Career Advice Needed for New Grad

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

Hello, I'm graduating in 8 weeks and I'm trying to decide where to work. My ultimate goal is a Pediatric ER, but I don't feel comfortable going there right out of school. So these are my choices:

Pediatric short term care area (inpatient), wide variety of illness, none requiring more than 48 hours hospitalization 28 beds

Adult Med Surg floor--sees everything and anything, no real specialty, but do get alot of nursing home pts and druggies going through withdrawl....24 beds

Adult Medical Oncology---I would give chemo, blood, etc, and deal with alot of high stress here, but 1:4 ratio 24 beds

Adult Urology---pre/post op floor for pts needing urology procedures, would see lots of foleys and bladder irrigation---17 beds

My question to you experienced nurses is which area do you think would prepare me for the ER the best? Any of these, or perhaps somewhere else I haven't considered?

[llg, PhD, RN]

I would strongly recommend the peds job. If you want peds ... head towards peds. It sounds like a job where you would get to see lots of things, do lots of admissions and discharges, get comfortable working with children and their families, etc.

Once you get comfortable as an RN working in peds, then you can look to move into a job that provides experience with more seriously ill children and/or a peds ED.

[elkpark]

I would strongly recommend the peds job. If you want peds ... head towards peds. It sounds like a job where you would get to see lots of things, do lots of admissions and discharges, get comfortable working with children and their families, etc.

Once you get comfortable as an RN working in peds, then you can look to move into a job that provides experience with more seriously ill children and/or a peds ED.

As usual :), I agree completely with llg!

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

See, my initial gut is to say PEDS, but this unit is described by the hospital as being "for kids not sick enough to be admitted" Even though the floor will get me trauma certified, I wasn't sure if I would be utilizing my hands on skills enough to go from this floor straight to the ER.

[elkpark]

THese days, with the bar being raised higher and higher for hospital admissions, there's a whole world of interesting conditions out there considered "not sick enough" to get you admitted -- that would have gotten you admitted even a few years ago. If the kids weren't pretty darned sick, they wouldn't even be on that unit, so I'm sure you'll see a wide variety of interesting dxs and conditions.

[RNperdiem, RN]

Take the job you feel the most excited about starting. Don't make the mistake I made in "settling" for a job as a new grad.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

If you want PEDS go for PEDS.....

The others are not taking you in the direction that you would like to go....

[Wendy_RN]

Peds would be your best choice if you are wanting to eventually work in a Peds ER. You should be able to get your PALS certification, which would be a plus for you. If a child is sick enough to be on that unit then they are still sick. You will definitely be learning so don't let comments like that discourage you. Go with where your heart is. If peds is your passion, then this would be a great opportunity for you. Good luck!