[manaAJ2]

I'm going to be a sophomore in the BSN program at the University of RI. Right now I'm volunteering at a children's hospital and love it to death. I love kids and really want to get a nursing job in pediatrics right after I graduate. Is it possible to get a job in pediatrics right out of college with no experience?
Also, I eventually want to go to graduate school and am wondering what different options you have if you want to work in pediatrics. thanks!

[bergren]

I went into Peds right out of college and probably have worked a total on 6 months adult in my whole working life (many years!). You will get a lot of conflicting advice. I strongly encourage students who LOVE peds and are sure they want a career in it to go straight into it from school. With the nursing shortage, there will be plenty of Children' Hospitals willing to hire you as a new grad.

[nurs4kids]

Same here. Straight out of school. I have not worked a day in adult (<wispers>..nor do I desire to ). With the shortage, even our ICU's are hiring new grads. You should have no problem.


The different options are wide open. You can do anything from upper management to nurse practitioner or clinician. Our hospital uses alot of both. If I weren't so lazy, I'd go back to np school. Most of them pick a subspeciality (ie; neurology, neurosurgery, general medicine, oncology, orthopedics,etc.) and work under a physician but are still employed by the hospital. The clinicians usually work in the ICU's. Good luck!

[Smatt!!1]

Originally posted by manaAJ2
I'm going to be a sophomore in the BSN program at the University of RI. Right now I'm volunteering at a children's hospital and love it to death. I love kids and really want to get a nursing job in pediatrics right after I graduate. Is it possible to get a job in pediatrics right out of college with no experience?
Also, I eventually want to go to graduate school and am wondering what different options you have if you want to work in pediatrics. thanks!

Hi! I'm a paediatric nurse in the Great Britain. I enjoy it, and it will always be my job. I've been qualified for three months, and recently started a job in paed ortopaedic trauma.
However! starting my new role has been a shock! There doesn't appear to be a shortage of jobs in the UK, all those paeds stdnt I now got a job.. DROP ME A LINE TO SAY HELLO. Come and join us

Smatt:

[RINurse]

Wow.. Day late dollar short..

You should have graduated this past August and I hope you got a job in Peds. I work in a Children's Hospital in RI and got hired straight out of school, but it was a matter of who I knew. They have a tendency to try and fill Adult positions first since there are so many of them. I was told a bunch of times that, "There just aren't any pedi positions right now." I'd say the way to get your foot in the door is to inquire about who the pediatric managers are and talk to them directly. Hope this advice helps someone.

[uk_nurse]

Hi Smatt!!1
I too work in a paed ortho and trauma ward in uk and only qualified in march 2003. I totally agree it is a shock. Our ward also takes some general med too due to lack of beds on the other paeds ward. My hospital only has 3 children's wards and one of those is a PAU, so we get very busy quickly. Hope you are enjoying it. I love it