CLINICAL LADDER

[RNCHN, BSN, RN]

Hi everyone,

I am a med-surge RN with 2yrs experience. I start in the PACU in January. I was wondering what the career projection (clinical ladder) for a PACU RN is.

My goal is to become a CRNA . I need ICU RN experience. Currently, the closest I can get to critical care is PACU unless I leave my hospital.

Do PACU RN's usually go to ICU nursing after they gain PACU experience?

Do PACU RN's usually go to on to become OR RNs?

Is it better to become a stepdown rn (surgical, pulmonary, or neuro) or is PACU the way to go?

[klone, MSN, RN]

I don't understand your question. Better in what way? The way to go in what way? I sense you're asking about career progression, but you haven't said your goals are. Where are you hoping to be in 2 years? 5 years?

[klone, MSN, RN]

Sorry, I totally missed your paragraph about wanting to be a CRNA.

[twozer0, NP]

As a nurse for 8+ years with over half of it in PACU I can tell you that the majority if not all of our PACU nurses came from some form of critical care background first. We have a lot of ER/ICU nurses that made the jump over here (myself being ER prior). That being said, if you want to be a CRNA, PACU is considered at many schools (including the No. 1 ranked school VCU). A lot of schools give examples of the types of experience that a candidate would want to have. PACU does provide a lot of this experience depending on what your facility does. You will need vent, art/cv line, pressor, airway management skills and good assessment skills prior to CRNA school. Again this will depend on the type of facility you work in. For example a PACU nurse at a surgery center will not make the cut. If you really want to be a CRNA I would start doing some more research on the programs you are interested in. They really have all the information you need.