Ortho nurse or transplant nurse?

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Hello I am a first time poster. I recently interviewed for two nursing positions. Luckily for me I was offered a position with both. However, now I cannot decide which position to take. Both are entry level nursing positions at the same hospital with the same pay. The only difference is, one is the ortho unit and the other is transplant.

Can you guys give me some insight on both units? What do both types of nurses do? Which unit has patients that are more independent when it comes to bed baths, etc. Which would be a better fit for a new graduate nurse?

Thank you for your replies in advance

:)

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

Which one does your gut feeling tell you to take?

The reason I ask this is you will get mixed views on here and realistically only you know which one will be best for you!

Both are very different specialties with expectations.

If you visited the floors one of them will make you feel more at home than the other-chose that one

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Thank you for your comment. However, since I have not worked on either unit in clinicals can you tell me a little about each of them?

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Specializes in ICU-CCRN, CVICU, SRNA.

Transplant.you will learn more.

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Specializes in Medical/Surgical.

As a new grad transplant nurse, I would recommend you choose the transplant floor. The learning opportunities on a transplant floor are great. Transplant nursing involves a lot of teaching about medications, but you get exposure to many disease processes. It is kind of like a specialized medical-surgical floor.

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Transplant!!! I agree that the learning experience will be incredible. Just as an aside......ortho floors are very heavy...and the work is physically difficult.

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Specializes in Telemetry, Oncology, Progressive Care.

What kind of transplant are you talking about? Nevertheless I would choose transplant. I think it's fascinating no matter what kind of transplant you're talking about (stem cells, bone marrow, heart, kidney, liver). There's so much to learn about them all!

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You will learn plenty in either case.

Transplant patients I prefer because they have been screened as appropriate candidates for surgery, and often have been well prepared for their hospital stay before. People recover at different rates, but I love to see transplant patients recover.

Ortho patients generally cannot move independently. You will be very dependent on your CNAs to help you with patient care. Teamwork is key because just getting patients up to the chair, back to bed, up to the bathroom etc can take a long time. The CNA will also help you supervise the confused elderly who try to get out of bed or the patient going into alcohol withdrawl.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

Transplant.

Of course ortho patients freak me out though, so I'm bias!

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Specializes in Nephrology.

Transplant. Nothing beats seeing someone go home well after a transplant. I would never trade what I do.

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Transplant! You will learn more there.

Ortho is like heavy work at a pain pill mill.

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Specializes in Developmental Disabilites,.

I work ortho and I would say go with transplant. Ortho is very physically demanding but you will become an expert at pain management.

However in ortho the patients for the most part are not sick. 95% of the procedures are elective and the patients are screened before coming into the hospital. It is also a happy specialty for the most part.

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