patinLA

Nursing is not just about what you want. A new grad, even if smart, talented, and capable, is not a good candidate for an advanced nursing area. Our job is to give excellent nursing care. You cannot do that with your limited work experience. Pay your dues for your patients sake. You owe it to them. It takes a year to pull yourself together, bringing your knowledge base and work experience into the same realm. I am shocked by the lack of skills demonstrated by the nurses graduating in the last 5-8 years, perhaps even ten years ago now. This group has been caught in the "perfect paper trail" trap. It is document, document, document and be damned true patient care. My work experience: 1 1/2 years on a busy, complicated 40 bed medicine floor at a teaching facility (as staff and night charge), followed by a self-advancement ECG course (40 hours on my own time), ACLS (1986, on my own time, and damn it was tough), 6 week hemodynamic monitoring course (offered by the hospital), then I applied for and got accepted into ICU. Surgical, medical, heart, neuro ICU's followed and were interspersed throughout with balloon pump monitoring courses and many more advanced nursing courses. After 10 years or so of ICU's, I moved to the ED (Lord, it took me 8 months to settle into the ED. I kept doing full assessments, med/surg hx's, physicals even if the patient was there with a splinter in his finger.) and PACU. But with the extensive work I had put into my post grad education, I was now ready to do about anything, which I have done. I have taught in the clinical setting in a 2-year nursing program, worked in our hospital's marketing department, ran the Heart Failure Unit, worked home health (loved that- everyone is so glad to see you), and worked with one our local FP's as her research assistant. As you can see, paying my dues (and they were extensive) has given me a wonderful 30 year nursing career (and still going). Good luck to you and I hope you find nursing as rewarding as I have.