What's your favorite area of nursing and why?

PAERRN20 · Apr 24, 2009

Thanks for everyone who replied! It's great to hear about how wonderful nursing is instead of the doom and gloom!

BatonRougeNurse09 · Apr 24, 2009

I was a brand new ED nurse- started the week after graduation! I think if you have tech experience you are already ahead of the game. Do you know EKGs, splinting, etc? If so you have a big advantage! If you have a strong support system/preceptor you should do fine in the ED!

i do know how to splint so yeah that's a plus...but ekg's scare the crap out of me. In order for me to figure out what's going on in an ekg it takes me a few minutes. Unless its vtach vfib or something like that. If it was some other random ekg i would be trying to figure out what it is meanwhile, my patient is about to go into a critical rhythm. Do you get further training on EKGs once you get hired for ER?

PAERRN20 · Apr 24, 2009

BatonRougeNurse09- Yes you will get further training on EKGs. At least you should. It's ok if it takes you a few minutes to figure out the exact rhythm. But you should know normal sinus, sinus tach, sinus brady, V- tach, V-fib, and A-fib without having to look for a while. Those are the ones you'll probably see the most (hopefully not the Vtach or Vfib!) Taking ACLS will help you lots which is a requirement for every ED I have seen.

BatonRougeNurse09 · Apr 26, 2009

Thanks, I have really been wondering about this. I might do the ER thing afterall. I can read vfib vtach normal sinus and sinus brady and afib but as long as I will get some more training on that I should be fine. I have a very short period of time to decide because I would like to begin working somewhere not too long after I get out. God knows I have been poor for the last 5 years! Im sure all you students out there can appreciate where I am coming from. I have a tech job that I can only work a couple times a month with how school runs me. thanks for the info guys!