Which job would you choose?

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Specializes in RN: L&D, LPN: Med/Surg, CNA: MedSurg/LTC.

Which job would you choose:

A: At hospital with a max of 7 patients. $13/hr with excellent benefits not including differentials with the option of getting $20/hr with no benefits after 6 months.

B: At nursing home with 30+ residents. $18/hr not including differentials. Not so good benefits.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

That's a toss up for me.

Nursing Home: I love working with the elderly.. specifically on the Dementia/Alzheimers unit some Nursing Homes have. 18$ an hour sounds about right, with a probable 0.50 to 1$ more for second shift (what I would prefer).

Hospital: I hate the start hourly! But you get to do and see so many more things at the hospital than you will in the nursing home. 20$ an hour is good, and the benefits seem irrelevant to me and my reasoning is that since the Health Care bill has passed starting 2014 you can pick and choose the best insurance option you want to pay for and never be denied :) Yay!

So I would be looking at:

18$ an hour with patients I know I am passionate for.

20$ an hour with patients I know I'll care for and get to experience many differen't things and use my learned skills daily.

Well.. I wasn't helpful

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

It would be hospital for me, hands down.

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Specializes in Adult ICU/PICU/NICU.

The hospital without a doubt.

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Specializes in long term care.

definetely, the hospital,which u have the option for the same pay in 6 months, and only 7 patients and you gain more experience and see more in the hospital

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

The answer to your question depends on where your interests lie. If you are interested in the fast pace of the acute care environment, then accept the hospital job offer. If your interest is piqued by the lower-acuity elderly population and routinized tasks, then accept the nursing home job.

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Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.

Is this a CNA job ? I'm surprised to see such a large wage range. $13/hr with excellent benefits is good CNA pay for Oklahoma. $18/hr sounds more like agency pay. In my estimation, an excellent benefit package can be worth up to $ 3,000.00 more per year than a so so one. At any rate, $5/hr more would translate into about $10,000.00 more per year. When I was your age, I definitely went for the $$$. At my age, I'm more interested in working climate and management style.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, pediatrics.

I would also consider which has the better commute, better hours. Most importantly, which place will treat you the best? What is more important to you: money, experience, or quality of life?

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I love working with geriatric patients. I have done so since I was 16 yrs old. But, I have a certain time frame that I can do it. After about 2 yrs (+/-) I get burnt out. I just can't take it anymore and need to leave that atmosphere and go into a field that doesn't deal with that population. Then my heart calls out to go back to geriatric care and off I go..back to my grammy's and grampys.

That being said, LTC is hard work (even though many think its just pushing pills and putting on band-aids). You have so many different people breathing down your neck. There is a reason most LTC facilities pay quite a bit better than hospitals/docs offices etc.

If given the opportunity to work at a hospital for less than what I make at the LTC, at this point in time I would jump at it. Without a doubt or question in my mind. I want to use the skills and knowledge I was taught in school, but working LTC doesn't always afford that. I see much more opportuntity to advance in the hospital, and you can transfer to a different dept if you choose, in LTC its floor work or management. And management is reserved for the RN's.

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