new grad prospects after ambulatory surgery?

[lisa333]

Hi all,

I graduated in April 2010 and got my RN license in June 2010. I looked desperately for a new grad hospital job, because I really wanted to have a solid foundation in medical/surgical nursing. Unfortunately, after a year of applying, I still had not found this job of my dreams.

I finally accepted a position as a recovery room RN in an ambulatory surgery clinic. The clinic only performs an extremely limited scope of procedures, and our patients are all relatively young and healthy. I'm happy to have a job, but don't feel like I'm learning much.

Basically, I'm still dreaming about ending up in a med/surg unit in a hospital, but I don't know how to get there. At this point I no longer qualify for new grad programs, but don't have the hospital experience to apply to med/surg units. A nurse friend suggested I apply to PACUs, since that's most aligned to what I'm doing now. The PACU of a hospital seems so much more intense than what I see in my clinic, though.

Do you think that's the best course of action? I really don't want to be stuck in the clinic forever, I feel like any knowledge I gained in nursing school is just draining away month by month.

Thanks,

Lisa