Are too many certifications a bad thing?

Nurses Professionalism

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As a new RN grad I've been working hard at attaining all kinds of certifications and course completions. ACLS, PALS, ATLS, Rapid STEMI identification, Stroke assessment, with NRP, TNCC, and CCRN coming up soon. Thankfully as an echocardiographer I've convinced the hospital I work at to send me to all these classes on thier dime. But I'm not a staff RN here yet.

Does a med/surg hiring manager look at that and think "he'll jump ship and go to speciality critical care as soon as he can." Does that reduce my chances for a job?

Okay, I may be late for the party, but I'm officially over this guy. Good luck to your future team members.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Okay, I may be late for the party, but I'm officially over this guy. Good luck to your future team members.

I was late to the party & was over it after I came. Haha!

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So if you don't like it here, you know where the door is. It's my post. I have a reason to be here. You guys aren't tied to this thread. Bye bye and goodnight.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
So if you don't like it here, you know where the door is. It's my post. I have a reason to be here. You guys aren't tied to this thread. Bye bye and goodnight.

Oooooookaaaaaaay.

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Thank you all who've contributed valid and valuable advice and input. Feel free to continue your responses if you so chose. I won't be checking in on this thread anymore. I've got what I've wanted from

this thread.

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The verdict? To be honest I disagree and think auditing extra classes (even if you can't test out) and getting the certs you can makes a person look ambitious and shows initiative.

However I'm not a hiring manager and I know young go getters can scare the older staff. So......I'll stick with my completed ACLS and PALS for now and not work for others.

As far as whoever commented about my other specialities. Working as a lowly echocardiographer last week I applied my ACLS and nursing skills and initiated a Rapid Response for a patient who was degrading. Perhaps you guys are suggesting I know my roll as "just an echocardiographer" and not step on the nurses toes.

Not to mention the same day I had another STAT echo on a degrading patient that both the ICU nurses and hospitalist didn't know what to do or what was going on. After 5 minutes with the patient I asked both the ICU nurse and hospitalist if they had looked for a PE. They both stated they hadn't considered that. Hard to believe just a lowly echocardiographer had the knowledge to figure that out or dared have the courage to address the ICU nurse and hospitalist in such a manner.

Yeah, I wouldn't want a new nurse grad with 16 years of healthcare experience either. Seriously?

You're missing the point. If you want to audit classes for fun then that's great, but what other posters are trying to explain to you that a certification without experience to back it up won't mean much to people looking at your resume. It seems like nurses who get speciality certs do it for personal satisfaction more than anything else, because the truth is, experience in a speciality is the only thing that really makes someone a better nurse. If you're already ACLS certified on day one that's good because that class is out of the way, but you won't be any more effective at running a code than any other new grad.

Nobody is bashing echo techs, I don't know where you got that from. But you're not a nurse, and even nurses have to start from the beginning when they change specialities. I work in a cardiac-surgical ICU, and I'd have a long way to go if I changed jobs, even if I worked in another critical care area. I can recover open hearts all day long, but I wouldn't be much better than a new grad taking care of a patient in septic shock. And it certainly wouldn't hurt my feelings if someone said so.

I've seen lots of people make lots of mistakes, and I've made several myself. But the people that actually killed someone screwed up because they were overly confident, thought they knew everything, and ignored the people trying to help them. There is nothing more dangerous than an overly confident new grad in an ICU. I'm sure you're an expert echo tech, but you know absolutely nothing about being a critical care nurse, and I really hope you come to realize that before your first day in the unit.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
There is nothing more dangerous than an overly confident new grad in an ICU. I'm sure you're an expert echo tech, but you know absolutely nothing about being a critical care nurse, and I really hope you come to realize that before your first day in the unit.

True, but he's not going to work in the ICU anyway. Too slow, ya know. Someone with his level of awesomeness should be on a helicopter, and nothing less. :rolleyes:

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I got all those certs in the ED

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses. Pardon for any misspelled words, I blame it on auto-correct.

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You're missing the point. If you want to audit classes for fun then that's great, but what other posters are trying to explain to you that a certification without experience to back it up won't mean much to people looking at your resume. It seems like nurses who get speciality certs do it for personal satisfaction more than anything else, because the truth is, experience in a speciality is the only thing that really makes someone a better nurse. If you're already ACLS certified on day one that's good because that class is out of the way, but you won't be any more effective at running a code than any other new grad.

Nobody is bashing echo techs, I don't know where you got that from. But you're not a nurse, and even nurses have to start from the beginning when they change specialities. I work in a cardiac-surgical ICU, and I'd have a long way to go if I changed jobs, even if I worked in another critical care area. I can recover open hearts all day long, but I wouldn't be much better than a new grad taking care of a patient in septic shock. And it certainly wouldn't hurt my feelings if someone said so.

I've seen lots of people make lots of mistakes, and I've made several myself. But the people that actually killed someone screwed up because they were overly confident, thought they knew everything, and ignored the people trying to help them. There is nothing more dangerous than an overly confident new grad in an ICU. I'm sure you're an expert echo tech, but you know absolutely nothing about being a critical care nurse, and I really hope you come to realize that before your first day in the unit.

The overly confident ask no questions type scare the daylights out of me!

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses. Pardon for any misspelled words, I blame it on auto-correct.

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Thank you all who've contributed valid and valuable advice and input. Feel free to continue your responses if you so chose. I won't be checking in on this thread anymore. I've got what I've wanted from

this thread.

As soon as you post something on a public forum, it's no longer yours.

As I say to all new grads, particularly those of your ilk - good luck with that!

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Specializes in geriatrics.

Clearly, the OP has already decided on his views and started this thread for validation only. It doesn't matter what our views are on the subject.

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Specializes in as above.

level of awesomeness? I hope patients charts dont reflect this level of current venicular. Wow! If this is the current state and mental attributes of young grads(?)graduating from Nursing, Give me shock treatment, and crank the voltage up. Lets wrap this thing up, and start another topic.

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