advice for externship

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Hi everyone,

I would love some quality advice from you all. I am in an Accelerated BSN program, and will be applying for a nursing externship in an MRICU on January 1st, and would love to make myself as competitive as possible. I have a 3.8 GPA and good recommendations, but nothing else to really set myself apart from the crowd.

Would you recommend getting any certifications prior to applying for the externship, like ACLS or a basic dysrhythmias course, or would this not make sense for me as I'm still a student? What about becoming a member of AACN? Would this matter to a hiring manager?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,

Elisa

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Don't waste your time taking ACLS as a student. You'll just have to take it over later to be certified.

Get some letters of rec from your clinical and didactic faculty to take with you to an interview.

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic ICU.

I disagree, having acls helped land me a position as an aid and it is valid as a student so you will just have to do a recert when it expires. You could read some books on critical as well so you may be able to show some knowledge and that you are proactive in learning.

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okay, thanks for the advice! I didn't even think that I would just have to do a recert, that is helpful.

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I think that ACLS certification as well as a basic and/or advanced EKG interpretation course might be helpful. Also, any inside contacts, such as friends/relatives or prior grads from your program who would put in a good word for you, would be helpful. When we've interviewed new grad's, we're not really looking at their knowledge of ICU nursing because that is learned on the job; we're more interested in their personality, people skills, and attitude, how well they would fit in to the unit.

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Specializes in STICU; cross-trained in CCU, MICU, CVICU.
I think that ACLS certification as well as a basic and/or advanced EKG interpretation course might be helpful. Also, any inside contacts, such as friends/relatives or prior grads from your program who would put in a good word for you, would be helpful. When we've interviewed new grad's, we're not really looking at their knowledge of ICU nursing because that is learned on the job; we're more interested in their personality, people skills, and attitude, how well they would fit in to the unit.

Couldn't have said it better....when all things are equal...ie NO EXPERIENCE.....personality, people skills, etc...will get you the job.

ACLS, although would be good...it could also get you in some heat during an interview if they asked you to recall certain information or asked about certain algorithyms....remember...if you don't know the answer to a question do not guess...tell them you do not know...they equate that to a patient....you don't want to guess about a patient's life...

good luck

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