After nursing school???

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I know there is clinical time envolved with becoming an RN during nursing school. How much regular hospital experience would and RN require after graduating (2 year) would one need before I could work in peds or labor and delivery or something that is not on the general nursing floors? I would like out patient surgery etc...but do employers want to see experience in a regular hospital setting and for how many years?

I hear many of you say you have gone to 'specialty' --what does this mean and did you need further education and where did you have to start out?

Thanks for the help! Just want to make sure nursing is for me!

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Depends on the facility and their policy. When I graduated I went straight into ER. The place I'm at now requires at least 6 months' experience in medsurg before moving to a specialty unit.

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Thanks, keep the info coming!

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Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.

A teaching hospital would be more willing (and able) to hire you into a specialty unit. Smaller community hospitals generally don't have the manpower (or interest sometimes) to train a new grad into a specialty unit. And by specialty I mean anything that isn't general med/surg--OB, peds, ICUs, ER, Psych, etc.

I got hired into antepartum with no hospital experience. My friend got hired directly out of school into peds.

Kelly

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Do you mean only med surg. Or is ER considered specialty. i don't understand the sentence...I am a dummy! lol

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

I went straight into peds from graduation, and know people who went straight to NICU, PICU, ER, hem/onc, etc. It's definitely doable. Good luck in whatever you decide.

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Every hospital is different. I went straight into the CVICU (post open-heart) after graduating. As you can partly tell by my screen name, I had wanted to go into Labor and Delivery after graduation for quite a while and I was also offered positions in that immediately after graduation.

Your grades in school also help a lot. Many times, the final semester is when you get to try out your main interest in your preceptorship. Usually, people with a certain GPA or higher get to pick where they want to go and the rest get med-surg. Employers for specialty units will also look at GPA often when deciding which students to allow into their training programs as graduate nurses.

Good luck.

-Alyssa

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i will be graduating in 15 days from an adn 2 year program. what most hospitals will do when you are a new grad is do an internship, which is an easy transition into your specialty area of choice. the hiring process and internship programs can sometimes be competitive to get into depending on how many colleges are in your area. for me, i am in the houston area and there are several adn and bsn colleges that are graduating rns so the hiring process was somewhat competitive, but i got an internship working in critical care. this involves 3 months of having a preceptor and class time that the hospital provides to train you for your specialty. if you want to go into any "specialized area", i would strongly recommend you find a hospital that offers internships after graduation.

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I am in Tulsa Oklahoma. Is labor and delivery considered specialty???

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Yes, L&D is considered a specialized area. Look for an intership or preceptorship in your area after graduation.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I went straight into labor/delivery out of school and no regrets here.

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Ok, I will check into it. Is L&D hard to get into where you live???

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