DavidDudley

ICU is tough. I recently cross trained there from the ER. I quickly found out that it was way too overwhelming for me and I got out of there real quick. And I have almost 4 years of nursing experience, half of which has been in the ER. So don't feel ...

Your still going to have this particular problem in the ER as well. No getting around it. At least 50% of the people that come in through my door are not satisfied no matter what we do for them.

Home health probably offers one of the most flexible schedule you can find in nursing. Not strapped down to a facility for so many hours in a day, can see 2-3 patients real quick in their homes and spend the rest of the day at home.

Yeah I agree with the other posters, stay there for a whole year at least. However, I do know that the Hawaii job market is horrible. It really depends on your personal circumstances. Do you have anything thats preventing you from relocating or do yo...

I would definitely go for the ICU position. It is very important that you keep your foot in the door with your med/surg position because if for whatever reason you don't like that ICU position, at least you have something to fall back on that you kno...

Perhaps maybe you misunderstood me. The SNF position was my first RN job. I don't currently work in a SNF. I currently work in the ER.

Every job is going to advertise at least one year experience minimum. The key is to just simply ignore that. Everyone that I know has landed jobs and their not all new grad hospital jobs. LTC and SNF facilities seem to be the most willing to hire ne...

In my case, the shift from non-acute care to acute care did not result in better pay. I actually took a drastic pay cut, like a 2 grand a month pay cut. However, I enjoy my current work environment so much compared to my previous one that it is a pri...

Everyone so far has given great responses to the OP question. For me personally, as someone who did NOT start off in acute care, I wanted to go to acute care to fully utilize and maximize my physical and mental capabilities as a nurse. Essentially I ...

To OP: So much focus on getting into a new grad program. Your currently working as an LVN but aside from applying for hospital new grad programs have you also applied for non-hospital RN positions? I personally never been in a new grad program befor...

The main factor for me is the quality of my coworkers and management. Unfortunately, you won't know until you actually start working the job

If your heart is set to work in the ER then find a way to make it to the interview while maintaining the case manager job. If you have to lie and say that you have a family emergency or whatever you can come up with then do it. I worked home health ...

OR - way too boring and nurse does almost nothing

Yes almost everyone in the ER gets a chest X-ray but there are times when the doc is not immediately available to see a patient and your immediate physical assessment is necessary to determine whether the patient can wait or needs to be seen by the d...

I have worked both home health and corrections and I personally hate them both. Which one you should do ultimately depends on your personality and what you like. I'll briefly breakdown some pros and cons with both options. Home health pros - very fl...

Makes me happy to see your passion for ER. Its a great nursing career path. Getting in there all comes down to stepping stones and being at the right place at the right time. I agree with the other posters, go the urgent care route and build from the...

That one year of experience at least allows you to work registry/agency now. I would recommend just picking up a registry gig for about a year and then from there just work on getting back on staff at another hospital

It's very difficult to get into an ED fresh out of school as a new nurse. Even my hospital, which is notorious for always hiring new grads, rarely hires new grads straight into the ED. But, I see people here on allnurses state that they did it so it ...

Been in the ED for a little bit over a year. Came from correctional nursing. I love the team work, all the support and resources at your disposal. The hardest part of my job is taking care of the overly needy/whiny patients that can do absolutely not...

Being proficient with IV's and having good critical thinking skills takes time and a lot of experience. You can't expect to be proficient shortly after starting a new job. Part of developing your skill comes down to having a good preceptor/mentor, an...

I'm also an ADN in SoCal. I got my license in November of 2010 and got my first job in March of 2011. They hired me on the spot. However, it wasn't a hospital job, let alone my dream department. You might have to work on getting experience from non-h...

Im in CA and have only worked for 2 home health agencies in my nursing career. My first agency pays 85 bucks per SOC and about roughly 50-60 for discharge. No gas coverage from them however. My second agency pays 100-120 for SOC depending on the insu...

It very well may be the case that the OP may not be able to get on days for quite a while at their current hospital. I think at the end of the day, if the person is serious about their future as a hospital RN then they will pay their one year dues an...

My coworker just retired at the age of 67 and he was going strong. I'm sure you should be fine

It's natural to feel intimidated since your going into a hectic work environment. Just always expect the unexpected. When it rains it pours, and even when it's not raining, a storm can hit you out of nowhere.