan to get acute care experience while I can as a new grad. As soon as I can find a position! I am part time at my ALF and want to do medsurg perdiem if I can so I have that experience. Thanks for the tips!

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Specializes in Home Care.

Thank goodness that we all have our own interests. Can you imagine if every nurse wanted to work med/surg or ER ? There'd be noone left for hospice or LTC.

I work in LTC, its my first job as an LPN and I really enjoy it. I love working with geri, dementia, etc etc.

During RN clinical I spent a day in the ER and helped out on a code. Oh heck no, I never want to be an ER nurse. I also have little interest in anything else in the hospital setting.

I can see myself continuing on in LTC and hope to be a hospice nurse some day. That would truly be an honor for me.

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

The people who say "don't get stuck in LTC" are the people whose aspirations are NOT in LTC. If you love LTC and Geriatrics, then why in heavens name would you do anything else? :)

You are lucky to have found what you wanted and to be there!!!

The rest of us stuck in the rat race. Nurses working LTC and Med-Surg as stepping stones to get out ASAP so they can do L&D, NICU, ER, are a dime a dozen.

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Specializes in LTC.
The people who say "don't get stuck in LTC" are the people whose aspirations are NOT in LTC. If you love LTC and Geriatrics, then why in heavens name would you do anything else? :)

You are lucky to have found what you wanted and to be there!!!

The rest of us stuck in the rat race. Nurses working LTC and Med-Surg as stepping stones to get out ASAP so they can do L&D, NICU, ER, are a dime a dozen.

I want to do L&D or the OR one day. But I truly care about my job in LTC. We work just as a hard as a nurse in any of those units and sometimes I wonder if those nurses could handle a patient load of 25, a heavy med pass, finger sticks before dinner, GT feedings that have to go up, patients with issues, CNA assignments, treatments, calls out to MDs, falls, the phone ringing 1000 times a minute, an admission rolling through the door in the middle of all of this. Oh and you are being called overhead because there's no nurse in the dining room so there goes an hour of your night. :uhoh3:

Its all worth it when a resident(dementia lol) tells you "you can come to my house for dinner on Thanksgiving. I'm cooking."

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I feel like some people think I'm "settling." I always get "why arent you trying to get a hospital job?" "You must want out of ALF!" It gets irritating.

Another new RN grad here, about to start training on Monday in the LTC facility that I've worked in the last 2 years as a CNA. Just wanted to let you know I feel the same way!!! It's like I wrote most of your original post myself :) I always thought that I wanted to do pediatrics, but I know I love my "old folks" and am comfortable caring for that population. Everyone says "well it's ok for a first job, but you need to get out there [the hospital] and learn as much as you can." I know that I'll be happy where I'm at, and I can learn to shake off all the criticism of my career choice, I just wonder how I'll know if I've made the right choice if I never make it in to acute-care peds...

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Specializes in LTC, OB, psych.
We work just as a hard as a nurse in any of those units and sometimes I wonder if those nurses could handle a patient load of 25, a heavy med pass, finger sticks before dinner, GT feedings that have to go up, patients with issues, CNA assignments, treatments, calls out to MDs, falls, the phone ringing 1000 times a minute, an admission rolling through the door in the middle of all of this. Oh and you are being called overhead because there's no nurse in the dining room so there goes an hour of your night.

Ugh. You reminded me of why I am glad to have found a hospital job! I swear, after being the sole nurse for 50, supervising the entire building and passing meds for same, not to mention the reams of investigation that go with every fall and bruise, I feel as though I could handle 6 med-surg patients without breaking a sweat.

Of course, I'm in psych, now, so no time will be spent walking TKAs, giving FFP or pulling drains. I feel as though running a locked dementia unit with major behaviors has prepped me well for what will be coming.

I also heard the "you'll lose your skills" and "I thought nursing homes were the kindergarten of nursing" (Thanks, Mom!) But, if it had not been for the impossible work load along with answering phones and being a ward clerk, I might have been happy in LTC.

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

I worked in hospitals for 7 years as an RN before coming to LTC. I have no desire to ever set foot inside another hospital as an employee, with ONE possible exception being, if a position ever opened on the geri-psych unit at a hospital where I used to work. That's never going to happen though; they will hire someone from within the current staff first.

I have come to love the geriatric population and am to a point where I don't want to work with any other clientele, at least for quite a while. I used to consider school nursing my dream job; that was before I went to work on a child psych unit. Now, I feel the need to stay away from children for a nice, long time. Except my own, of course. ;)

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Another new RN grad here, about to start training on Monday in the LTC facility that I've worked in the last 2 years as a CNA. Just wanted to let you know I feel the same way!!! It's like I wrote most of your original post myself :) I always thought that I wanted to do pediatrics, but I know I love my "old folks" and am comfortable caring for that population. Everyone says "well it's ok for a first job, but you need to get out there [the hospital] and learn as much as you can." I know that I'll be happy where I'm at, and I can learn to shake off all the criticism of my career choice, I just wonder how I'll know if I've made the right choice if I never make it in to acute-care peds...

I'm learning that if I'm happy where I'm at, then why does it matter? I'm making the same as my friends in hospitals and I like what I'm doing. Hope it works out for you too!

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Its all worth it when a resident(dementia lol) tells you "you can come to my house for dinner on Thanksgiving. I'm cooking."

I love this! So sweet. This person must have cooked a LOT of Thanksgiving dinners in her day.

OP: Good for you! Your patients are fortunate to have a nurse who cares about them and is so passionate about her job.

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There is a great need for RN's who are in LTC who actually like being there, and taking care of that pt group. NICU and Geri are certainly the most vulnerable groups of pt's and need very skilled, loving, and caring Nurses who will provide excellent care for them and their families. Maybe you will continue your education someday and become a Geriatric NP.........Keep at it! God bless.

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Specializes in Oncology.

I think if you are happy where you are and are doing well in your job and making the kind of money you want to make, no other opinion matters because that's hard to find no matter where you go.

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