New Grad Rn Entering Gastroenterology

[warmspirit]

Does Anyone Know If New Grad Rn's Are Eligible To Go Into This Specialty? Is Certification Required Outside Of Having A Degree In Nursing?

[GIRN]

It depends on what you mean about going into this specialty. If you mean can you as a new nurse perform nursing duties working for a department that does Outpatient Endoscopy, then yes. You'll have to be able to start IV's, do a nursing assessment, take a history, possibly give meds for Moderate Sedation, post op the patient post-procedure, etc. You can certainly learn how to do all of these things as a new nurse. I did.

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

Here's a link to the Certification Handbook for the CGRN specialty certification. Looks like you would need two years RN experience in the specialty before taking the exam.

http://www.abcgn.org/certification/handbook.cfm

[suzy253, RN]

I just posted about obtaining a conscious sedation certificate and 'pop' here's the answer. thanks very much Eric!

[Luvbuble]

Does Anyone Know If New Grad Rn's Are Eligible To Go Into This Specialty? Is Certification Required Outside Of Having A Degree In Nursing?

Well, I have 6 months of Med/surg experience before getting into GI. I love GI, it is so much easier than Med/surg and the pts are not so sick and hard to handle. you always handle one pt at a time. I never get bored with my job. My only concern is that I am not maintaining my med/surg experience. I don't know a lot about medicine and I forget a lot of nursing skills. My suggestions to you is if you never want to work on the "floor" (med/surg), then just stick with GI. If you ever want to try something different then GI, please get at least one year of Med/surg experience and then try GI. I will highly recommend you to work full time GI and then get a PRN med/surg or rehab nursing job on the side so that you can still maintain your RN skills.

I regret not having more med/surg experience but I guess I got so stressed out at one point that I decided not to go back to Med/surg.

Anyway, I think GI is a very good specialty to go into and it is soooo doable for new grads. You will probably need to be ACLS certified eventually so that you can perform conscious sedation. It is not difficult at all. So don't let some experienced RN scare you. :stone

[lincolncontinchk]

Well, I have 6 months of Med/surg experience before getting into GI. I love GI, it is so much easier than Med/surg and the pts are not so sick and hard to handle. you always handle one pt at a time. I never get bored with my job. My only concern is that I am not maintaining my med/surg experience. I don't know a lot about medicine and I forget a lot of nursing skills. My suggestions to you is if you never want to work on the "floor" (med/surg), then just stick with GI. If you ever want to try something different then GI, please get at least one year of Med/surg experience and then try GI. I will highly recommend you to work full time GI and then get a PRN med/surg or rehab nursing job on the side so that you can still maintain your RN skills.

I regret not having more med/surg experience but I guess I got so stressed out at one point that I decided not to go back to Med/surg.

Anyway, I think GI is a very good specialty to go into and it is soooo doable for new grads. You will probably need to be ACLS certified eventually so that you can perform conscious sedation. It is not difficult at all. So don't let some experienced RN scare you. :stone

So do you recommend going to to Med/Surg as a new grad? I have one year left of nursing school and I'm still not sure what I want to do. My dad suggested getting a job in Med/Surg for experience. But I've heard from other nurses that it's not necessary.

[meither]

So do you recommend going to to Med/Surg as a new grad? I have one year left of nursing school and I'm still not sure what I want to do. My dad suggested getting a job in Med/Surg for experience. But I've heard from other nurses that it's not necessary.

I would highly recommend you to either have an internship in ICU or Med/surg. Med/surg will work your butts off but you will learn all kinds of stuff ( just give med/surg at least one year, one year experience is probably enough)and you can pretty much go into any specialty you want later. ICU is a little easier because the pt/nurse ratio is like 3:1 and you will be able to learn some complex stuff. It will look good on your future resume.

I am now working as a PACU nurse in an outpatient surgery center. I am making more money than the GI place that i used to work at and I don't have to deal with dirty poops any more. It is a much easier job but I do regret that I don't have all the med/surg knowledge such as knowing how to read the lab result, effect of medicine and pathophysiology. I work PRN on some weekends in some rehab places so that i won't forget how to Tube feed and change dressings. It also helps me to remember all the medications and what they are for. I know a lot of people will tell you it is not necessary to have med/surg experience. Say, if you want a GI nursing job, you can apply for it, someone will probably hire you as a new grad. However, if you want to change your specialty later, it will be much harder because GI is really only specialized in GI, you might know what hiatal hernia or barrett's esophagus and for sure you will be good at doing IVs. It will be almost impossible for you to work in other specialties (unless you are lucky like me or you are willing to go through perceptorship again and receive minimal salary from it)

[meither]

So do you recommend going to to Med/Surg as a new grad? I have one year left of nursing school and I'm still not sure what I want to do. My dad suggested getting a job in Med/Surg for experience. But I've heard from other nurses that it's not necessary.

By the way, don't want to confuse you, My screen name has changed from "Luvbuble" to "Meither".....Same person different name......

[GoNightingale, BSN, RN]

It depends on what you mean about going into this specialty. If you mean can you as a new nurse perform nursing duties working for a department that does Outpatient Endoscopy, then yes. You'll have to be able to start IV's, do a nursing assessment, take a history, possibly give meds for Moderate Sedation, post op the patient post-procedure, etc. You can certainly learn how to do all of these things as a new nurse. I did.

But what king of facilty will train you or preceptor you? I have found they all want experience. With regard to sedation, someine told me you have to get certified for moderat eand conscious sedation. I don't know. Sure would appreciate your input.