Med/Surg or ER Experience?

[delerben]

This question came up with another nurse. We talked about a new nurse getting at least 1 year of experience prior to going into H.H. and one said ER and the other said Med/Surg ... what say you?

[RubyRN,CHPN]

Definately med surg experience is preferred for home health over ER, especially for a new grad. This will serve you well for foundation of nursing skills to build on including assessment and other clinical skills and procedures needed to be successful including advanced wound care, teaching, etc.

Best of luck to you.

[caliotter3]

If everyone needed ER experience to work in hh, there would be a lot of hh jobs going unfilled.

[berube]

a good med-surg background, to me, is a great foundation for any aspect of nursing

[delerben]

What about an ICU background?

[KateRN1]

That depends a lot on the ICU. If it is a general medical ICU, then yes, great experience. However, a specialized ICU might be less than ideal background for home health. You need experience with a variety of conditions, especially HTN, CHF, COPD, DM, Psych, ortho, etc. You need to have experience with patients who are awake, alert walkie/talkies for patient education, etc. I think ICU would be better than ER, but maybe not so good as med-surg.

But then thinking about it a few minutes, there are things that the ER can teach that you may not find in other areas, like thinking and acting on the fly, flexibility, initiative, generally staying calm in an otherwise chaotic environment.

[delerben]

That depends a lot on the ICU. If it is a general medical ICU, then yes, great experience. However, a specialized ICU might be less than ideal background for home health. You need experience with a variety of conditions, especially HTN, CHF, COPD, DM, Psych, ortho, etc. You need to have experience with patients who are awake, alert walkie/talkies for patient education, etc. I think ICU would be better than ER, but maybe not so good as med-surg.

But then thinking about it a few minutes, there are things that the ER can teach that you may not find in other areas, like thinking and acting on the fly, flexibility, initiative, generally staying calm in an otherwise chaotic environment.

I just got a job in the Medical/Cardiac ICU but want to try and get over to HH after 1 year ... hopefully my experience will help.