New ADN Grad placement!!!

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 23, 2007

Good luck to you.

I have no real opinion as I don't work in the ER. I know that our ER hires new grads and the staff there is not supportive to them. I work with three nurses who were new grads in the ER and that was the biggest problem they encountered - lack of peer support. The training program was very intense and not time limited, but task limited (i.e. work "x number of traumas", "x number of strokes" and "x number of chest pains" and then orientation was done).

I would think a paramedic would be just fine as as new grad in the ER. I moved your post out of introductions into the ER Nurses forum. They work in the ER and can offer some good opinions.

Trauma Columnist · Jan 23, 2007

Hi there and congrats on your upcoming graduation. Tweety is totally right - if you go to a supportive environment for new grads you will do well. I went to a level one ER with 2 years of ICU experience (1996). At the time they didn't hire new grads at all. However, within two years they started to do so and expanded their education/orientation program to 12-16 weeks and most new grads have done fine. Depending on the ER, 12-16 weeks is not too long a time. You need to make sure that you get the best experience possible prior to being set lose. Good luck....hospital is much different than pre-hospital. I too do both and love them both, but there are distinctly different expectations.

chip193 · Jan 24, 2007

When I moved inside after 16 years of ambulance calls, I made it known that being assigned to any part of the hospital other than the ER would be a deal-killer and I would find another hospital.

I do not have the personality to work with the same 4-8 patients for an entire shift. It is the change and the autonomy of the ER that keep me sane!

Chip

P.S. A mere three years on the "dark side" and I'm doing charge 90% of the time and doing new employee orientations. And I've still never been on Med-Surg (or anywhere else!), save two days for my exam in school.

LeesieBug · Jan 24, 2007

I agree that it is ABSOLUTELY ALL about the environment you walk into.

I was a new grad thrust into ED, and while it is difficult and slightly terrifying:lol2: , I could not ask for a more supportive, helpful group of people to work with. Everyone understands my inexperience...they are aware that I need extra help at times, and when big stuff rolls into one of my rooms that I am not yet prepared to handle, there is always someone there to help me before I even have a chance to ask.

Before taking a position as a new grad in ED, I would find out how often a prospective unit takes new grads, how they FEEL about taking new grads (as a group), arrange a day to job shadow on the unit to get a feel for the vibe/level of teamwork, talk to some of the nurses who started there as new grads...see what they have to say.

hope3456, ASN, RN · Jan 24, 2007

All new grads want to work in the ER - at least where I live. This makes it extremely competitive, as they will only hire 3 (new grads) at a time - d/t the extensive training they need.

JMBM · Jan 25, 2007

I was a medic who "came indoors" and was a new grad in the ED. First, your medic experience will be extremely valuable, but perhaps not in the way you think. Sure, the physical skills are great, but its the mental part that will really help - the experience of assessing, ordering tasks and operating under stress in unpredictable situations. Our department has a formal internship program but made it clear they only hired me (as a new grad) due to my medic experience. That being said, some experience on the floors is really valuable, also. In a high volume ED, many of the tasks you do (giving meds, cleaning patients, etc) are ones most nurses learned and perfected on the floors. In the ED, you are constantly juggling, re-prioritizing and doing these tasks at high speed. Imagine pulling out onto an unlimited speed autobahn the first day after you got your drivers license. ...What's the bottom line? EMS experience is wonderful and it'll help you tremendously. Floor experience is wonderful and would help you tremendously. You could join an ED without either, but only if that ED has a formal, working, effective learning/preceptorship program designed to help you get up to speed. Best of luck and welcome to the circus.

Rbike · Jan 26, 2007

Thanks for everyone's input, it has really been helpful. I do know that floor experience would benefit me greatly and am prepared to accept that if it comes down to it. One problem that I am having is that even though with the EMS background and experience, I talk recruiters in HR department and they say that they don't even look at new grads for ER placement. I also talk to ER managers and request an interview with them, because HR would never let me have a chance for an interview with the ER manager, but my point is this, the ER manager sends me back to HR and says that she will not have an interview with anyone unless HR is the one to set it up. None of the hospitals that I have applied to here in the state of Idaho have preceptorship programs for new grads in the ER. Even about 95% of the ER's in the state of Idaho have never hired a new ADN graduate.