[kelnich]

Hi everyone,
I have been up all night reading this site. I am a nursing student and I have recently landed a nursing extern position in the ER. It's pretty rare to have openings for a nurse extern in the ER so I am extremely excited.
I still have a year and half left of school (halfway through a BSN program) and I hope to keep this extern position and move right into a RN new grad position.
I am just wondering what kind of advice and what type of classes should I take to help me? I am already looking to stock up on books and stuff and take a tele class.
I have read a lot of posts on here and it kind of scares me, but I am up to the challenge. I like to be crazy busy and I have loads of energy (I've been told) and I am a fast learner with a photographic memory (wow, I sound really conceited, hmm...) I am currently working as an extern on nights on a med/surg floor and have been dying of boredom. I really don't mind med/surg, in fact, I like it but I just need more to do. Luckily I have the opportunity to do this externship because I think by the time I am done with 1 1/2 years of precepting I will be pretty ripe to start in the ER.
If anyone else on here has started in the ER as a new grad please share your experience.
This is an awesome site, keep it coming!!!!!

[traumaRUs]

What an awesome experience! You will do great! We have externs in our level one trauma center and certainly do hire some after they become RNs. In my personal opinion - the ER is the ONLY way to go...even after 8 years, the adrenaline rush is still there. Ask lots of questions, hook yourself up with someone with lots of enthusiasm and learn all you can - you will see how it helps with school in general. Congratulations!!!

[Jen2]

I am still in nursing school and just finished up my externship in the ED. This is where I want to be when I am done. I also externed on a med-surge floor and felt the same as you. I learned so much, I had an awesome precepter that challenged me everyday, which is key. After the advice of my instructors and many on this site I decided that I would go to med/surg for a year against my will. However my preceptor was an ER nurse for 23 years and she told me "Honey, you are an ER nurse, I can tell, you have that quality that I don't see too often. Please come and work with me as a GN and let me precept you as a new nurse. If you go to med/surg you are going to be miserable. I have already started training you to think like an ER nurse should." This made me feel so good and gave me so much confidence. I took this to heart and she is now my mentor. I was so happy that a veteran RN told me this and just didn't try to force me into med/surg. Honestly, if this nurse worked on the med/surg floor that I precepted on I would go to med/surg. It's not about the saying "you have to have a year of med/surg first" that I hear so often it's a matter of starting my nursing career with a veteran nurse that challenges me and is willing to show me the ropes. I didn't get this support from the med/surg unit and I feel that this is what I need to be a great nurse. So, off to the ED I go when I graduate.

Charting is way different in the ED so you will have to learn a new way of charting. Actually many things are different in the ED. Ask questions. Get a list of drugs that are commonly used from your precetor and look them up. Read the policies for triage, conscious sedation, protocals for things like MI's etc. You will have to work harder and do a lot of reading outside of the hospital but it pays off. Good luck to you!

[Carotid]

with a photographic memory

i have a photographic memory too, it just hasn't developed yet

bls, tele, phlebotomy, and int insertion classes would be of extreme value as of now. some would probably recommend acls or pals, but non-nurse personell usually take a back seat to more critical staff in my institution. best of luck, and have fun for cryin' out loud.

[melissa2005]

Are any of you from NC I would love to find out about doing an externship!!!