first placement as student

[molly54]

how have people handled thier first placement and what should i look out for so as to get through it as astudent.

[bryndamor]

Find an area that you like. Hopefully you'll have figured out some likes/dislikes from doing your clinicals as a student. I, for instance, found that I wouldn't like to work in Peds/OB or Women's Post-Surgery. Get experience. Do your clinicals at hospitals that you want to try out. There might be some openings in critical care units, even tho they ideally like candidates w/ experience, but my opinion is that you should get some general med-surg experience under your belt first. Critical care unit doctors rely on nurses to recognize early signs of problems, which is hard to do if you're trying to learn/absorb a lot of your basics, ya know? -- kinda a dis-service to the patient. Ideally, find a teaching hospital -- they're used to students. Talk to your classmates. Many know others that are already out there and have some feedback on places to work in the local area. After you have at least a year of experience under your belt, you can start to be more discriminating on where you want to work, but really, in the beginning, its sometimes not easy to find your first job. Good luck.

[molly54]

thanks very much gives me a lot to look forward to

molly 54:)