Hi there,

I finished nursing school in germany and I just got my registration with the irish an bord altranais (irish nursing board) as RGN. My recruitment agency said that most job offers for nurses without post-grad experience would be in nursing homes.
Here in germany work in nursing homes is viewed as rather low qualified work and once you have been working in a nursing home it will be very difficult to find work in a hospital in the future. WOuld I ruin my own career if I now accept a job in a nursing home or do you think it would be possible to find work in a hospital after working for 1 or 2 years in a nursing home?

I would like to work in ICU or gyn/obs in the future and I'm quite disappointed that there appear to be hardly any chances to get into this straight away :(

thanks in advance for your answers

I am completely new to the health system in Ireland. here in germany we start working in hospital wards immediately after graduation. Half of the ppl from my course started work on the ICU straight away and are doing fine there.

In Ireland most clinics expect you to have minimum 1-2 years post grad experience so I am wondering do all newly graduated nurses work in nursing homes? Or is my agency trying to "sell" me a job no irish nurse would accept? I am worried about my career.

I can't afford an internship as I need a salary as I'm moving abroad.

In an irish nursing home u still earn better money than an ICU nurse in germany... but still... what do you guys think?

thanks charlita, this is what I was hoping to hear :)
I like elderly people and get along very well with them so I will work there for 1 or 2 years before applying for work in a hospital job.

by the way, I'm impressed how fast you guys responded :) seems like a great forum! I just signed up in here :)

A good nursing home would give you great experience. Will you be moving from Germany, or is this going to be your permanent home? If it's not permenant, then any experience would be good. If it is permenant, then take what you can get, then maybe transfer to something else as soon as you can.

hey :) just wanted to share my news.. I got accepted for a job in a nursing home in Cork/Ireland. its exactly the city where i wanted to live so i am very happy now. I will start my job there in april.

nursey2008 said:

I am completely new to the health system in Ireland. here in germany we start working in hospital wards immediately after graduation. Half of the ppl from my course started work on the ICU straight away and are doing fine there.

In Ireland most clinics expect you to have minimum 1-2 years post grad experience so I am wondering do all newly graduated nurses work in nursing homes? Or is my agency trying to "sell" me a job no irish nurse would accept? I am worried about my career.

I can't afford an internship as I need a salary as I'm moving abroad.

In an irish nursing home u still earn better money than an ICU nurse in germany... but still... what do you guys think?

I am about to qualify in the UK and have been offered a job in a large private hospital in Dublin in the mental health sector working with early intervention psychosis. This would tend to go against what you have been told ie working in a nursing home. I would suggest looking at other agencies for example nursefindersuk.com who have plenty of jobs on offer in Ireland (mainly Dublin) and help you every step of the way, I even got interviewed in the UK.
Hope this is of some help to you and good luck!