Pre-Op vs. Burn/Trauma Unit??? Advice please!

[LaylaFuyuki]

Hello!

I am currently in my 3rd year of my BSN nursing program. In my program there is a student nurse position that is basically like a CNA but you can put in IVs, catheters, do wound care, etc. I really enjoy more critical patients and think that I want to go on to be a CRNA. So I wanted to work in an ICU as soon as possible. There's a good chance (95%) that I will get hired as a nurse on the unit I work as a student nurse on.

So my questions is, which unit do I chose, Pre-Op or Burn? I'm worried that Burn will be too hard as a first nursing job but would be great for the experience and to see if I like it. While with Pre-Op it sounds amazing and fun but might not give me the experiences I need of sicker patients. If you could give your reasoning/experiences and not just which unit I would really appreciate it!

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

It sounds like you'd prefer the burn unit but I think it really depends on the ability of the burn unit to bring new grads on board successfully. My critical care unit recently started a new grad residency program. Both of the first two hired left within a month after coming off orientation, and one of the next three still in orientation has already left. New grads in critical care can definitely be successful. But it's not the best path for everyone. Unless you have educators and preceptors focused on giving new grads a great basic foundation, many critical care units are going to focus on concepts that build on the basics, but don't provide a solid foundation, so new grads flounder. 

Both of your opportunities involve very specific patient populations. In pre-op you will probably become a go to resource on IV insertion and you will learn a good bit about outpatient medications as you will be reviewing with patients their home medications in many situations. In the burn unit you are going to have very sick patients, but again, they are a very specific subset of sick patients. You will probably become very proficient in certain aspects of wound care and pain management. 

Either one is going to get you a foot in the door and provide some good experiences for you to build upon in your career. Good luck.