please help me know..

[LiNzE2oo4]

Hey - I have a question, and I thought maybe someone could help me out. I'm a high school senior, and I've always wanted to be a pediatric nurse, more specifically, a pediatric oncology nurse. The thing I'm wondering about is when I start nursing school, will I have to make rounds (or whatever it's called) in every department? Since I already know exactly what I want to do, I don't really want to have to experience any of the other departments, I have no desire whatsoever... but I assume I will have to. About how long do you stay in each place? And do you get to pick any, or do you just work in them all?

Thanks!

Lindsay

[medicrnohio, RN]

I'm not sure about every program but I would assume it is the same for most. At my school we had med surg every semester, OB one semester, peds one semester, and psych one semester. Some programs have a preceptorship your last semester where you can choose an area you would like to do your clinicals.

[nursepearl]

yes, in oder to pass the boards you have to have knowledge in all areas of nursing. In our program we have 4 semesters of med/surg, one of each of the following- psych, geri, peds, critical care, women's health, and community health.

we are fortunate enough to let the teachers know our areas of interest and they will try to place us accordinly. like for peds i choose as my top areas- PICU, Oncology and ER.

Anyway, good luck with your education!

Pearl :)

[TeresaRN2b]

Yes, you will have to go every where. Think about it, even if you work pediatric oncology, there is a good chance that one of your patients will have some other illness/disease process to contend with at some point in your work experience. How would you know how to manage these other illnesses without learning about them? Also in that field you'd need to know about psych issues like depression, anxiety, etc. No matter where you decide to work, you really need a well rounded knowledge base.

Teresa