Upcoming Graduate Concern

[addiewaad]

Hey guys, I am a nursing student graduating in May with a BSN. I am stressing myself out because I am totally unsure of where I want to start my career, I know the hospital I will be working at due to a scholarship commitment, I just mean that I do not know what floor to work on. What type of floors are good to start out on that you can develop a great background? I am trying to figure out whether or not I should start working on the ortho floor that I work on as a tech, but part of me is interested in the newborn nursery or L&D, and also there are many floors that I have not really experienced such as the ER, or PACU, or NICU, I've only experienced OR once.... I feel like I have not truly discovered how many areas there are to go into. I wanna be happy with where I work (who doesn't) and I am terrified I will make the wrong decision. If I start out on a med surge type floor, is it difficult to transfer over to another floor that's nothing similar? For example, moving from an adult orthopedic floor to the newborn nursery? I have been told that once you are in the hospital's system, that it is not hard to transfer floors if there is a position open.

Any advice would be much appreciated!! :)

Thank you!

[marie.rn2419, RN]

Upon receiving your assigned clinical rotation, I really recommend contacting your clinical instructor and asking them if he/she can help you to request a few hours shadowing on units you may like – such as the nursery or ortho floors.

During my final semester of school, I did this with a hospital I had a great relationship with. Basically, I got to rotate off of my assigned floor (medsurg) to the ICU, ED and Cardiac Cath Lab for about 2-3 hours each. You will not usually be able to perform any nursing skills during the shadowing experience because your instructor is not with you. But, it will give you an idea of what the unit is like.

The hospital has already invested in you, per your post. So I think they'd be more than happy to set you up. Just please, please make sure you or your instructor speaks with each unit AHEAD of time to okay it with their supervisor or clinical leaders.

Good luck and congratulations on your upcoming graduation! :-)

[Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

My advice to you is to not sweat the small stuff. No one expects you to get it right the first time. The beauty of nursing is that it is a never-ending journey. You get to experience many different places in your career. Try one, give it your best attempt, use every new thing as a learning experience, and move on when you feel it's time. Enjoy it, don't fear it.

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

You should absolutely request shadowing experiences in each of the aformentioned specialties. Have you been hired by this hospital and have a choice of floors to work on?

Med surg is transferable to many units, however L&D, postpartum, peds, and NICU would be more transferable to the newborn nursery.

[elkpark]

It may end up being less a matter of what floors interest you than of where the hospital has openings.

[llg, PhD, RN]

General rule of thumb: It's usually easier to transfer from a specialty unit to a general med/surg unit than to secure a job on a specialty unit by transferring from a general med/surg unit.

So if you get the opportunity to work on a specialty unit that interests you, try it. If it doesn't work out, you can likely transfer back to your old unit. If that happens, you can say that you miss your old unit more than you thought you would, etc. etc. etc. The hospital won't want to get rid of you and they will probably give you a 2nd chance on your old unit or one similar to it. However, that won't work in the opposite direction. If you choose a general med/surg to begin with and then want to transfer after a few months, there will be no incentive for the hospital to allow the transfer. They'll offer the attractive specialty position to someone they are trying to recruit -- not to you, whom they already have locked up.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Transferring units is not as easy as it used to be. I worked PCU and found I didn't generate a lot of interest when I tried to get into different specialties, even within my own hospital system, even after obtaining BSN. I was an excellent employee, but even with fellow employees they were demanding a certain level of experience in order to transfer.

With the current job market for new grad nurses it is unlikely you will have much choice in what type of job you work. I encourage you to apply for every single opening and sell yourself as if each one individually were your dream job. Then pray one of them offers something to you. New grad jobs are scarce and highly competitive in most places in the US, some moreso than others.