Big hospital VS. rural hospital

[min1970]

I need some advice, I will be looking for a job in May and around this area we have a large hospital and a small rural hospital. I can't decide which one would be better to work at. The small rural hospital is more home like and laid back plus you get OB, medsurg, and ER experience. In the bigger hospital the acute care is more critical and would probably enhance my skills more. Any advice on what I should do?

[KatieBell]

I saw in your other post that you want to travel. So this advice is geared towards that. As a traveller, it helped me immensly to have had several years experience at a Level One Trauma Center. When I started travelling to smaller hospitals, nothing they showed me was that foreign, the patients all seemed sort of regular. I was not confronted with wild diseases I had never heard of etc etc... It made the transition from staff to traveller a lot easier as the patients seemed so stable and "simple" to me...

Having the large hospital experience has also enabled me to get jobs, as many large institutions will not hire a traveller with only rural hospital experience.

So with travelling in mind, I'd say go for the big hospital. If you were not planning on travelling, I would think the smaller one, where you had an opportunity to experience a lot of different kinds of nursing, would be ideal, as you could then decide what you liked from lots of experience and move on from there....

Again....Best Wishes to you!!!

[min1970]

Hey thank you for replying, it helps to have a little other insight. And I honestly haven't found any nursing field that really appeals to me, I'm sure once I get out of school something will come along.