Advice on what unit to start on

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Hi, I am a sophmore BSN nursing student who will be partcipating in a nurse externship program this summer. I have to decide shortly which unit I want to work on. This will be my first experience working in the hospital environment. I was wondering if some of you more experienced nurses could gie me some input on what would be a good floor for someone like myself for learning and also becoming comfortable with the enivronment. The choices are narrowed down to: PACU, Ob-Gyn, Psych, ICU, general surgery or general medicine (no med-surg, they are seperate).

Thanks in advance for the advice!!

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what area do you want to work in?? some of those are very different arenas......

if you want critical care experience (which will be beneficial for PCU, ICU, ER) then take the ICU rotation....

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I have never been interested in OB or critical care. I worked both general medicine and general surgical units right after nursing school and learned a lot. One floor I worked on was renal. Many patients in renal failure have diabetes. So I learned a lot about diabetes and enjoy teaching patients about diabetes so I became a CDE (certified diabetes educator).

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ER, L&D, ICU, OR, Educator.

If I had a choice about what kind of experience I'd like a new employee to have, it would be Med/Surg, so I would recommend either of those if they don't come packaged together.

Anyone not absolutly loving OB does not belong in L&D or postpartum.

Anyone not really into psych does not belong on a psych floor.

...just my $0.02.

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Ask your self this, What is it you have been interested in most?

Funny thing happened to me, I did poorly in nursing school on the cardiac test. I got a "C".

My first job 10 years ago was in a step down tele unit. From there I learned more about cardiac and understand it very well. EKG's, MI, Tele, cardiovascular. I received many many classes. So just figure out what it is you want and go from there.

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Any experience you have will be beneficial in the long run. Do you have any long term goal in mind? For example, I know many people who are or want to become CRNA's so naturally they took externships in ICU or tele floors so their transition into those areas would be easier when they were new grads in ICU or tele. Then they did their time in ICU and applied to school as soon as they could, this way they achieved their ultimate goal in the shortest amt of time possible.

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Hi, Nurstig, I started in Medical ward, and I found it, and still do very interesting. I have done surgical,, but feel more relaxed and at home on the medical ward. I love the fact that we get sooo many patients with sooo many different presentations from cardiac to asthma, to uncontrolled diabetes, CVA, Lupus, RA,OP,COAD,and usually alot of patients from teh ICU on the road to recovery. But I guess it depands on where you feel comfortable and I guess thats what the Graduate Nurse Program is all about, you get to go to different rotations to see where you feel you might want to end up.

Bye, hope this helps

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Thank you everyone for your helpful replies!

The problem is that I am not sure what area of nursing I want to go into after I graduate since I haven't had too many clinical experiences yet. Maybe you could tell me what techs/NAs do on the type of unit you work on so I could get an idea of how the job may differ depending on the unit?

Thanks again!

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IMO,

I would chose ICU over the med or surg floors, just for the extern experience. If you go through this externship in a unit where pts are really really sick, then you will feel quite comfortable once you start your clinicals in school.

Also, as far as learning about what goes on with the patient... the nurses on the ICU floor may be able to explain more about the different disease processes, etc. because they will only have 1-3 pts at a time. On the floor however, the nurse may have 5, 6,... ad infinitum..pts. With more pts, it may be harder for her/him to really assist your learning. Maybe...just my thoughts.

Although, if your into that whole "birthing" thing...you are totally on your own b/c that is so not my thing!:D

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Specializes in CCU (Coronary Care); Clinical Research.

For the extern experience, I would also choose and ICU environment--or tele (especially if you think that you will eventually want to work there). Just being able to see cardiac rhythms on the monitor and learning about what they are, s/s of different rhythms I personally feel would be useful in school. Plus, in a medical type ICU, you will be able to see a varitey of advanced pathophysiological processes at work--for me, seeing it makes it easier to learn about and remember. Even just seeing various types of equipment can be useful. Some people probably feel that seeing it in a less advanced stage may benefit their learning more--it just depends on how you learn and what makes it stick in your mind. Just remember to keep your eyes and ears open, any place you go will be a benefit to your schooling.

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