ED or NICU?

Most schools only accept full-time adult ICU experience, and peds/ED do not qualify. You can argue that you know how to titrate drips and had higher acuity patients than an adult ICU until you're blue in the face, if you don't have the experience they are asking for, it's just not gonna cut it.

Some schools do accept ED experience, but I've heard of fewer that do accept peds ICU. If you really think you want to be a CRNA one day, look at some schools you might apply to and find out what their job experience requirement is. You might find their experience requirements work out just fine for you.

Good luck!

Hi everyone,

As of now, I have about 6 months of PICU experience. I absolutely loved it in the PICU, but unfortunately I have to move to another area for my family. I'm trying to get another PICU job, but it seems that the only ones that are sending me offers are a Pediatric ED and a NICU. The ED is not a level I trauma center and the NICU is a level III, but does not perform the really high acuity stuff like ECMO (they get transfered to another hospital).

Right now, I'm not 100% sure that I want to be a CRNA, but I want to keep that option open for myself. I'm very interested in the ED because I have a lot of pre-hospital experience and I am equally interested in the NICU because I loved being in an ICU setting. I am also being very limiting to staying with a

Which one would be better for getting me closer to CRNA school? Or is this a "6 of one, half dozen of the other" situation?

Thanks!

Both would be less than ideal, and both might delay your matriculation into a CRNA program. Some programs do accept ER experience, but not most. Additionally, it sounds like you are inflexible with where you can live, which means you will be inflexible with where you can attend school. This is not a good combination. While the ER experience is great on many levels, it is lacking on others. It is, however, better than the NICU which would be a complete waste of time, if indeed, CRNA is your goal.

Thank you for the advice. I actually have applied to hospitals from coast to coast. Unfortunately, these are the only two who have showed any interest in me. I am tempted to pass on both, but I'm afraid something else won't come along in a timely manner. I'm currently unemployed and relying on the money that I had in my savings account, which was originally meant for graduate school.

I am, however, inflexible about moving to adults because of a back injury (herniated disc). Every time I was in the adult side during nursing school and during other employment, I was treated like a human forklift because I was a guy (even though they knew about my back problems). I will move to the adult world once I can strengthen/fix my back...just not right now...