Critically Difficult Choice and a crazy story time

This is a longer post I'll put a tl;dr. Also names have been changed... (HIPPA)

I work in Long Term Care. I work in a nursing home. I started as a CNA or a certified nurse's aide. I essentially help people with activities of daily living. Things that abled people probably take for granted. Eating, going to the bathroom, walking, brushing teeth, etc. It is hard work. I also work primarily with folk who have dementia of some sort. It is a thrilling experience, to say the least.

I've had all sorts of things happen to me from being swung on to having feces thrown at me. I have been doing it for 3 years. About a year and a half ago I decided that it was time to "upgrade" and I went for my QMA, Qualified Medication Aide. I can now give the drugs. But the place that I am working at now keeps me on the floor and away from the med cart. There is always some excuse, the census is too low, the census is too high, or there aren't enough nurses to train you. . . there are not enough CNAs to replace your shift during training... Just literally anything. I have been sticking with it because although it's hard I enjoy my job.

About 6 months ago there was an en masse quit. A group of like 8 CNA/ QMAs just put in there two weeks and left because they were tired of the bull shit that is going on here. So, we were short-staffed and that seems like the understatement of the decade. I was picking up to cover because they hired no one. I was also in school (Nursing). So a couple of months fly by, and there are some new aides showing their faces. They are children. LIke 16-19 still in high school or fresh out. . . let me just say this. I have no qualms with younger people. I find myself being able to understand because I vowed that as I got older, I don't want to forget to be who I needed at that age. HOWEVER, I feel as if they don't understand the importance of the job. [Insert whatever "just an ass wiper passive-aggressive comment here] I don't care. They are making more money than the majority of them know what to do with.

There have been times when I walk into a shift and Grandma June has rings of piss where she has been sitting all day. And Papaw John has dried caked-up shit. Auntie Joan has caught her 8th UTI in 2 months because she is a bit of a challenge to shower so the other aides just mark "Refused" on her chart. There is only so much I can do. I can pick up more hours but that isn't feasible right now. Going to HR, or the Director of Nursing (D.O.N) doesn't seem to do anything. And reporting to State doesn't help because State lets them know they are coming and suddenly all the HR people are super helpful that week while State is in the building. They aren't shut in their offices all day.

There have been times when the younger aides clocked in, got the report, and did a quick as fuck walk through then left for 2 hours... TWO HOURS until it was time to start getting the residents up for dinner. DO NOT get me started on the nurses............. OH, GOD. Okay, just one example. There was a nurse we will name her Kelly. I was working with Kelly and I was one of her aides in the memory care unit. There was a patient, we will name her Amy who had some left-sided droopiness to her face. Now keep in mind I am "just an aide" and she is a nurse. BUT aides are the ones who spend the most time with the patients. We are with them 95% of our shift. Nurses take them their meds and then they are on to the next one. I told Kelly "Hey Amy looks a little different, she is more pale than usual, her speech is slightly slurred and she has some drooping on her left side. Now Amy is usually very pale, she was in a more advanced stage of dementia so her speech is slurred and sometimes incomprehensible and her face is droopy. She was like 99. (Seriously, she was 99) But because I was with her more, I noticed that everything seemed a little more pronounced. So, I went to let Kelly know. Kelly was like... "She is always like that. Are you trying to imply that she is having a stroke?"
I was like.. "Look I can't diagnose anything but I am telling you something is wrong"
Kelly said, "Well I am a nurse and I am telling you that she is just declining. That is the nature of the disease she has."
After going back and forth I wanted to go get another nurse but Kelly was doing the literal most and said, "Fine let's go. I will look." She half-ass looked at Amy and was like "I'll make a note and look at her medications"
It was my weekend off so after everything was said and done. I went home... When I came back on Tuesday. I was told Amy passed away because she had a HUGE stroke. Want to know if there was even an investigation into why? No there was not even after I raised hell about it. The only thing that happened was I (Me, Myself) got kicked off the unit for 2 weeks. . . for "bullying the nurse and creating a hostile work environment!!!"
Kelly doesn't work here anymore she moved on.

(This is one of many stories about the nurses who work here.)

Fast forward, I am done with this job and all the BULLSHIT that is happening here. It is not ALL bad and I credit the fact that I know what I know because of this place. I have made some life-long friends here. But I think it is time to go.

I recently applied to a hospital . . . Something that you need to know is that there aren't CNAs at a hospital... Well, they are just called something else. PCT or patient care techs. They also have more things that they can do. At a long-term care facility, CNAs can take vitals, and help with daily activities but that is where the responsibilities end. PCT can do EKGs, take out catheters, do blood draws, vitals, and do accuchecks (Check blood sugars), and some other things. Also, the ratio is better at a hospital. The facility I am at now I can have upwards of 25 residents at a time, so 25 residents to every 1 aide... the hospital is only 7-9 range. So, 7-9 patients to every 1 PCT.
The sad thing is the pay is worse at a hospital... I'll be taking a $2.5 pay cut. It may not seem like much to some but 2 dollars is significant to me. Also, the hospital is an hour away. I will only work 3 days a week, compared to the 5 days I work now. I work 5 days a week for 8 hours. At the hospital, I will work 3 days a week for 12 hours. There is also to count on the new experiences... and the hospital is good. They fly in people internationally because they are one of the only hospitals to do certain procedures. They are at the forefront of cancer research. Why can't they pay more? I just don't know what to do... I don't think I can take it at this nursing home for much longer. I am not even learning anything anymore I am just babysitting aides and taking care of Grandma and Papaw Smith. I can try to apply to a closer hospital but I feel like it has already taken me this long. I had to go through 3 levels of interviews. I don't think I would make it through the entire process of another. I am ready to blow.

I also don't want to go to the hospital and then immediately start looking for somewhere else. Also, another thing the nursing home is paying for my school. lol

What should I do?

TL;DR - The nursing home that I work at sucks and is bad. I found another job. It's further away, I'll take a 2 dollar pay cut, but it would be better than where I am. The pros and cons are equal to me. Also, there is a story about a bitch ass nurse.