Advice for new grad job offers

[RNneedingachange]

Hi everyone,

I'm a new grad living in Dallas and have several offers on the table. While I'm thankful, I'm having trouble deciding which to take. None of them are in the areas I really want to work in. Mostly adult Med-Surg. My passion is in peds. I really don't have an interest in general Med-Surg.

The closest offer I have is a child/adolescent psych position at a mental health facility. It's not a major hospital. My question is - would taking this job give me a little extra experience to hopefully land a peds job elsewhere? I am interested in psych. I loved my psych clinical. However, I don't know that I want to do it forever. I'd really love to work at a peds orthopedic hospital here locally, which is my dream job, essentially. Although I'd love to work in peds in any capacity. Since psych is different, would taking this offer help me or hurt me in the longrun?

Does anyone have experience working in pediatric psych? What is it truly like? I've read a few threads but see mixed feelings.

I hope that as you read my question, you'll understand that I'm not trying to be too picky, but I want to make the best decision and gain the right kind of experience for my ultimate goal of working in a peds hospital.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and advice!

[crossfitnurse]

What facility is the position at? The only experience I had was at the state hospital in the adolescent unit.

If I lived closer, I would of applied for that position asap and prayed to get it. I loved it!!! BUT - it's just so different from a medsurg peds setting and medsurg in general.

The hard thing will be getting BACK into the MS world when switching from psych.

[crossfitnurse]

Oh and I'm in the Dallas area as well :)

[RNneedingachange]

So you would recommend not doing the psych first?

[AmyRogersRN]

When I graduated there were NO new grad jobs. I took what I could get, which was adult med/surg. It ended up not being that bad and after a year I could basically go where I wanted. I went to L/D, but that year of med/surg really helps when I'm looking at other jobs. I am now extremely glad that I did it because it opens a lot of doors for me. Your first job is not always your dream job but if you want a career in PEDs, I think some psych experience would really help, and look good.

I kinda miss it haha. Good luck and congrats!!! 😀👍

[INN_777, BSN, RN]

I think it also depends on where this pedi psych job is. I was hypothetically interested in psych but was concerned that as a new nurse I will not develop med-surg skills if I take a first job in psych. Now, I spoke with a nurse at a major hospital who took a first job in pedi psych and she said she a) experiences no lack of med-surg skills since patients in that hospital were high acuity and b) she had the opportunity to pick up extra shifts on other Pedi floors and further develop her med-surg skills (and make an extra buck). Maybe you can ask the organization that offered you pedi psych whether there will be similar opportunities there once you oriented and up to speed on your core job. If so, what a smooth transition that would make to another Pedi floor in the future!

[RNneedingachange]

I think it also depends on where this pedi psych job is. I was hypothetically interested in psych but was concerned that as a new nurse I will not develop med-surg skills if I take a first job in psych. Now, I spoke with a nurse at a major hospital who took a first job in pedi psych and she said she a) experiences no lack of med-surg skills since patients in that hospital were high acuity and b) she had the opportunity to pick up extra shifts on other Pedi floors and further develop her med-surg skills (and make an extra buck). Maybe you can ask the organization that offered you pedi psych whether there will be similar opportunities there once you oriented and up to speed on your core job. If so, what a smooth transition that would make to another Pedi floor in the future!

It's at an established mental health facility here. I don't want to say the exact name right now and have them read this :)

But, it's not attached to a hospital with other pedi floors. They just specialize in mental health and have inpatient and outpatient for children as well as adults and detox.

My gut says to go with the Med-Surg but I'd have to move 2 hours away to take one of those offers. The hospital is a well-known teaching facility though.

I'd just hate to move to a smaller town to do Med-Surg and end up feeling like I made the wrong choice.

[llg, PhD, RN]

If what you want is peds inpatient ortho (or any peds inpatient med/surg type unit) ... then adult med/surg would be the better fit. It's VERY hard to switch from a psych job to an inpatient physical care job and most peds employers are wary of hiring people who haven't done physical care at the bedside for a while.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with having a psych career -- if that is what you want. I'm just saying that managers looking to hire a staff nurse for an inpatient population want recent bedside physical care experience.