How'd you choose? Because I don't know how!

[on eagles wings]

Good evening, y'all :)

Student here. Thought I'd be brave enough to come over to the adult side(lol) and ask a few questions!

First, how on earth did you decide what you wanted to specialize in? Did you have it planned before you started school, or did you make your decision as you went along in clinical?

Also, did you get "stuck" in what you did your preceptorship in? Or were you able to do something else?

I have to decide where I am precepting but have no idea what to do. I think I like ICU but have never rotated to one. I am at my peds clinical now on a hemodialysis/medsurg unit and *love* it. However, I don't know if I should limit myself to peds? I have nursing instructors telling me to stay with adults as it makes me more "marketable"(whatever?)

Also I am nervous because I currently work at a Medsurg/Stepdown unit as a PCT/UC and feel kind of obligated to work there as the DON has been so awesome to me(such as helping me work around my schedule, respecting my religious practices etc). So I would feel ungrateful if I decided to work on a peds unit instead of adults.

That brings another(I'm so long winded) question. Is it possible to work two part-time jobs as a new grad? Let's say on my Medsurg adult floor, and a Peds floor? Is that too crazy for a new grad to handle?

Thanks yall, I appreciate any responses in advance.

[MommyandRN]

I've been a nurse for over 10 years and I'd still like to find my specialty! Out of school I took whatever was available to me. Actually I realized there were a lot of ICU jobs, and liked that it was challenging and that I would learn a lot. So I took one. I don't regret that because it was great experience. I just didn't want to stay there forever. I have tried a few things since then, and do have a few areas in mind that I would like to specialize in and stay for retirement. Now it's just a matter of finding one, and if they hire me and I like it, I might have a new specialty!

[on eagles wings, ASN, RN]

I wish I had a buck for every one of my fellow students or students I precepted who declared "I'm going to be an L&D nurse" or "I'm going into critical care (ED, ICU) only". Because I'd be RICH, lol, as so many of them found themselves either starting elsewhere or ending elsewhere.

Lol! This is funny and I'd probably be rich for everytime *I* have said I was thinking of doing this or that. I enjoyed OB(all aspects of it... L&D, postpartum, nursery), cardiac cath, cardiac floor, and now peds. Lol. Sigh I guess I just have to wait it out and see where I'll stick. :)

[Do-over, ASN, RN]

There were areas I thought I wanted to work in, including the floor I worked on during school. In the end, I didn't have a choice and I took what was offered (tele/step-down) and found a specialty that is very challenging and that I enjoy.

Coming up on 2 years experience, I could probably get a job in another area, but still have plenty to learn where I am. Sometimes you just have to try and bloom where you end up planted...

good luck.

[on eagles wings, ASN, RN]

admittedly, i never chose my specialty. from the beginning i knew that i wanted to experience as many units as i could therefore, i volunteered most of the time and never stayed more than 2yrs. in one specialty. however, i knew that i couldn't deal with peds. or ob. needless to say, i never volunteered to neither one of these and this is the reason why i have the up most respect for ped. and ob nurses. unquestionably, i never felt stuck in any given unit, on the contrary by experiencing a multitude of specialties this catapulted me to my actual position in upper management.

this is a really neat idea!

[proud nurse, BSN, RN]

For me it's been more about knowing where I don't want to be instead of knowing where I want to be. Straight out of LPN school, I worked in LTC. It's been something I could always fall back on, but it's never been what I wanted to do and I think it's starting to show. I worked as a school nurse for a few years and really liked it, but went back to LTC due to flexible scheduling while I was working on my RN degree.

I had a clinicals on a ped respiratory floor, and an adult oncology floor. I had rotations in day surgery, GI, and recovery room. I enjoyed all of those, and applied for a variety of units after graduation. I'm up for the challenge of anything, but I'm about to start my journey as a new RN in peds in just a few weeks. There are so many areas of peds nursing, and I want to experience as many as I can.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

eagles wings, if you don't mind me saying, it's refreshing to find a student who doesn't have all the answers :)

Keep an open mind, learn from the mistakes of others, and I see a nice future for you.

[on eagles wings, ASN, RN]

eagles wings, if you don't mind me saying, it's refreshing to find a student who doesn't have all the answers :)

Keep an open mind, learn from the mistakes of others, and I see a nice future for you.

Thank you for such a nice comment. :) I gotta say, nursing school is a very humbling experience--I don't know how there are students who act like know-it-alls, LOL.

Again, thanks to all you guys for your advice. I look forward to eventually transitioning from the General Nursing Student side to the General Nurse discussions! December '12!!! WOOT:specs:

[PeepnBiscuitsRN]

When I was an LPN I worked for 4 years in peds- just an average family clinic. I loved it to death and was certain I would go on to work at the local Childrens hospital as an RN and later an NP.

Well...if you want to hear the laughter of God, tell him YOUR plans.

After I had my son in 2008, I noticed it was really hard for me to give shots to little kids. It really made me...I don't know...weepy. I still wanted to go on and be a peds RN though...then I started nursing school. I think it was after I realized I had diagnosed my son with everything in "the book" as it were, that I started thinking that maybe peds wasn't such a good fit for me. I would just superimpose everything onto my little guy and it drove me (and him, and my husband) nuts. I ended up getting a very coveted preceptorship at the aformentioned Childrens Hospital, and I was still pleased as punch- but it was in the NICU. A top level NICU. I wondered what I would be in for, and was worried I would see something terrible.

Well, what I saw wasn't what I would call "happy" but I found it was a lot easier for me to handle, oddly enough than the idea of putting an IV in a 3 year old. This little 22 weeks gestation baby, too little to be real. It was very humbling. It put the notion in my head of working in the arena of OB or NICU. Then shortly before I graduated from nursing school I found out we were expecting again- our daughter. Now, this was 2010 and the economy was just trash. There was a nursing strike, hiring freezes and layoffs and it was bleak for a new (pregnant) grad. I had my daughter in January of 2011, at the same hospital I had my son, and I loved my nurses from L/D to Postpartum (and NICU because both my kids were there for a short stay). I realized I wanted to work at THAT particular hospital because it was a teaching hospital and it was so positive and good. I ended up getting offered a job in Telemetry, and I gobbled it up, and for the next year I worked not only tele, but ICU stepdown, trauma, burn, general med-surg, neuro, straight cardiac...everything. It was a great salad bar of experience, but I kept coming back to OB, and I applied for a postpartum job back in april- got the interview on a friday, and the job offer on the following thursday. I joined a community of RN's who have been with the birth center for over 25 years.

So, I would say to you- what you first get may not be what you end up going into. I would suggest that you take whatever you can get, in this economy at least. If you have an RN job waiting for you at the place you're at now, or the possiblitly thereof, I would grab that spot- see where it takes you!

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I decided based on who would actually hire me as a new grad.

[Good Morning, Gil]

I didn't know what kind of nurse I wanted to be when I was in school. I only knew what I definitely did not want to do. However, since new grads have to apply for what's available, I chose my job based on who chose me lol. I have been a nurse for almost 2 years now, and have been an ICU nurse for almost one year, and I really enjoy it, and plan on hanging around for a while. ICU isn't where I imagined myself ending up in when I was in nursing school, though I did enjoy it. So, just keep an open mind, and don't worry so much about what you will specialize in (though I thought about it, too, in nursing school).

Just apply for a variety, and see who hires you! And, if you enjoy peds, then there's no harm in applying for peds as a new grad, and starting as a new grad peds nurse, but I would probably get some adult experience in your preceptorship since it is more likely you'll land some kind of adult job as a new grad. It's up to you, though: you could do a peds preceptorship, do well there, and they might like you enough to consider hiring you (if they have positions available for new grads). Only you can make this decision. Best of luck!

[Tiffanybaybay]

[color=#ff3399]when i started school i thought i would be a die hard ed nurse. ed all the way.

and people did try to pigeon hole me into med surg, by not giving me interviews or telling me my gpa was too low... i just kept trying. literally, for years. when i started having difficulty, i asked other nurses what i should do to become an ed rn. many suggested tele, and i did that for about a yr and a half before applying to the ed. jobs are hard to find but if you really dedicate yourself to something, you will achieve it. sooner or later.

i always thought icu would be too detail oriented, but that's all nursing. you will learn more in an icu than anywhere else though. ed is fun and gets you a lot of exposure but it definately attracts a certain kind of person. peds, i think, makes you more marketable, because it's the same as adults with more calculations... i think if you can do pedi, you can do adult, although you may be dismayed at their attitudes as compared to peds. i'm considering moving to a pedi icu to gain more experience for the long term goal of being a flight rn. idk...

when it comes to your job, do what is best for you although there are benefits to staying at a job where you already work, in terms of retirement, tuition reimbursement, etc.

and if you can find a part time job then take it. in my experience they don't offer those positions to new grads. if you find one that does then more power to you. once you have a yr under your belt, you can do however many jobs you'd like.

hope that helps!

[What would Flo Do]

I graduated from an ADN program this past May. First let me tell you it is very difficult to get a job as a new grad and I did end up working where I did my preceptorship at. Also, I went in with an open mind, some had their minds made up as to what they wanted to do. I just crossed things off that I knew I didn't want to do as my clinicals went along. I would suggest doing your preceptorship in something you LOVE or in something that you are going to get the most skills (ER, ICU, etc.). When the time comes put some applications out there and if something comes up in peds and u know you still want to do that...go for it. If not, stay at your current position. I would not suggest trying to balance two Nursing Jobs in different fields as a new grad. Best of luck to you!