Do you know what you want to do?

brina · Nov 4, 2005

Hi Leo! I'm sorry that you are not sure what area you want to pursue after graduation. I too will be a BSN graduate next month!! I never really had a rotation through school that made me say "yes, this is exactly what I want to do." But, there were elements in a lot of them that I really liked. For example, I loved the postpartum part of my Women's Health rotation. I didn't particularly care for Labor and Delivery, but I loved postpartum. What I liked about it was the teaching aspect of it... there was ALWAYS something that you needed to educate the client on. So what I did was tuck this away in my memory. Next rotation was Critical Care.... what I liked about this one was that there was always something to do without you being so busy that nothing could get done, say for example on a med-surg floor with 6 or 7 pts. I liked that you had to chart every hour, and that there was always some sort of procedure / med/ charting that needed to be done every hour or two. Time went by really fast for me in the ICU. What I didn't like about it was the adult patients (I either wanted to work with women or peds). I've always liked peds so i knew that I wanted to incorporate something with peds, just not the floor. So anyway,when it came time to choose areas for our preceptorship I chose PICU for my 1st choice and NICU for my 2nd. Well, I am precepting in the Pediatric ICU....and I absolutely love it! So much so that I have accepted a position there after graduation.

So my advice to you is to go over all your past clinical experiences and write down what you liked and disliked about each of them. First of all, you will narrow the areas down by at least knowing what you DON'T want to do. Next, look at all the things that you like and see if there is an area that incorporates any of those things. Just like I took the best of what I liked and discovered the PICU, I hope that you make your discovery too. Good luck! Please let me know what areas you come up with after you make your list.

Brina

acebsn05 · Nov 5, 2005

I already graduated and received my license, and STILL I am not sure what I really want to do. I just happen to have the most learning experience in a telemetry unit/transitional ICU, that's why I'm interviewing in those areas. Otherwe, I really don't know. All I know also is that I am not interested in L&D and pediatrics. Good luck on your journey.

kellyo, LPN · Nov 6, 2005

Next rotation was Critical Care.... what I liked about this one was that there was always something to do without you being so busy that nothing could get done, say for example on a med-surg floor with 6 or 7 pts. I liked that you had to chart every hour, and that there was always some sort of procedure / med/ charting that needed to be done every hour or two. Time went by really fast for me in the ICU.

This is what attracts me to Critical Care!