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Discussion

Good Experience for SICU?

I recently completed my first semester of nursing school this past December, received my CNA license and landed a job as a Student Nurse/Tech in the Trauma PACU in a large, teaching hospital with a Level I Trauma Center. I opted for the PACU because I really wanted to start working to earn some extra cash for school and there were no positions available in any of the units I would be interested in working in after graduation. My question is this: will this position provide me with some good experience and be viewed favorably should I choose to work as an RN in the SICU (or CSICU or PICU for that matter), or should I try to get a comparable position in the ICU where I am interested in working upon graduation (when a position avails itself)?

Thanks!

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    Learn what you can where you are now, move later on if you're stagnating. Not everyone working in a specific ICU should have the same work history. Diversity is priceless.

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    You can make any experience valuable, but you will not be practicing in a nurses role so I don't think it will really impact your future nursing position offers. Unless the PACU likes you and try to hire you once you graduate. Most ICU's recover their own patients- especially the really sick ones. So your exposure to that patient population will be limited.

    Getting your foot in the door is important though! Good luck.

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    I agree, often the easiest way to get hired somewhere is an Internal hire vs an external hire. The paperwork is much easier to get through. I think that most PACU's require at least a year of Critical care nursing or more, Telemetry, pressors and mechanical ventilation knowledge is key to making it in PACU.

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    I precepted in the PACU. I learned so much about airways and blood pressure management. It was an awesome experience.

    I still was able to recover critical patients because a bed was not available yet, etc.

    Good for you.

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