I am so glad to have found this forum!

pocahontus · Aug 29, 2006

that's awesome that you know what specialty you want to work! i was just reading all the forums that were questioning what it was like to work on a bu. it sounded like so many new grads were working there because that was a position available. i'm an lpn going to rn this fall too! in the last 10min i've started to wonder if there is bu close by. it sounds so interesting! so what if the world thinks your crazy! be crazy is what i say. you'll make someone's day i'm sure!

i am so glad that i found this forum! i have a desire to be a burn nurse and everybody out here in my world thinks i am crazy! they have all these opinions and all i can think is "have you worked there?" "are you even in nursing or the medical field for that matter?" no!
i am in lpn school now and trying to find a student job at the hospital that has the burn unit for our area. i am hoping that if i "break" in and they get to know me and my work, that maybe if i am lucky, i can get in the burn unit as a lpn.
i do start my rn this fall though so if i have to wait a couple years, so be it!
thank you all for doing everything you do and thank you for coming on here at the end of the day to talk about it so that people like me can learn about this amazing field!

gwenith, BSN, RN · Aug 29, 2006

Burns is not for everyone but it is an area where the difference YOU as a nurse, not just part of a team, make is astounding. Good luck in finding a job and don't let anyone tell you you have made the wrong choice!!

kellerpatty · Aug 30, 2006

Hi:

I work as a new RN in a Level I Trauma Burn ICU. I LOVE IT! The work is hard, hot, sad, bloody, smelly...but terrific when you work with your patients and see them progress a tiny bit each day. Sure, some of them don't make it and that goes for every unit in a hospital, but many more of them do overcoming horrific odds...and that is a blessing that I get to see when I go to work. Our unit is close-knit and everybody works together to achieve our goal and that is to send our patients home with as much function and as little disfunction as possible. We work with PT, RT, OT, and just about every other T you can think of. It's definitely not for everybody, and yeah, I get a lot of "yucks" when I tell people which part of the hospital I work in, but that's what makes it special. You work a long time with patients and their families and after awhile, you begin to focus less on what a person's body looks like and you start learning about them as a person. I hope that you will follow your heart and choose an area of nursing that you love, whether it is burns or something else. When you work so hard, as most nurses do, it must absolutely be in an area you can feel good about. I'm excited for you...keep up the good work!

mauxtav8r · Dec 23, 2006

Great encouragement to those of us considering burn nursing.

Asklepios · Jun 3, 2007

This is a good thread for those of us considering this area. I am going to start school this fall with the intention or doing Burns or OR, but I'm leaning toward Burns. Only problem is there are no burn units in any the hospitals near me. They transport them to other areas.

navyspouse · Jun 6, 2007

This is a good thread for those of us considering this area. I am going to start school this fall with the intention or doing Burns or OR, but I'm leaning toward Burns. Only problem is there are no burn units in any the hospitals near me. They transport them to other areas.

This is also an area that I'm highly considering once I get done with school. I thought ER first, then upon learning of burns in A & P and reading more about them, the light clicked in my head. My DH thinks its a wonderful area to work and my daughter thinks I'm crazy!