Need some advice about how to advance my career

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Hi!

I'm a recent RN, BAN who took a job in a nursing home because it's close to where I live, the pay was good enough, and I needed a job.

I want to work in an ER/trauma unit, and I recognize that I'll probably be needing some Med-Surg experience first. My question is this:

How can I keep up, or even develop, the skills I learned in nursing school that are relevant to ER, trauma, and MS while working at a nursing home?

Are there any good online courses I could take? Any certifications or anything that don't require MS experience?

I thank you in advance for your thoughtful, informed responses!!!

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I think your best option is to find an acute care M/S job. If you can't get an acute care nursing job, you might want to look for opportunites to volunteer in an ED setting in another capacity ... or maybe get certified as an EMT or something. You need actual experience, not readings or courses etc.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

we hire a few new grads each year to our ER, so you are still trainable. If you are working in any acute care setting you will get more types of experiences and will be able to network with the right people so you can transfer to another department later on. Good luck

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Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

Moved to Nursing Career Advice for more response.

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