new grad first job as a public health nurse feedback please.

[nogermsnurse]

i interviewed for a public health nurse position. i am a new grad, and the position doesn't have any critical thinking or skills/tasks involved. do you think this is still an opportunity to open doors? i know i can't complain, but i would love to work at a hospital. i would love to improve on my critical thinking and skills/tasks. is being a new grad public health nurse considered "one year experience?" is it possible for me, a new grad, to transition from a public health nurse to a bedside nurse? any other options meantwhile so i can improve on my critical thinking and skills/tasks? is it possible to pick up a part time hospital job as a new graduate? sorry for all the questions. God has blessed me with an opportunity, and I am grateful. I am just curious from anyone who can answer my questions. thank you, please no negative comments.

[ruralgirl08]

I think you could transition into acute care anytime there is an opening, it will be another learning curve, but if they need people they will train you. Acute care can be way overrated, I am surprised you don't want exclusively public health?

Alot of new grads start off part-time, because full-time is not available. One thing I have learned along the way (being 4 yrs out of school,) that I wish I would have known when I started off.

*Being a new nurse, try and focus learning one area, before starting something new, getting too many eggs in several baskets can sometimes be too overwhelming when you are starting off. You may not develop the confidence and competence in one area before moving too another, and this can will follow you.

I would choose one or the other, get in a couple years experience, then move on if you want to. All nursing skills are relatively transferable.

[germjunkie]

I'm in this same boat... But two years later. My public health rotation in nursing school was an HIV clinic. I enjoyed it, and they recruited me like crazy... It was my first nursing job. Very few hands on clinical skills. Now I find myself needing to work nights... And feel like a new grad all over again, but in need of a good deal of review (IV's, cath, assessments). I don't even now how to begin to find a floor nursing job as an old new grad.