Don't wanna work the floor

[homer_Impson]

I am a recent ADN graduate, just passed the NCLEX and I am enrolled in a BSN program. I am applying to jobs and I feel this pressure to work in the hospital. I personally hated clinical and preceptorship, even thouh I excelled in them. I got very positive feedback from the instructors and the nurses at our sites. The one place I actually enjoyed was the ER and it just seems you have to have 1 yr experience in ICU to even be considered for the ER and to get into the ICU you need 1 yr of med-surg

I am an older student (for nursing) and I just know I don't want to do med-surg. Kind of feeling like I am not living my fullest potential if I go into a community clinic or a specialty field like dialysis.

Does anyone else feel this way? Am I making sense? The hospital can't be the end all, be all.

[HeySis, BSN, RN]

The hospital is not the end-all be-all of nursing. And thank goodness there are different personality types that enjoy the wide variety of types of nursing that are available. If I had a nurse in LTC, dialysis, wound care or where ever and knew that they all hated it and were just waiting to "get into the hospital", well it would make me sad.

Some nurse do that, sometimes you have too, to get where you want. But sometimes people work in other areas because they love it! I have a friend that has no desire to work at the hospital... she loves geriatrics and loves getting to know here patients and families, she works in an assisted living facility.

Will some of her skills get rusty? Sure will, but I work in PACU and will some of my skills get rusty there? Sure will.

No matter where you work, you will get good at what you do and other areas will stagnate. But the import things.... critical thinking skills, problem solving, time management, delegation and prioritization will bloom where ever you are, if you force yourself to keep improving.

[Tippyrn]

Many rural hospitals will hire you in the ED

[homer_Impson]

Thank you for the redirect. It makes me feel less anxious.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I have been a nurse for approximately 11 years. I have never worked at an acute care hospital one single day during my entire career.

There is something for every type of person in nursing. Due to cost containment measures, non-hospital employment is becoming the wave of the future.

[Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

You do not need a year of ICU experience to work in the ED. That's not true. We hire new grads to our ED all the time. I would suggest googling Davita and seeing if they are will to train you in dialysis. You would have to work in a chronic unit because you don't have the experience to work in acutes, but that's what you want. Dialysis is a great specialty.

[chacha82, ADN, BSN]

Just apply! Apply lots of places if you're able and apply to jobs that appeal to you. If you don't like med-surg, there's a lot of other things you can do. There are more and more freestanding EDs and urgent care centers, you could apply to those.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Please read the many recent threads on this topic.

If you liked ER you should be able to start there, depending on your area needs. ER nursing does require excellent med-surg bedside skill. How do you think you could be a good ER nurse , without them?