The main reason I decided to change my major and become a RN is because of my passion of caring for babies. The NICU is the place I want to work in for the rest of my career.
I have volunteered in the following units[multiple times]:
PICU
NICU
Med-Surg
L&D/Nursery
Cardio/Neuro
Adult ICU
(I'm very active in a medical volunteering organization)
The only specialty I am BEYOND interested in is Neonatal, specifically acute care. There's no interest in me to work with adults nor older kids(general peds). Computer engineering was my previous major and I had a FULL scholarship but gave it all up for the babies after extensive research in the field as well as many others.
I start clinicals next semester (Jan-2017).
Did any of you guys know the specialty you wanted to go into before starting clinicals?
If you do want to work ED during/after school, make sure you also find one that suits you since they vary so widely. I work in a Level 1 trauma center, stroke center, takes care of LVADs, etc. etc. with all the latest advances in care. There are rural EDs that don't have CT scanners, and there's everything between the two. Some have some specialties but not others, some have horrid patient ratios and some don't. I work in a 6:1 that is changing to a 4:1.
Of course I'm not saying other units are all the same everywhere, but the ED (and ICUs) vary so much depending on where you are.
Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.
I knew that I wanted to work in psych. Before I ever even went to nursing school, a friend of mine told me that he was getting ready to graduate from nursing school and then go to work in a psychiatric hospital. I seriously thought that it sounded like the coolest job ever.
Since then I have worked in psych, but also I have worked Med Surge, LTC, and home health. Currently working on a small Med Surge floor.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
I don't HAVE to care for adults as a RN. That is why we have various specialities in nursing..
You do as a student.
Again, you need to keep an open mind. The likelihood that you will get an L&D/NICU/Peds position right out of school is quite slim. And you may actually find that you LIKE other areas of nursing. Maybe, since adults "make sick" you might consider OR nursing.
And little people almost ALWAYS come with big people that you will have to deal with on a daily basis.
I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do in nursing before clinicals. After clinicals I only knew I did not want maternity or labor and delivery. I liked all my other clinicals. I am in a specialty now that I like but do not love. I'm not sure what's next for me :-)
I found out real quick in nursing school that I wanted to work with kids - at first I thought I would love to work with all ages from NICU-nursery- regular pedi patients - that changed after I started working. I was hired on a pedi med-surg floor and if our census was low we would be required to float to NICU or nursery - I found out I didn't like either of those areas and preferred to stick with Med-surg Pedi kids.
What happens if you don't get a NICU job, OP? Will you just refuse to work? Be miserable? You may never end up in NICU as it is highly specialized and coveted. You need to be okay with that.
I say this as someone who was gung ho about getting into a NICU and was devastated about not getting in. But I kept an open mind and took a job in adult med-surg and spent 8 months before landing a job in the NICU (and have been there for almost nine months). I learned a lot in med-surg and while I don't think it is necessary to start off in med-surg, I have found myself to be a lot tougher and more versatile than nurses who have never worked with adults. I still have my med-surg job as a PRN staff member.
While NICU is amazing and fulfilling, it gets to be repetitive and it is very hard to leave after spending time in there. Adult med-surg experience gives one incredible experience, hence why I kept my job among other reasons. Also, many people don't know this, but some NICUs have extremely high turnover and burn out. My unit has a billion people on orientation at any given moment.
And NICU quiet? Ha! You are clueless. Alarms ringing constantly, crying inconsolable babies, NAS babies, demanding parents, bubble cpap and oscillators...I could go on. Even the feeder-growers are not all that quiet and peaceful.
Specializes in Psychiatric RN & Retired Psychiatric CNA.
What happens if you don't get a NICU job, OP? Will you just refuse to work? Be miserable? You may never end up in NICU as it is highly specialized and coveted. You need to be okay with that.
I say this as someone who was gung ho about getting into a NICU and was devastated about not getting in. But I kept an open mind and took a job in adult med-surg and spent 8 months before landing a job in the NICU (and have been there for almost nine months). I learned a lot in med-surg and while I don't think it is necessary to start off in med-surg, I have found myself to be a lot tougher and more versatile than nurses who have never worked with adults. I still have my med-surg job as a PRN staff member.
While NICU is amazing and fulfilling, it gets to be repetitive and it is very hard to leave after spending time in there. Adult med-surg experience gives one incredible experience, hence why I kept my job among other reasons. Also, many people don't know this, but some NICUs have extremely high turnover and burn out. My unit has a billion people on orientation at any given moment.
And NICU quiet? Ha! You are clueless. Alarms ringing constantly, crying inconsolable babies, NAS babies, demanding parents, bubble cpap and oscillators...I could go on. Even the feeder-growers are not all that quiet and peaceful.
I never said they were quiet, that was another user. Like I said in a previous post I will not care for adults after school. If I can't get a NICU job within a couple of months I will deal with the PICU or pediatric clinic until I can.
Ahem, "deal" with the PICU? In my area, the PICU is even more coveted than NICU... and it is incredibly challenging due to the variety of ages, variety of diagnoses and surgeries, types of trauma, abuse cases, etc.
Granted, I work at a level 1 trauma center with a Level IV NICU. People wait years to work on my unit... and at our facility, they usually come from NICU. We are not a unit that hires new graduates, not do we have a residency. NICU will accept select new grads who have completed their practicum there.
Before clinicals, I wanted to work NICU or PICU. After my practicum I definitely wanted PICU. I've worked OR and adult cardiac care/CVICU along the way.
Even after getting some very solid critical care experience with VADs, heart transplants, IABPs, Impella, CRRT and having patients on ECLS as well as being a code team member and cardiac rapid response nurse, I have found the PICU incredibly challenging. I also have over 20 years experience working with chronically ill and disabled children outside the hospital; I also worked in the NICU as a mental health professional, supporting families in crisis.
If I may give you some feedback: 1) it's great to be focused and driven; that's an asset. It's also an asset to be flexible enough to respond to life's unexpected changes -- especially those that occur in an instant. 2) If you present a similar attitude in person as what comes across in your posts to other nurses/leadership while you're a student or as a new grad, you're going to find it very difficult to obtain a position in your goal specialty... or anywhere. 3)Depending on your location and hospital system, some managers firmly believe that new grads should obtain a year of Med/surg before specializing. Where I work, the nurse managers have the ultimate say in who gets a residency and who doesn't.
I hear there are many more NICUs of varying levels on the east coast and southeast that are more open to new grads and that have residencies. In my 6 state region, that is definitely not the case. Good luck.
PICU is even harder to get into and not something you just do for a few months and then leave. It is incredibly challenging and highly seeked. There are very few openings in my city and I live in a decent size city. Because of a nearby children's hospital, many of the doctors in my area won't touch a pediatric patient and will send them off to this hospital that has a pediatric ICU while there are NICUs in most of the major hospitals in my area (and there are many).
You are setting yourself up for failure with your myopic vision and poor attitude.
I knew before I ever started nursing school that I absolutely did not want to work with adults. Sick adults make my skin crawl. They are whiny & I just want to tell them to suck it up. In spite of feeling this way, I did better in school in my med/surg rotations than in my Peds clinical. I actually hated my Peds clinical because of the instructor. It was apparent from her attitude that she didn't like Peds. How she got to be a Peds instructor is beyond my scope of understanding.
I was very lucky when I graduated to be offered positions in new grad residencies in Peds at 5 different hospitals. I chose the one with the location I liked best & never looked back. That was in 1978.
In the years since then, I have mostly worked general Peds but have also done PICU, NICU, & now private duty Peds home care. All are challenging in their own ways but my favorite has always been general Peds.
It's great to have a goal in mind for where you want to work but with the nursing job market in many areas, you have to be willing to take whatever is available & work your way up from there.
ItsThatJenGirl, CNA
1,978 Posts
Great advice, thanks!