Help! I need some advice

RNforLongTime · Mar 6, 2002

If you want to work in the NICU, I say go for it! Nowadays, you don't need to have that 1 year med-surg experience under your belt. A lot of new grads are starting out in specialty areas due to th nursing shortage. Go for it and good luck!

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2002

I agree! Run to the NICU. I'm sure you'll be welcomed with open arms.

Good luck!

ICUatNight · Mar 7, 2002

Run, don't walk to the NICU. If that is where you want to be, you will be fine.

frann · Mar 7, 2002

10 full time openings? Does that seem like a lot of openings?

CIY629 · Mar 7, 2002

yes, there are 10 openings but they are increasing the number of beds they have. I would like to thank everyone for their advice. I am in my last 7 weeks and I have finally got the instructor that everyone talks about (all bad)! I am going to do what I feel is right for me not what she thinks is right for me.

lisagrneiis · Mar 7, 2002

Ask some of the staff what they like/hate about the unit, be it renal or NICU. Talk to the floor managers. See if you can shadow someone on either floor. Check into their turnover rates, and see why... Most of all, what do you want to do? Do it! Because you may find yourself somewhere you don't want to be there-and then it may be hard to leave! You don't want to be thinking what could have been...I agree, go for it, life is too short and the burnout rate is too high!

thisnurse · Mar 7, 2002

go to nicu.

there are a lot more med/surg nurses than specialities. you are fortunate to have the opportunity to step right into a speciality.

you can always go to renal if you dont like nicu.

im doing med surg right now. i like it because of all the different types of patients we get, but i want to specialize in something. not sure what tho. been thinking about doing assessments for the dept of aging or something like that. i like working with the elderly and i like being able to help them.

ButterflyRN · Mar 12, 2002

I tell you what I think, I think you should go for it! I am still considered a new grad myself, (I graduated June 20,2001) and I am working in Telemetry now, which I was told by my instructors in school that I would need at least a year of experience before working on Telemetry, ICU, ER, basically any unit that isn't medical or surgical. In my orientation classes for my position on the Telemetry unit, there were also new hires into the ER and all the different ICU's, and you know what....almost all of them were brand new graduates....I mean, they were working on temp licences because they haven't even taken NCLEX yet....and they did fine. You will be just fine working on any unit you want. :)

babs_rn · Mar 22, 2002

I say go for it. If you love NICU, go for NICU. The old "one year of med-surg" rule shouldn't even apply to NICU (we are talking about babies and not neuro, right?) since the med-surg floor doesn't take care of babies!!

Good luck

Babs

Shandy12 · Mar 23, 2002

I started in NICU as a new grad, and it was one of the best nursing experiences of my life. Find out how long the orientation to NICU is and what support they offer for the first few months, and go for it.

Lynda

kewlnurse · Mar 23, 2002

Hers some pros and cons of going into a Critical care unit

Pros: Better Ratios, lots of stuff to play with, you get to do a lot more procedures, usually a MD right there if you need them, you'll learn alot

Cons: You don't know a damn thing when you get out of school, sorry but it's reality, other nurses are going to expect you to have more than basic assesment skills and aare not going to teach them to you in a ccu. You gotta know your drugs, and the only way you can do this is through experience, ie: Iv pepcid can cause psychosis, narcan can cause massive muscle spasms, even though the md may order a 1000 mg bolus of dilantin, you don't bolus it, thorazine is great for hiccups, thats somthing you learn through experience, you need to know how bad it really is on a med surge unit before you can fully appreciate you good a unit is. Your going to be dealing with family on a VERY personal basis.

Do what you feel is right, either way you won't regret getting inot the proffesion