Can new grads work in ER?

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Oct 17, 2003

Welcome to nursing...

I was a psych tech for 9 years before being an ER tech...

Find a DON w/ an open mind. Sell yourself and your desire to be an ER nurse. A smart DON will take a chance on you, train you hard for one year as an ER tech (put you in triage WITH an RN on a regular basis...You can do vitals and listen in on the triage...)

Find out if your hospital has an extern or senior nursing assistant program, which classifies you as a student nurse, and may allow you to do more than a regular er tech...Even if they don't, sitting you in triage once a week will make you that much closer to being ready when you graduate, so they save money training you, and they will have a highly motivated "super" ER tech...

It's a win-win

DON'T listen to the naysayers that will discourage a new grad from entering the ER...It can be done.

You have my support

(I obviously did this, and became a GOOD relief charge nurse in a busy inner-city ER in Phoenix within 4 months of graduating...)

sean

fab4fan · Oct 17, 2003

I would be one of the naysayers, but since hogan has advised you to ignore anything I or another person with a dissenting opinion might say, I guess I won't bother.

If you do a search on this topic, you will find many, many threads on this subject.

Good luck with school.

Erin RN · Oct 17, 2003

Hi

I worked ER and I loved it but I think one of the reasons I loved it was because before I went there I worked LTC. Ortho, Oncology and IV. Our hospital had an internship program in which the new grads had both on the floor and classroom training but nothing takes the place of a little experience. I can think of one intern that did REALLY well but the rest really seemed to be in over their head. ER nursing is pretty specialized therefore in my opinion (for whatever that is worth) you need to be comfortable with many nursing functions and have some real assessment skills that are like second nature before going in. I saw more than one intern really struggle and the MDs in the ER don't have a lot of patience with a brand new RN either. They do like to teach trauma stuff but the basics they really do expect you to be already competent in. So much of ER nursing is intuitive, I feel that experience is crucial to both you and the patient...even 6 months on a general floor will get you more comfortable than you are after you get out of school. Just a tip..one of my friends was the RN manager of major trauma center and she said she hired people based on how they walked...weird?? maybe but I see her point..when you work ER..you need to be type A...she said she hired the people that walked fast since in her opinion if you walk fast you think fast.. she said this philosophy never failed her? Erin

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Oct 18, 2003

fab4, you're never one to hide how you feel...keep it up :)

naysay away if you will...my point is, if you know that's what you want to do then give it your all and go for it...

Erin's friend sounds like someone willing to take a chance...

Think outside the box as a manager...

Many new grads may flounder, but some will shine in the ER...

Hiring a nsg student with such aspirations as an er tech, gives a manager the chance to weed anyone out, and a heck of an ER nurse when the time comes...

Stop the rigidity...Naysaying may lose a good (potential) ER nurse to be

psychomachia · Oct 18, 2003

If it's what you want, then don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it.

For many, floor nursing sucks, so if you know you don't want to do it, don't.

Read, read, read, study, study, study, learn, learn, learn.

Find an ER that accepts new grads into an internship program.

Don't get discouraged if it seems overwhelming at first, working on the floor would seem the same way, just pay attention to EVERYTHING that goes on around you. Half of what it takes to be a good ER nurse is just knowing the INs and OUTs of the damn place, NOT patient care (the easy part).

If you can, take a job as an ER tech and see what it is like. The experience will help and you'll feel much more comfortable working in an ER once you've been around one for awhile.

And please don't believe that old nurse-hag line about "a year of Med-Surg is necessary before you can work ER!!" That line is older than the nurse saying it, so don't believe it for a second. Floor nursing and ER nursing are very different. The assessment that I do as an ER nurse is probabaly different than what is done on the floor. The priorities that I have in the ER are different than what the floor has, so don't believe the stories you may have heard about what you need to work ER. What makes a good ER nurse is an interest in EMERGENCY nursing, not med-surg or floor nursing.

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Oct 18, 2003

nice job psycho...

psychomachia · Oct 18, 2003

WHOAAA!! Did I type "probabaly"? Guess that's what happens when the blood alcohol reaches .20....

fab4fan · Oct 18, 2003

Wow, from naysayer to "old nurse hag" in under ten threads! :stone

Hogan: No, I usually don't hide how I feel (unless I'm playing pinochle...LOL)

Erin RN · Oct 18, 2003

Just one more word of advice...if you do get into an ER be strong..you know the saying about nuses eating their young..it is VERY true in the ER. Let them know you are new but ask lots of questions, get in there on all of the experience you can and never never let em see you sweat!! My exp with ER is that you have to prove yourself to the other staff regardless of how long you have been a nurse and they don't give you much time to do it and once they make up their minds it is pretty hard to change it. If you jump in and help and are aggressive without being bossy or acting like you know everything. The RNs and the MDs will respect you in no time..that is the reason why I mentioned doing some floor nursing, it is not nesessarily for the task experience rather for the confidence building that you need to have ..did that make sense? Erin

sjoe · Oct 18, 2003

naysay

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Oct 18, 2003

Originally posted by sjoe
naysay

shhhhhhhhhhocking sentiment from sjoe...levelheaded and predictable as always, but trapped inside the box...