Moving out of oncology

[guest908299]

Hi all -

Wanted to seek some advice and opinions about a general topic. What are your thoughts about how easy it is to move out of oncology and into another speciality, and about how applicable oncology experience is to other areas of acute care?

I ask as a new grad considering a position on an (inpatient) Oncology unit. I know that I want to do critical care/ICU eventually in my career (say within 5 years), but I do also enjoy oncology. My main concerned is getting pigeon holed in a speciality and having a difficult time finding another job at a later point.

Would you advise accepting an oncology position or looking for another position (such as Telemetry)?

I appreciate your feedback!

[AJJKRN]

I'm not an Oncology nurse but the specialty can definitely involve treating very high acuity and complex patients while also titrating some very serious chemo drugs. JMHO.

[Meeshie]

I can tell you that on my floor (we're a PCU) we see a variety of comorbidities and have a huge acuity range including patients requiring telemetry since many chemo drugs can be cardiotoxic. The experience I'm getting is easily translatable to a variety of other units, including higher acuity units.

[Swellz]

I worked on a tele oncology unit and feel the complications of cancer and treatment will show you a wide variety of disease processes. Most of my coworkers who left our unit went on to ICUs.

[guest908299]

Thank you all so much for the positive feedback. I've accepted the position :)