IYO: Which would be a better senario

[Ianxcom]

Hi all, I have a bit of a dilemma and i would like everyones opinion. I have been a med surg nurse for about 3.5 years now with the last 1.5 on a more acute and specific trauma/surgical/oncology at a level 1 trauma hospital. I plan on traveling but i wanted to get all my ducks in a row first and give me the best chance possible since i hear travel nursing is a bit slow right now.

I plan on traveling in about 1.5 years from now, reason being im starting my RN to BSN this summer. I expect that to make me more desirable when interviewing. My main dilemma is whether i should get ICU experience or not. I have always wanted to end up in ICU or ED in the end. So in short im thinking of one of the two options below.

1) Go into ICU for 1.5 years while i finish my BSN degree making my experience 3.5 years in medsurg and 1.5 in ICU.

2) Stay in medsurg and get a total of 5 years experience before i start traveling. Our hospital will also be moving in june and my med surg floor with start using tele giving me added experience there.

I would prefer option 1 but i am worried about hospitals saying, "oh you only have 1.5 years of ICU" and be stuck traveling for medsurg in both both options anyways but only have 3.5 yrs experience with option 2 leaving me less desirable to hire.

Thanks for listening and any advise you can give.

[79Tango]

First, traveling is not all that slow.. Plenty of jobs out there right now. Second, if you have the opportunity to do 1.5years of ICU ---Go for it! I know plenty of ADN's working ER and ICU making great money. You might even find a MICU travel contract with your current experience. You just need to get your resume out there. You'd be surprised.

[Ianxcom]

Thats good to hear that there are still jobs out there to be had. I just dont think i would be comfortable traveling to ICU positions without experience.

[OkieICU_RN]

I would be very surprised to hear of anyone without ICU experience could landing any ICU contract position. Hospitals EXPECT the traveler to essentially walk in the door and start taking care of patients.

As far as options, if what you want to do is ICU or ED and you don't plan on traveling for another 1.5 years anyway, I'd go into the area that you want to work in. I started traveling after 1.5 years experience in a large (900+ bed) hospital. You really learn a lot in that amount of time. There will still be some positions that won't accept you right away because they require 2,3,5 years of experience. But there are many, many that require only a year of ICU experience.

If I were you, on your course of action, and wanted to end up in ICU/ED, here's what I would do: I would try and land a job in a large, high acuity ICU. After being there for about 6 months to a year, I would talk with the ED manager and ask about getting some orientation in the ED and work a shift a week or a couple of shifts a month there if at all possible. This would make you much more marketable because you could do either or both. There are several positions I haven't qualified for because I have never done ER and they want someone that can float there. Just my 2 cents.