Level one trauma center the best place to start?

scattycarrot, BSN, RN · Sep 6, 2007

Well, I think you will find most of us on here are biased and think that the ER is the best place to work! But biased for a good reason as working within the Emergency enviroment will give you an excellent grounding for any future practice you may choose, especailly if there is a critical care component to the internship. In my opinion, you can throw an ER nurse in pretty much any situation and she or he will be able to handle it,regardless of whether its their 'speciality' or not. Thats because good ER nurses are able to think on their feet, keep cool under pressure and become experts at prioritisation and multi-tasking. The NICU would also be an awesome place to work but it is a very specialised area and if you aren't sure which you want to do (and it sounds like you aren't!) then I would go for the area that will provide you with the most experience and the one where you will learn the most. You will see and learn things in the ER that will stay with you throughout your career and these expereinces will give you confidence and the skills to back that confidence up. I vote for the ER, especailly because of the internship.

As I said, i am biased!!!!

RNcDreams · Sep 6, 2007

I agree-- I'm a new grad almost halfway through my 6 Month orientation in the ED and it's certainly a place where you learn to assess, prioritize, and think, fast- and get used to not knowing a thing about your patient! It forces you to trust yourself, actively learn on your own, and ask questions until you turn blue. It's hard, and makes me nervous, but I love it :) I think I made the right choice! I can extrapolate what I learn here to any other care environment!

CarVsTree · Sep 7, 2007

Wow! NICU and ER are pretty different! You sound like I did when I graduated. I started in Trauma Med/Surg and this allowed me to see what I like/dislike. I LOVE trauma.

I am heading to the Trauma-Neuro ICU and will have the same Critical Care Course offered new grads. Are you sure that there is no internship for experienced RN's. That seems off to me.

Are you a new grad or 3 years of med/surg (just reading your avatar and it says 3 years med/surg experience.

My 2 cents are I'm a believer of 1-2 years med/surg. Unless you decide NICU then med/surge wouldn't help you much. Unless you mean Neuro ICU rather than Neonatal ICU.

BTW, the 2 years I've spent in transitional trauma have allowed me to take care of mainly trauma patients, but also straight surgical and medical patients. I LOVE my trauma docs and for some strange reason love/hat/love difficult trauma patients.

Good luck in whatever you decide!

JulieRN07 · Sep 8, 2007

I have been an LPN in med/surg for 3 years-went back and became an RN. And it is the neonatal intensive care. I wanted to work there because my son was a preemie. I do think I need to get into the ER and let it make me the best nurse I can be and then maybe down the road I will change to the NICU. Thanks for the advice!

CarVsTree · Sep 8, 2007

Oh, I get it. Try ED, sounds like you might like it. You might get bored in the NICU because it is such a limited population. I wanted NICU but found I really love trauma 'cause my patients are across the lifespan and every walk of life.

I'm starting the crtical care course in November and am really looking forward to it. Glad I've done Trauma med/surg, I feel ready to learn more, but very comfortable in my assessment skills. We'll see how I feel after I begin in the unit!

Good luck with whatever you decide!

CarVsTree · Sep 20, 2007

So Jules, what'd you decide to do?

JulieRN07 · Sep 21, 2007

Well...after a TON of hours spent weighing out the pros and cons, I decided to take the NICU job for now. It is really hard to get into this specialty area unless you are a new grad, so I figured it was the best opportunity.

I am going to give it a few years and then I think I will go to the ER, and then I can work both. I really appreciate the advice, and I'm sure when I hear the air care helicopter flying over I'm still going to wish I was in that trauma center waiting for them to land!!!