Help!! New Nurse in Distress..

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Hi, my name is Scott and I will graduate from my BSN in May. I have hit a struggle. I felt I wanted to be a CRNA so when I applied, all I applied for were ICU's. I was never honestly an ICU person, I was put on this earth to work Emergency Room. I have an ICU positon at a large Level I hospital. Now I know that everyone will say that there is no excuse not to take a good ICU positon, but I really do love ER. I have interest from 2 ER's which are both Level I. I am thinking of giving it 3 weeks of waiting for the ER's to respond. If not I may not accept the ICU. I really want ER, and will work and am willing to wait to get into a Level I. I want to one day be a DNP and be a vital part of an ER.

My question is, is how long should I hold onto this ICU offer before I move on and keep using it as a safety net. I had an interview at the ER in the same hospital as the ICU that I was offered, but was turned down in their ER (it is a large university hospital, and I went to a nursing school about 4 hours away). I am just young and scared of being jobless on graduation :(. I know the ICU is there, but ER is really what I wish to do...

Any advice from much wiser nurses than I would deeply be appreciated. Thank you all.

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If you don't have a job at the end of graduation would it really be such a big deal. Re-read your post. It seems to me that you have already answered your own question. You said that you know that ICU is not for you and that you were only going into it to be a CRNA. Go with what you feel passion for. You will be a much happier person when you are doing something you love. I know that after being in school for so long that you really want to get out there and start working, but you have to take your time and not rush into the situation. If you start a position for the wrong reason nursing will start to become something that you have to do (a job) and not something that you love to do (a passion).

Best of luck in deciding what to do.

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Thanks alot. I think I am going to turn down the ICU position. Today I applied to about every Level 1 Trauma center within about 600 miles haha. I applied to about 10, all in areas I like and with places to continue my education. Hopefully this all works out :S. Thanks guys.

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Specializes in Adult Acute Care Medicine.

Awesome that you turned down the position that you did not want.

Now you can focus on getting an ER position. I wanted to share an interview guide that may help to prepare you. (It helped me a lot to prepare). It is from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, and focuses only on nursing interviews..

Here is the link http://www.son.jhmi.edu/resources/career/center/services.aspx

Just go down and click on interview guide.

Good luck!!!!!!!!

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Well I love emergency medicine. I do hope to take classes and go on to get my DNP. I may try to get into med school and become a Dr. of emergency medicine, depending on how well I do on my MCAT. So I do want to be in a good city with a school in the town or nearby.

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Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

I hate to respond considering your last post but... The CRNA programs in this area don't consider ER to be critical care experience. Even if ICU isn't your cup of tea I would expect you to have a better chance of getting into a CRNA program if you had a year in a SICU. If you love E.R. why not make that a career? If all the best nurses go back for thier CNS or CRNA or whatever we aren't going to have much quality care at the bedside.

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I'm sorry, I didn't make it very clear in my original post. I decided against CRNA (just wasn't fast paced enough for me) (which CRNA is why I got into nursing in the first place.). As for the question above, I'm sorry. I will do ER as an RN for a few years but I aspire to either be an M.D., D.O. or Doc. Nurse Prac. I do have much respect for nurses who dedicate their life to bedside care, but I am 22 and just have a different path that I wish to follow (That BSN degree has so many means you can pursue in it, it really is amazing). I mean no offense by this to you or any nurse who has dedicated their life to bedside care.

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Well I applied at every Level 1 Trauma Center I could get my hands on :D. I am praying that one of them accepts me. I'll list them all so in case any of you have any advice. I am graduating in May from Pittsburg State Univ. in Pittsburg, KS with my BSN. I am 22, single and have no children. I wish to do Level 1 Trauma ER. I am willing to relocate and one fun loving guy haha.

St. Anthony Hospital (Rockford, IL)

Rockford Memorial Hospital (Rockford, IL)

Swedish Hospital (Denver, CO)

Univ. of Louisville Hospital (Louisville, KY)

University of Chicago Hospital (Chicago, IL)

University of Cincinnati Hospital (Cincinnati, OH)

Vanderbilt Univ. Hospital (Nashville, TN)

St. Louis Univ. Hospital (St. Louis, MO).

Any suggestions for places or any words of encouragement would be appreciated very much :lol2:

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Specializes in Burns, ICU, Plastic Surgery.

I would say go with ER, you don't want to take a job and be miserable. And I think that if you took the ICU job, there would be some regret.

But one thing to note- new grads going straight into ER aren't always successful, especially at a level 1 trauma center. My dream has always been ER (i'm a student) and I have gotten recommendations to try med/surg or ICU first. I don't want to give you second thoughts, just thought I'd throw that out there.

I'm sure you will successful in which ever you decide.

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This is proving to be harder than I imagined. About 4 of the 8 turned me away immediately (NO GRAD NURSES!). I have one in Illinois that has a Nurse Residency, that is my best bet. I haven't heard from Louisville or Cincinnati, but I'm betting they probably have enough applicants with their own students. I haven't called to turn down the ICU job yet. I think I'll give it the rest of the week and if nothing comes up, I think I'll take the ICU job. As much as I love ER, I think this is just a stepping stone I'll have to go over to get to it. Almost every level 1 trauma center requires ICU or Med/Surg. I would go smaller but I do want to make sure I'm getting a good orientation and becoming a better nurse. I think at Univ. Hospital (Univ. Of Missouri), I would get a better grip than most level II trauma centers. Sorry, this is all very confusing and I'm trying to get it sorted out. If I don't have any bites on the hook by Friday I think I'll take the ICU job.

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Specializes in NICU.

I know that Vanderbilt in Nashville has a nurse residency program. I think it is a pediatric nurse residency though. You may want to look into that. They accept new grads and do an amazing orientation program. So I've heard. I know someone who went through the program and was hired in the ER there as a new grad.

Tiger

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would it be so bad to get a year of icu experience before you transfered to ER? It would most likely make you a more well rounded nurse.

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