Preceptor Assignment- Which To Choose??

RunBabyRN · Jan 10, 2014

Did you have any say in where you were assigned?

ICU and med/surg are definitely different animals. Have you spent any time in ICU at all? How do you feel about your med/surg skills? If you feel like you're pretty comfortable in med/surg, it might be good to challenge yourself in ICU. You never know, you may end up liking it. It's very different, lots or repeated vitals, focused care, you'd learn a lot.

I'm going into my preceptorship as well, and from what I hear, they do look at where you did your preceptorship when you go to apply for jobs.

Do you know what kind of nursing you want to get into?

amhtmh · Jan 10, 2014

Thanks for your reply. I only went to one day in the ICU and it wasn't a real ICU as it was a really small hospital. I feel like I would be learning a lot in either because I don't feel like I've had a lot of experience. I'm thinking of doing hospice or oncology. What unit is your preceptor assignment?

RunBabyRN · Jan 10, 2014

My preceptorship is in mother/baby, but I'm going into midwifery, and the new NM, who just moved up there from med/surg, where I've been for 3 semesters, is basically seeing how I do up there with the potential of a job.

There's A LOT to be learned in the ICU for sure. If you're thinking hospice or oncology, that might be a really good unit for you, because those are issues that come up a lot in the ICU, hospice in particular. You'll work with families that have to make decisions about EOL care and taking loved ones off of life support or onto comfort care, and work with patients that have to make those decisions. It'll give you a really good sense of what people go through at that time. It'll also expose you to what people are on when we're trying to keep them alive, and see the ethical issues that come up when, perhaps, it might be time to discontinue curative care and move to comfort care, and the family refuses. You'll learn a lot about drug interactions when you have a patient with 6 IV pumps running and about vents and dialysis and so many things you wouldn't see elsewhere. About the effects of opiates on people in multiple organ failure and trying to manage pain in cancer patients and all kinds of stuff.

It might actually be an ideal place for you. :)

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jan 10, 2014

I am just about to start my 135 hr preceptorship for my last semester of school and debating between med-surg unit or ICU. I am assigned to ICU but am thinking of switching to a med-surg floor as I have never had a desire to work in ICU and ICU sounds kind of intimidating to me! Do employers take into account which unit you did your preceptor on? Does an ICU preceptorship look better than med-surg? What should I do?

Speaking as an ICU nurse, we consider your preceptorship to be a 135 hour job interview. If you already know you're not interested in ICU, please don't waste our time. Take your preceptorship on a Med/Surg floor which you probably already know is a fabulous place for a first nursing job.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jan 10, 2014

With all due respect to my friend RubyVee, if all you know about ICU is that little one in Podunk, consider the fact that your faculty thought you were good enough to send to a real one. That says something. You don't really know anything about ICU, and as PPs have said, you can learn a lot there that you can use anywhere.

You might just fall in love with it, especially with longer exposure and a chance to see things change over time with critical patients. That's what happened to me when I was a student-- did an ICU rotation and went bonkers for it.

Let us know how it turns out!

amhtmh · Jan 15, 2014

I had my first day at the ICU today, and it went well! I think I am going to enjoy it and my preceptor is really patient and willing to explain things. Runbabyrun, I think you might be right about it being a good place for me.

Any ICU advice would be greatly appreciated! Since it is like a '135 hour job interview' if you have any advice at all of making a good impression- please share!

Thanks for your comments