Neuro or cardiac out of school

Specialties Neurological

Published

Hello All,

First of all I thank everyone for replying to me on this website. I feel this is a great resource to get support from fellow nurses! Well I have a new situation at hand.

I am a new grad...(finished in may), and I am sitting today with TWO job offers...I know....:yeah::yeah::yeah: I feel very blessed.

The two different units are Neuro/telemetry...which is a step down from ICU unit..and the other unit is CARDIAC/telemetry.

BOTH positions are at night. I will be preceptoring with a preceptor for 8 weeks for which ever unit I chose.

I am willing to learn and need advice on which to pick. As in what are the pros and cons? ????? I do not have experience and since they are both at night (esp neuro..) it makes me a bit more nervous..obviously bc there is less staf..

Anyway..any awesome neuro/tele nurses out there to give me their wise words????? :confused:

Thanks :heartbeat:heartbeat:heartbeat

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Congrats!!! I wish I could have had an opportunity to get into Neuro right out of school! I graduated in March, but all the Neuro units around me want at least a year experience before they even consider you for Neuro. I would definitely go Neuro, but that's just me haha. Either one is a great unit IMO

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Specializes in Infectious Disease, Neuro, Research.

The good thing about Neuro is that its specialized. The bad thing about Neuro is that its specialized.;) Because a majority of patients over 50 have some cardiac situation, cardio is highly marketable, i.e., med-surg would be happy to hire you, as would OB, IC, ED...

Neuro might be slightly more limiting down the road. OTOH, if you move to a smaller facility, they might be thrilled to have someone with tele-Neuro experience working in their MICU. In a metro, it might be a bit more challenging, unless you really work to integrate your knowledge base.

Both are great opportunities- I've been with research in Neuro for just under 10 years. If you aren;t looking to move in the near future, I'd say its a complete toss-up. Congrats & good luck!:up:

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I just started neuro as a new grad about 6 months ago. I am in a large teaching facility so it may also depend what type of hospital you are at. It is an intense field to work in however you will know your cranial nerves like the back of your hand, as well as s/s of stroke, seizures, and many other neuro diseases/complications. If it is a neuro surg unit you will probably be more marketable in my opinion because some pt's that have certain spinal procedures end up with a chest tube and my floor has at least 1 trach pt a week and you deal with a lot of bladder and bowel retraining. As a neuro nurse you tend to become a little "neurotic" about the slightest changes in a pt's LOC or any other changes where as when I did an internship on a cardiac floor I felt like it was more gradual changes (minus chest pain).

All in all it depends on what fits you best and I think that after your interviews you will ave a better idea of where you want to go.

Best of luck to you.

:)

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