I graduated from LVN school last year..Hospitals are no longer hiring LPN/LVN..You will be working at a LTC/SNF..You will have 30 residents to care for or less if you are lucky..That is if you are lucky..Depending on the shift you get, either you get AM, PM, or NOC shift, AM shift is the hardest..If you have that shift, prepare to fight for your life to survive in that shift..It is like a war..You will have to care for 30 residents, pass medications, do treatments, take new MD orders, chart important information, prepare for the unexpected, supervise CNAs, do new admissions, etc..LTC/SNF are understaffed because of company greed and the company will not care if you lose your license if something happens....Managment will expect you to finish all your work at the end of your shift on time.The turnover rate is very high in LTC/SNF for a LPN/LVN, especially if you work the AM shift..In some LTC/SNF for LPNs, it is a revolving door and new nurses come and go more than the CNAs come and go....If you are the lucky ones, you might get an easier shift like PM or NOC shift, those are the lucky ones..Everyday when I go to work, I feel like it is some kind of war to survive with the workload in AM shift..I dont take lunch breaks and I never get out on time..Management will get mad at me for not getting out of time or completing all my work duties but I tell myself to ignore it because I am concerned about patient safety and my license..And I know that the next nurse that will replace me if I do quit will go through the same things..Nothing will change..
Long term psych requires little experience, acute psych will usually require some experience (depending where you work). The prison system isn't bad I've heard. I believe (it's been a while since I looked into this) that if your work in the prison system in CA you can be trained as a guard, and while you won't be patrolling inside the prison, you can get some of the benefits that their union has fought for.
BTW: I worked long term and acute psych and I loved it... but it's not for everyone. I would strongly advise that you do a personal assessment because what I have seen is that staff that get into that environment REALLY like it or REALLY hate it. It really depends on your attitude and ability to work well with people. More than any other area of nursing you NEED to be able to talk with people and understand that they will say all sorts of things, and sometimes it is directed at you. You CANNOT take it personally.
i just graduated this past december and now works as a charge nurse at SNF/LTC. i have about 40 patients with monday through friday 7am-4pm shift. and i absolutely love my job!!! the schedule works well for me cause it gets so busy that i'm always on my feet. its not as hard as you describe but it CAN be challenging. the only thing is about my facility is that we have our own treatment nurse which takes a whole load off of my duties other than that, i do everything else.
and... they pay me 25/hr.
so thats why i'm not complaining.
i got the best schedule and a great pay for a new grad!!
MursingMale
25 Posts
Long term psych requires little experience, acute psych will usually require some experience (depending where you work). The prison system isn't bad I've heard. I believe (it's been a while since I looked into this) that if your work in the prison system in CA you can be trained as a guard, and while you won't be patrolling inside the prison, you can get some of the benefits that their union has fought for.
BTW: I worked long term and acute psych and I loved it... but it's not for everyone. I would strongly advise that you do a personal assessment because what I have seen is that staff that get into that environment REALLY like it or REALLY hate it. It really depends on your attitude and ability to work well with people. More than any other area of nursing you NEED to be able to talk with people and understand that they will say all sorts of things, and sometimes it is directed at you. You CANNOT take it personally.