Adult vs Pediatric ER Assignments

[RNNED]

The hospital I work for has separate adult and pediatric emergency departments. I work on the adult side. I am interested in traveling but feel as though this may limit my assignments. Does anyone share this problem? Have you had trouble getting assignments? I do have the opportunity to pick up on the peds side, but don't want to if it's not completely necessary. Thoughts?

[NedRN]

The more experience you have, the wider your choice of jobs will be, and the more competitive you will be. Adding pediatric experience will give you an edge over more ordinary ED travelers. One of my best friends has picked up a significant amount of pediatric experience on staff and travel jobs, enough that he just landed an assignment working at one of the largest children's hospitals in California. While he is primarily doing the assignment for the challenge, it will certainly give his resume a significant boost to have a well known teaching hospital on his work list. Any ED manager would love to have such a nurse to balance the staff skill sets - since like you, the average ED nurse is not really comfortable doing peds and there always has to be some resource nurse available (make that "should").

So no, it is not necessary, but you have a rare opportunity and it will not only make you a better nurse, but a more competitive traveler better able to get the best pay and locations. You probably will never have this opportunity once you start traveling, and it is the rare hospital that has a separate pediatric stream.

[RNNED]

Thanks so much for your input. That makes a lot of sense and what I was expecting to hear. I will definitely email the peds manager ASAP.