badgerRN

I teched in an OR during nursing school. I loved first assisting and scrubbing. My advice is to look at the 2 sides of the coin. 1. Doing your practicum in the OR will give you a chance to see if it is what you want to do and may get your foot in the door there. 2. It can limit your job options. Unit Directors outside of the OR may be reluctant to hire you. Think about the skills you will develop in the few shifts you have for practicum. Can you get enough experience to have any degree of proficiency? In my experience it is tough to get an OR job. What skills from the OR can you market to a med/surg unit director if the OR does not hire? I always suggest ICU or Med Surg for practicum, those skills go anywhere. Especially ICU for OR, those patients go for surgery too and having that works. PACU could be a good way to go too. A good set of universal skills and you would be in close interaction with the OR people. Just my 2 cents

I just started as a New Grad at a busy Level 2 Trauma Center. I had never walked into the hospital before I interviewed, and got a job. I have volunteered as a First Responder for a few years, and through that I took opportunities to get extra certifications like Advanced Burn Life Support, ACLS. Whether or not the experience swayed them, at the least you gain experience, which helps you interview better, and be better once you start the job. At least with EMS you will see what ER is like. It is not always trauma, codes, and fun stuff. It more often than not is sadly drug seekers or urgent care visits for medicaid patients.

I am not against tattoos, I don't have any, but have dated some people with them. I understand that there are more and more people with tattoos, but the understanding of anyone getting a tattoo should be that healthcare is a conservative industry. While some facilities will allow tattoos, a visible tattoo can keep you from getting a job. My nursing program had a strict policy on visible tattoos and a girl I knew was trying to get into the program had tattoos along her hairline and she had to delay nursing school a year to have tattoos lasered off.

I have no personal experience with Barrow, but by reputation I would avoid it, it is so bad, Barrow County drives its prisoners to Athens instead of going just down the street. ARMC has a large Med Surg ICU and a Cardiac ICU. St. Mary's has a small ICU, but is a decent hospital. Northeast Georgia has a Cardiac and a regular ICU. I did clinical there and it was the most well designed nursing unit I have ever been on. It was obvious that a nurse was in on the design. Best day of clinical I had.