Abstract

In general nurses with careers in both nursing homes and hospitals provide care to patients or residents depending on the setting. Nurses are able to acquire a different set of skills in each setting. The pace in both settings is different, and nurses in both careers are faced with a different set of challenges and rewards. Working conditions are similar in that in both careers, nurses spend long hours on their feet making rounds. Nursing home nurses tend to specialize in activities of daily living (ADL’s), maintenance care, and end of life care, whereas hospital nurses specialize more in helping a patients stabilize from whatever condition brought them to the hospital and then discharging them as soon as possible to their homes or a facility for rehabilitation. Nursing Home versus Hospital Careers Nursing as a career has a wide range of specialties and a vast array of areas that one can choose to explore. A nursing career can be very rewarding and satisfying as long as one is able to work in an area that one loves, or has some kind of meaning to them. Although nursing can be challenging and daunting at times, the rewards and satisfaction one derives after a day’s work outweighs the challenges and stress that goes with it. While working as a nurse in a nursing home and attending clinical at a hospital while in school, several observations have been made that show the differences and similarities of each work setting.
Nurses working in nursing homes become experts in addressing activities of daily living (ADL’s), maintenance care, and end of life care. They deal with physical ailments associated with aging, and also impairments such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. In addition to physical stress, they often encounter emotional stress especially when interacting with patients who have cognitive decline and may be angry or fearful. They face eventual loss of their residents, which can be especially painful and devastating after they have cared for them for several years. They have the same residents over time and are able to get to know them and their families; and the residents in return get to know their nurses pretty well on a professional and personal level. Nurses in nursing homes tend to have a heavy patient load, which means they have to be very organized with their time and good at multi-tasking. Not only are these nurses taking care of the elderly residents, but they are also in charge of other employees and have to ensure the operation runs smoothly.
On the other hand, nurses in a hospital setting master hands on treatment skills that include, but are not limited to, starting, maintaining, and giving IV fluids and blood transfusions. They help prep patients for tests, and care for patients in the acute phase after procedures. In the hospital setting, nurses see doctors