should I do my internship in ICU or L&D

[Ceeceenumber3]

Okay so I am just confused about where to do my 6-week internship at the end of my program...

I want to become a nurse practitioner but not really sure which area yet. My original thought was family practice, but after my rotations, I discovered I loved women's health and L&D, so I'm considering nurse midwife or something else now... When I graduate, I'd like to work in L&D for a while so I can figure things out, make some $$$, and apply for grad school. I thought I should do my internship in L&D since I loved it so much and that's where I'm hoping to work. I am moving out of state when I graduate, however, so my faculty advised me to do an internship in ICU or Med-Surg so I'd get more experience in these areas. I signed up for an IMCU internship but now I am doubting my decision. I'm just not sure what would be best: do what I really want and go in the direction I think I'm interested in - OR - get that different experience that I haven't gotten yet to see if it might be something I'm interested in. If I do the ICU internship, will I still have a good chance of getting an L&D job out of school? Just not sure what to do (sigh). Any help or guidance out there? If I'm going to change I have to do it in the next day or two... I'm trying not to be too worried about short term, too, since I know I want to be a nurse practitioner. I want what's best overall...

Thx!

~ceekitty

[brokenroads27]

i say go with your gut. if you love L&D then do your internship there. sure, you'd get a ton of experience in ICU or med surg, but if you already know you love L&D and women's health then you'll also get a ton of experience in that field. if you do an internship in a certain field that you love, too, you probably have a better chance of scoring an interview or job within that specific field, rather than wasting your time in a field that you don't like as much.

[LR_C]

I totally agree! That's like when I graduate, I know I 100% want to work in NICU but everyone says "do general medicine or something because if you do NICU and then realize you hate it, they wont accept you in another ward because babies are so different" but I KNOW that I want to work with babies no matter what (its what my gut tells me) so even though its a less practical route (in the long run) to take- I am definitely going to work with babies.

Go with your gut :) and good luck.

[birthrevolution]

I wish I could do my capstone (internship) on L&D, but I'm also glad I can't. EVERYONE, including people in OB keep telling me to be glad I'm getting med-surg experience for my capstone. I know new grads who said they did their capstone on L&D and say they wish they had done med-surg--these are people who are on L&D and on med-surg units. Part of the reason I'm glad I'm on a surgical floor now (and next Medical Critical Care) is that I'll be getting lots of experience with a wide range of conditions, nursing skills and so on. These will help me on L&D as well.

I had an L&D nurse manager tell me she was looking for more people with med-surg experience because she had so many new grads that didn't have that. Part of it will depend on what the unit needs at the time. I also think that L&D can get some pretty sick patients, so it will be good to have a strong med-surg grounding to be able to take care of them. Other people have said that it's hard to get into L&D as a new grad, so take whatever job you can get (esp in this economy) as it's easier to move laterally once you're in a hospital.

That said, do what feels right for you. I'm sure that you'll have a good experience whatever you decide. Clinicals are what you make them :)

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

My capstone is in ICU simply because it is what I absolutely love. If you really like L and D, go there. You have plenty of years to get experience in other areas.

[CrunchyMama, ASN, RN]

I hated OB with a passion, so for me I would never work in that department. But if it's what you want to do then go for it. Around here though, most places require at least one year experience in medsurg....so I would rather gain experience before settling in one particular department. Good luck!