New Nurse/Need career advice

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Hi- I am a new nurse. I am having difficulty choosing my first position as a nurse. My old career was medical equipment repair in an Operating Room for the past 11 years. The two positions I need to decide between are..... OR nurse and MICU nurse....I know they are two completely different types of nursing and should be easy to decide. Any advice would be appreciated....thanks so much.

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Hi Joanne. Welcome to the site! What attracts you to each of the two specialties?

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Good luck in whatever you do. I'm not in those areas, but hopefully someone whose worked them will help you out. :)

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Thanks. I appreciate the replies. My interest..... the OR .....i think because my experience is in the OR and I am very comfortable in the OR. I am just worried I think I am more interested in the OR because is my comfort zone.The MICU...seemed interesting and a lot to learn....but exciting. The learning curve would definetely be higher.... but I could develop skills ....and gain experience in bed side nursing.I know is crazy that I DON"T KNOW...but I don't know :-(

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Specializes in ER/ ICU.

When I graduated, new nurses had to go to med surg first before a specialty floor. I realize it is not that way anymore. I would strongly suggest finding a unit you can put your heart into. You have to be excited about it to want to learn and push the envelope. Choose carefully. I would ask the manager if you could shadow an RN for the day before you decide.

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Specializes in ICU, Research, Corrections.
Thanks. I appreciate the replies. My interest..... the OR .....i think because my experience is in the OR and I am very comfortable in the OR. I am just worried I think I am more interested in the OR because is my comfort zone.The MICU...seemed interesting and a lot to learn....but exciting. The learning curve would definetely be higher.... but I could develop skills ....and gain experience in bed side nursing.I know is crazy that I DON"T KNOW...but I don't know :-(

I picked the MICU when I was a new grad and am not sorry about it. I am of the philosophy that if I am going to nurse sick people, then give me REALLY SICK PEOPLE! Yes, it is exciting......sometimes overly exciting :smackingf After 10 months I still love it and am still learning a lot. Just be sure you get a good orientation!

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
Thanks. I appreciate the replies. My interest..... the OR .....i think because my experience is in the OR and I am very comfortable in the OR. I am just worried I think I am more interested in the OR because is my comfort zone.The MICU...seemed interesting and a lot to learn....but exciting. The learning curve would definetely be higher.... but I could develop skills ....and gain experience in bed side nursing.I know is crazy that I DON"T KNOW...but I don't know :-(

I think if you read this again, you've really answered your own question here. What I'm reading is that you think you would be more comfortable in OR, but that you'd really like to try MICU but are worried about stepping out of your comfort zone. I get the feeling that if you stay with the OR, you might always regret not giving MICU a try. Of course, your role in the OR as a nurse will be quite different from your role as a technician.

How easy or difficult would it be to switch if you try one and really don't like it? It's not uncommon for new nurses to try one type of position for a while and end up changing. It happens with experienced nurses sometimes, too!

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Oh, man, it is soooo hard to give advice to other people. Not knowing where your heart is, what you're about, it is simply not possible to advise you, yet I feel like I want to help you decide.

I always write a list of pros and cons for each choice, try to get as much information as is available for each choice, and then flip a coin, LOL.

I do wish you ease in decision-making. :idea:

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Infusion, peds, informatics.

my gut feeling would be that with your or background, you would have an easy time switching to that should you decide the micu is not for you.

going the other direction might not be so easy.

in general, i think i would avoid the or as a new grad unless you knew that is what you wanted to do. nursing skills in the or are very different than those used in the rest of the hospital. there are many nursing skills you don't use in the or, like giving tube feeds. a skill you would probably use every day in micu, but i'd be surprised if you ever had to use that skill in the or. while there are a whole host of other skills that you will use in the or but probably never on an inpatient unit, the or is used to training people to those skills. in-patient units are not really accoustomed to that -- "what do you mean you've never given a bolus tube feed before?"

when i worked in icu, i remeber precepting a girl who had several years of experience as a nurse, all in or and pacu. there was a whole bunch of things she had never done, and i wasn't used to precepting someone where i had to explain so much about stuff that just seemed routine to me. it wasn't a problem, but i remember thinking how much harder it was for her to go from or to icu than it was for our new grads to adapt to icu.

so if you really are ambivilent, or even leaning towards micu, that is where i would go. however, if you really want to go to the or (and have no desire to ever give tube feeds ;) ), then stick with your heart and go there.

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