New grad in ER

As you know by now, school is school and work is work. In school, they really tend to teach in the "perfect world". I look as nursing school to be a basic set of tools that you learn. Your real education comes from your experience working. Nothing is perfect and I think it is one of the downfall in nursing programs. Patrick1rn is right, it is good to be nervous, it makes you better and allows for you to realize things you feel you need to improve. You passed school, you have a job: you have what it takes to be great. you just have to find your confidence. Remember, you don't have to know every answer, you just have to know where to find it.

As a manager I have hired new grads in the ED. However I tried to screen them carefully to try to determine if they would be able to fit it. Most were at the top of their class at graduation and most just had that determination knowing what they wanted to do. The other thing that would always impress me was when they would say they were scared. This is good because it is important to know what you don't know. With the internet it is so easy now to look things up but it was not that way before. I would put them through ACSL as soon as possible and after one year they took TNCC and PALS. They did not go near the triage desk until after at least 6 months and most of the time it was a year. Orientation was about 2 months long, included classroom and time on the unit. This was a big ED with about 350 patient visits daily. You had to be able to hit the ground running in some respect. The thing that all the successful new grads did was to keep on reading and learning. This was one of the key aspects to their success. We also tried to get them certified CEN after about 2 years.

Hi Diane227, I just passed my NCLEX last week. I'm 31 years of age. I'm a doctor in the Philippines. I don't have any idea about the application here in the US. All the hospitals I checked requires experience. I would like to ask some advice regarding application. I'm very interested in ER/Intensive Care but I don't have any experience. I will get the BSL certification next week. Do I need to get ACLS before applying to any hospitals?

New Grad in ER, that's really cool. I did my new grad year in PACU in 2008. Acute settings can be daunting to begin with, but when you finally get your footing, I personally think you can take a great deal of pleasure in your work.

I am currently an LPN and work in an immediate care center and I absolutely love the fast paced environments. I am currently pursing my RN degree and will hopefully graduate in December. I want to go straight into the ER as well but I would recommend working in a med-surg setting first. The ER can get crazy and if you freeze up in an emergency situation you could kill someone.