Is ER good learning experience?

sun_chica · Feb 21, 2005

The ER is a great place to get experience while going to nursing school. I was a unit clerk in the ED for 1.5 yrs during school...I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I saw soooo many interesting things (also dealt w/ some not-so-nice people). The atmosphere can be lil' intense at times, but usually a great place to be. If you show your interested in learning, most the nurses & MD's will likely "take you under their wing" & try to teach you things that you'll likely not see in your clinicals. Do what's best for you...Good luck!!!!

NurseFirst · Feb 21, 2005

The ER is a great place to get experience while going to nursing school. I was a unit clerk in the ED for 1.5 yrs during school...I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I saw soooo many interesting things (also dealt w/ some not-so-nice people). The atmosphere can be lil' intense at times, but usually a great place to be. If you show your interested in learning, most the nurses & MD's will likely "take you under their wing" & try to teach you things that you'll likely not see in your clinicals. Do what's best for you...Good luck!!!!

I was an admitting clerk in an ER for 4 1/2 years. I also loved it. Take a cruise to the Emergency nursing topic and check out some of the threads there...

NurseFirst

LilRedRN1973 · Mar 12, 2005

I work in the ICU as an Apprentice Nurse and being in the ER while you are waiting for that position to open up in the ICU is a good idea. For one, if you will be at a hospital that has trauma, you will become familiar with the trauma docs that you see in the ICU a lot. Plus, you will meet a lot of the RN's that once you begin in the ICU, you will deal with a lot (taking off report, etc.). The atmosphere is much different, but the patients sometimes will be similar (very critical). The atmosphere in our ER is kind of like organized chaos, loud, with lots of people always running around. The ICU is quiet and more "controlled". I couldn't decide between ER and ICU but decided that since I tend to get claustrophobic sometimes, the ER would probably be a bad choice for me! LOL. Plus, I've been in the ICU since December 2003 as a Tech/Apprentice Nurse (I was hired right after my first semester of school) and I LOVE the environment, the people, the docs, the supervisors (did I just say that????), and anything else there. I really don't have any complaints about my unit and am really excited to be working there once I graduate.

I would definitely take the job in the ER.....the experience you get there will benefit you more than the one in ortho, more than likely. At least in our facility, it would.

Melanie