Capstone not what requested

[countrygurl89]

So I just found out my capstone placement this week for my final semester of school starting in August. I had requested ER for 2 local hospitals for my capstone placement. Instead I got placed on the Oncology unit at one of the hospitals I requested. Will this hinder me from trying to get a job in the ER or not(I had my internship there last summer)? What can I do to help my chances if getting in the ER?

[hofamb]

I can't guarantee that it won't hinder you, but I thought I'd share with you my experience. I actually never worked in an ER (externship in the surgical ICU and capstone in neonatal ICU) and was hired into an ER before graduation :)

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

You know, now that everybody wants to be in ICU or ER, not everyone's gonna get the capstone placement of his/her dreams. Faculty give a good deal of thought to how to place students for capstones; bear in mind that someone who has known you well thinks that this might be a good fit for you to learn things you need to learn and would benefit from. Limiting yourself to one specialty this early in your career is truly not a smart move, and they know you did your internship in ER last year. Time for an injection of variety, get out of your comfort zone. Looked at in that way, it can be something to really look forward to, not something to fuss about.

Whether students believe it or not (and they usually don't, so sometimes we wonder why we waste perfectly good electrons), many, many nurses find their callings in places they never considered and fell into by accident, either because they didn't get the capstone they planned on, the hiring freeze meant they took job B or no job at all, or something else.

Once we had a thread here that dealt with the question, "Did you always want to do the kind of nursing you do, and if not, how did you get here?" I think it's time to restart that.

Short answer is that pretty much nobody does one thing for his/her entire professional career, and a wider variety of experiences makes you more valuable as the years roll by. Don't stress about whether or not you'll get an ER job on graduation (most don't, and that's the truth). Learn something else useful: embrace the moment and see that every experience is a learning experience, and you'll learn more than you expect about more things than you expect anywhere, including oncology (though they do see oncology in the ER too). Good way to go through life.

[DalekRN]

If it helps, all I wanted to do was OB, and I got placed in a postsurgery unit. Then my first job was in OB. You gotta think that the experience hands on with ANY patients will be beneficial because of the sheer variety you will see in the ER. Your preceptor will be able to teach you so much that you don't know. Dig in, learn tons.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

When my senior class was putting in their requests for capstone placements, almost everybody wanted either peds or L&D. There were not enough preceptors for all of those requesting those specialties, so the ones with the better GPA were given their first choice. Look at it as a positive experience- you will see another area of nursing and may find you like it. My non-first choice of practicum in a PACU setting is what led me to the love of the OR.

As for whether it will hinder you in finding a job in an ER, I doubt it. With the limited availability of capstone placements in ER, many people apply for ER jobs with no ER experience. I'd be more worried about the job situation in your area, as many grads are finding difficulty in finding jobs.