Thinking about taking a scholarship that would require 1 year of work in nursing home

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I have applied to a scholarship that would require me to work in long term care for at least a year. I have been offered the scholarship but I recently have been told by several people that working as a nurse in a nursing home is the death of your career? It is not what I want to do for my whole life and I would really like to work in an area such as Med Surg or the Emergency room eventually but will it end up being impossible to get hired with long term care on my resume? The scholarship is for 2000. I really need some more help making a decision because this is a very big career decision I would potentially be making.

Thank-you

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Specializes in LTC.

What you heard could not be far from the truth. Working in a nursing home is NOT death to your career. Med surg and other hospital experience do require nurses to use a different and more advanced skill set however you can still gain valuable experience in LTC. LTC care nurses are some of the hardest working nurses I know ( I'm not just saying this because I am one). I would not give up this scholarship. It is hard for new grads all over and there are many nurses old and new that will take your spot in a heart beat. You can try it out for a year and if you don't like it then at least you have some nursing experience under your belt while looking for your niche. Good luck with what ever you decide and keep us posted.

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Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.

I agree with NurseLoveJoy88 that working in LTC is far from being the death of one's career. As elderly persons make up such a large percentage of patients in most clnical settings, a background in geriatric nursing will be an asset. However, if LTC is truly not your area of interest, a year can seem like an eternity. I don't know your financial situation; $2000 can certainly help a great deal. I'm just not sure it's worth a year commitment if your interests lie elsewhere.

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Specializes in PICU, Sedation/Radiology, PACU.

If you are interested in LTC, this might be a good route for you to go. You can definately get hired into acute care with long term care experience, just as you can get hired into acute care with no experience.

However, while 2,000 dollars might seem like a lot right now, is it really worth a year in a job you aren't interested in? Consider that 2,000 dollars is between 2 and 4 weeks of RN pay once your graduate. It can certainly be a help to buy books and pay for school at the moment, but the long term stipulations of the scholarship should be seriously considered.

Also, does the scholarship gaurantee you a job in LTC? Or do you have to find your own job after graduation but limit yourself to applying to LTC? A gauranteed job in LTC might well be worth avoiding the hassle and stress of a job search.

I can't tell you what to do one way or the other- it's the decision that's best for you. Just weigh all aspects of the situation carefully.

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Thank-you for replying it really helps to hear that. You know I would like to try MedSurg or ER nursing but I know that I will will be able to work in any specialty. Truthfully geriatricts would not be my first choice but I am not oppossed to working in that field and I think it could be a valuable experience for me. Part of the reason I started going to nursing school was because of how my grandparents were treated in their nursing home. It made me want to be a good nurse. It is good to hear though that I would still have the option of going into acute care after I work there if I so desire. I just did not want to be somehow limiting myself in what areas I could pursue. I think LTC is a admirable nursing career and I do not agree with the idea that it isn't. The scholarship does gurantee me a job in LTC through a certain company and I can even choose a skilled nursing facility in the area where I am at now. I am needing financial aid, especially for the summer nursing classes that I am about to take and the company does want me to jobshadow next week to make sure that I would like to work with them. The pay is average starting wage at $23 or 24 and The benefits package seemed pretty well worth it as well and like ashepard said, it would be a job right away and they would pay for my NCLEX test. I know several new grads that are taking jobs they do not prefer anyway because the market in Portland, OR is a little sporifice right now. It is good to hear that acute care places would still consider me a valuable asset to their units and might hire me if I have a background in LTC.

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my brother worked at a nusring home right out of school and He loved it! He said the best part was that you really learn how to talk to, and deal with Doctors...He works in the ER now in a hospital.

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Wow that is great to hear :) It definitely gives me hope! Thank-you! I think I will take the scholarship and who knows, maybe I will like working at a skilled nursing facility, or maybe I will go on to ICU but it is good to know that I will still have options!

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I wouldn't do it if that's not what you want to do. I accepted a similar scholarship and am regretting it. They're going to give you just $2,000 in exchange for working for 1 year...a whole year?! That's a big commitment for just a small amount of money. I would only take a scholarship like this if you were already planning to work in LTC. If LTC is in your plans already, then why not take it? Otherwise, I think it's a bad deal.

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Well I am job shadowing this week at one of their skilled nursing facilities so I will have an idea of what kind of work I will be doing and if I find out that I absolutely hate it, then I will not take the scholarship. If I find that the work is something I think I could do for a year and if I find that I like what I will be doing, I will gladly accept the scholarship. Like I said, I know I am cut out to do almost any type of nursing specialty but there are some that I think I might like better than others. I can't say that I think I will absolutely hate doing LTC though, because I don't mind working with the elderly and I went into nursing to help people in general. I mostly thought that the large amount of patients and the possible stereotype of working in the field would be the only drawback.

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IMO a year's indentured servitude is quite a steep reciprocation for $2K. With expectations like that, I'd have to wonder what else they're stingy on.

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Specializes in Telemetry, OB, NICU.

It is awesome to get scholarship from a facility like this. However, unless you are interested in LTC nursing, don't accept it.

I personally wouldn't. Because I haven't heard nor seen a LTC facility that does care if you are a "new grad", orient you long enough, and slowly increase your patient load. I wouldn't put my license under risk by taking 30(more or less) patients as a new grad. What you can do is find out how they treat the new grads and patient load etc if you're interested.

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