how to gain experience

[bubblejet50]

I had an ED rotation through school. I was scared that I would hate it but found out I love it. My staff was wonderful but they really do not care if you are there or not. When I wanted to learn something I had to be pushy and tell them or ask them why they were doing that. They gave me all the IV's on adult patients (I think I was not allowed to IV stick the kiddos by policy) and when an acute SOB/chest pain came in they just included me and worked as a very efficient team. I was able to extubate while I was in there also on someone they were able to revive that started breathing on their own again. I learned a lot in my rotation but it is like what the old ED nurse told me when I arrived, "You get out of it what you put in it." My experience was not in a trauma center or busy ED but I found it very fun. I saw so many different things and all ages. I was able to put in about 10 IV's a day. My other love in nursing is psych and all the ED nurses said I would be an asset to an ED since I love psych as well. In my area it seems that to get into an ED you need experience. Since I am a new grad (May 2012) how do I get that critical care experience? I currently work with an infant on a ventilator in a home health setting. I have my ACLS and PALS certs and am going to sign up for the TNCC class in October (the soonest one available). I would love to end up in a trauma center or busier ED. We do have trauma centers in my city. I just had my clinical in a non busy ED.

[sserrn, BSN]

Sounds like you're ready to me. ENA does recommend 6 months' ER experience before tncc, but study hard and I'm sure you'll pass. It's great that you already have pals and Acls. Just relay what you loved about you're er rotation in your interviews and you should be able to find a position. Good luck!