I want to be an ER nurse...... help

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So I've been a nurse for 3 years, and 2 of those have been spent doing travel nursing on tele units. I would love the excitement of working in an ER but I can't find a place that has a transition program for experienced nurses with no ER experience. I'm looking in north central MA or southern NH.

Any suggestions?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, ER, Peds ER-CPEN.

any facility should offer unit orientation, I switched from med/surg to ER and was given 12 weeks, a good chunk of which I worked M-F 9-5 so I could see as many patients as possible. just apply to any and all open ER positions :) Good Luck!!

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even the ones that say experience required or experience prefered?

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

I would talk to the HR nurse recruiter anyway. If they hire new grads then you are surely more experienced than that. Ask that person to contact the ER Director to get their input. Perhaps your eagerness will override their need for experience if they are in a position to precept you for a while.

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I wanted to work in the ER for years. In my last m/s job, I volunteered to float as much as possible to the ER (when they had m/s holds). When I was there, I answered lights, volunteered to start ivs, and generally made myself helpful. The boss thought that was fabulous and when I told her I always wanted to work ER she offered me a job.

After all that I found I hate ER. Hated, hated, hated it. It's just as boring as m/s with a lot of screaming drunks to make your shift extra annoying. I gave it a year and went to agency. So saying, a lot of people love it and wouldn't do anything else.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.

Try calling level I or II trauma ERs and ask to speak to the Nurse Educator. That is the person who can fill you in on the training given. I would not recommend going to anything less than a level II is you want to get to see the good stuff. A level I would be ideal but having an ER medicine residency program would be even better because you get to interact with the residents who are in the training process, also.

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Specializes in M/S, Tele, Peds, ER.

I was you a couple years ago. Tele experience, some travel nursing, wanted to get into ER.

I just put in applications to ER positions, some of them don't specify that it has to be "ER" experience. They're posted as "RNII" or whatever. They just want an experienced nurse.

Even if it does, it never hurts to throw your name in the hat. Email the recruiters.

Granted, looking back I do realize it's not the norm and I was lucky I got it....I think they were just hurting for nurses? Dunno. Whatever it was, they hired me on.

The best time to apply is in June and December with all the new grads and when they're doing most of their training programs. Thats when the nurse resident slots open up and those are technically the jobs you should be applying for. You'll be hired on with new grads and other nurses who are wanting to change specialties. Some would rather an experienced RN over a new grad.

I got hired on to an ER, 6 weeks of training (this was in September), and that was it.

Good luck!

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