I Need Advice!

[brink19]

I graduate my BSN program in May. I have been working at a hospital for almost a year now as a Nurse Tech. I applied for new grad positions on two floors. These floors were a med-surg floor and a post cardiac care unit. I got denied on both floors. The only positions left now are one in the ER and one on a rehab floor. I don't really wanna start in the ER as a new grad, so I am just gonna narrow it down to the Rehab floor.

My question is should I do the Rehab floor and try to transfer to the other floors I applied for in like a year or so? We only pass meds and do assessments on the rehab floor, so don't know how good experience wise that will be.

My last option is a psych floor in a different hospital. Since it's in a different hospital I might have a harder time going back, rather then staying and getting tenure. The rehab is in the hospital I like and want to work.

Will working Rehab help my resume more than working on the Psych floor for my chances of getting hired on the two floors I want.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I suspect Rehab will give you better experience if your goal is Med/Surg or cardiac. Psych is a very different specialty and focuses less on the physical. In rehab, your patients may be recovering from major surgery, so you may still have wound care and assessments to do. Also, you'll encounter many of the same medications in rehab as you will in Med/Surg or cardiac -- meaning that when you eventually do tranfer, you'll already know the medications, uses, doses, etc. Rehab will certainly teach you time management skills!