comfort zone vs. long time desire?

suzanne4, RN · Apr 4, 2005

I need to repeat myself here................nursing school only gives you a taste of most areas. Your learning curve will not begin until you actually begin working and go thru your orientation. If ER is something that you want to do, then go for it..................the hospital is not going to put you out to the wolves until you have the proper skills. :)

grinnurse, RN · Apr 4, 2005

Lots of people are torn in my school about this same thing as well as myself. Prior to NS I worked at a rural hospital and even did clinicals there but now that I am getting closer to graduation I am really torn between going back there or pursuing my dream of oncology nursing. The hospital that I am looking into is about an hour away vs the rural is like 20 minutes. Of course the rural hospital doesn't have any specialty areas so I would most likely end up on med-surge which is ok, but...............The rural is definately my comfort zone b/c I know everyone and all the hosp. bs that goes along with it.

I think that I am going to wait and see how the interiew for the bigger hospital goes and try to narrow it down. If that excites me, I don't know what I am going to do about where I will go :uhoh3: I guess we could write down the pros and cons of the situation. I was kind of hoping that I would already know where I wanted to go but I have no idea what to do!!

As far as the cardio meds go, I think that would come with experience to some degree or I would hope so b/c I don't really know alot of the oncology drugs.

Good Luck

flwrgypsy5 · Apr 4, 2005

Lots of people are torn in my school about this same thing as well as myself. Prior to NS I worked at a rural hospital and even did clinicals there but now that I am getting closer to graduation I am really torn between going back there or pursuing my dream of oncology nursing. The hospital that I am looking into is about an hour away vs the rural is like 20 minutes. Of course the rural hospital doesn't have any specialty areas so I would most likely end up on med-surge which is ok, but...............The rural is definately my comfort zone b/c I know everyone and all the hosp. bs that goes along with it.
I think that I am going to wait and see how the interiew for the bigger hospital goes and try to narrow it down. If that excites me, I don't know what I am going to do about where I will go I guess we could write down the pros and cons of the situation. I was kind of hoping that I would already know where I wanted to go but I have no idea what to do!!
As far as the cardio meds go, I think that would come with experience to some degree or I would hope so b/c I don't really know alot of the oncology drugs.
Good Luck

Well it is nice to hear I am not alone. Good luck with the interview. I bet when you go you will just have that feeling if it right or not. I think part of problem is just talking ourselves into it. It's not like making the descion to work at Wal-Mart or Target. :chuckle One thought I had was, I know that I could always come back to the oncology floor if I found the ER not to my liking. And for you, I love oncology. I didn't think I would b/c my grandma died of lung ca, but I guess I am here for a reason. Anway, it is NOT all gloom and doom. It is awesome to see people go into remission. I even saw one of my study hall teachers form jr. high. (i am 29). Our floor has great commrodery and most nurses have been year 5 plus years. Some are over the 15 yr. mark. So let's keep in touch and see how things work out for us. Oh, by the way - when our nurses are hired to the floor, most don't know chemo drugs either. The new staff gets a few days training on chemotherapy and then they go thru a checklist on the floor with another nurse as that come across new meds. Just fyi. :idea:

Guest70758 · Apr 4, 2005

But I just took my pharmacology test on the cardiac system and didn't feel real good about it. So now I wonder if I shouldn't just stick with what I know and work here as a nurse until I am comfortable with being a nurse. Or should I keep looking into what it takes to be an ER or critical nurse?

Please don't let one bad test grade discourage you from an area of interest! By all means keep looking. How can you tell that you're capable of being a nurse in that area until you are a nurse in that area? Test grades, especially since it was just a pharm test, are no indication of your capabilities. Meds are learned through constant exposure, not from reading one chapter and taking one test. Don't be discouraged and don't doubt yourself!