Calling all transplant nurses!!!

Thanks for your reply!

I think that becoming an advanced practice nurse would be my eventual goal, but for now, I'm just trying to find out more about what others have done in this specialty - how they got where they are. I understand that one can become a certified transplant nurse after meeting the appropriate requirements, and that's in the plan, too.

I am still finishing my prerequisites for my BSN program and have no idea how many specialties work. It's easy to get information about the more general areas of practice, but I haven't found much on this specialty. Even so, everything I've read at the International Transplant Nurses Society website leads me to believe that this is the area of nursing for me.

I hope I'll get some exposure to transplant nursing during my med-surg clinical rotation... I will be doing clinicals at The Cleveland Clinic. I'm sorry to be so clueless, but I don't know what to expect of clinicals - will I be able to request a rotation in this specific area?

I'm just not sure - I hope I'll have the chance to be a part of the whole process during clinicals and make a decision from there.

I'm also hoping to do some volunteer work... will a hospital allow volunteers in this area? What type of work would they have you do?

Or, do you think that getting involved with some kind of research would provide more relevant experience while I'm waiting for my program to start (I'll have 5 months between finishing prereq's and starting the program)? Or will hospitals hire "pre-nursing" people for interim positions in units they're interested in? (Since I'll be in a 14-month accelerated BSN program and I have a toddler at home, I won't work while I'm in school.)

I know there are probably a million answers to these questions, and I'm sorry I can't be more specific - I'm just looking for LOTS OF opinions... (I told you I am clueless about all this!)

THANKS!!!! http://allnurses.com/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif