decisons

[ayla2004, ASN, RN]

got a phone call from the hospital placement cordinator when i was on an early shift on firday.

Hospital recuitment has sorted out application forms and planned when they are interviewing my cohort if they would like to apply for a band 5 post.

called over picked up pack application due in on friday" nice a whole week to fill it in mind i have 3/4 of a A4 page fo ra personal statement and interviews will be the week later. Oh my trust is very good at taking on its student known to creat posts in the past.

so my dilema they have divided the hospital into 3 dicerates medical, surgical and Critical care and i can only pick one. I've never really decided were i want to be, my two favourite placements in this trust were in the medical dicorate as but i had my best mentors there. I'm currenly on a spinal ward and have done neurosurgery but those are so specilized and both areas i had poor support, however liked day surgery and ENT.

I am favouring medical would love to on my last ward which my mentor told me there would be jobs going however could be put if successful anwhere.

[nightmare, RN]

I started out on Neuro and loved it! Working on a general medical ward will give you a lot of experience.I know someone who has done just that and she is loving it.It was not her first choice either but she decided to go for it and has not regretted it.

[XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN]

I loved critical care, Ayla you really need to go with your heart. If you enjoyed medicine and this is where you want to work go for it there is nothing to say you can't make a move later on if you decide you want experience elsewhere.

Keep up posted, I can't believe you have nearly qualified

[RGN1]

I worked in medicine for a while & you will gain valuable experience. I now work on a med-surg ward, with a heavy tilt towards the surgical but the experience I gained on the acute medical ward is still proving very valuable.

However, having said that, critical care is also a really good idea because of the job shortages in these areas once you have experience under your belt.

I have to say though that if you really enjoyed something then go with your heart - you can always go on to a more specialised role in that area too e.g. diabetic nurse, respiratory specialist nurse etc etc. Enjoying your job is really the key to being a good nurse.

Good luck & let us all know what you chose!!

[LiverpoolJane]

I would always look at what transferable skills you can gain from a placement. I liked medicine as a student and did in fact end up in a medical speciality, but I would have liked the opportunity to work in ITU or theatre recovery but as I was promoted quickly (back when they had the D & E grade staff nurses) I couldn't afford to take a drop in pay to transfer to one of these areas. I would think that jobs in Medicine will be easier to come by for someone with ITU experience - but not vice versa.

If you accepted a job in ITU you may find you have opportunity to work nurse bank - I do and it allows me to work in other departments (and a couple of other Trusts) without the politics.

[RGN1]

Fair comment!

What did you decide ayla?