Fiddlesticks27

Thank you very much, RedKat! Very, very helpful. Maybe it's not so far out of reach after all! :-)

Thank you, that's actually quite helpful insight. It sounds like you're no longer working in the field of school nursing- if that's the case, I'd be interested in knowing why you left- in your opinion, what are rewarding parts of the job, and what are most challenging? Thanks so much!

Thank you, BettyGirard! I would love to get some experience in an urgent care setting. What I'm finding is that most hiring managers for urgent care settings prefer you have some experience in an Emergency Department, which seems reasonable- but not experience that I have! So I suppose I need to consider how many clinical steps I'm willing/ able to take in order to reach a point where I would feel comfortable/confident in an emergent or urgent scenario. Thank you for the reply!

Hi There, I am interested in school nursing and wondering what kind of clinical background is recommended for school nurses. I have med-surg experience, plus several years of pediatrics experience in a primary care setting, along with experience in a few other roles not related to pediatrics. Specifically, I'm wondering whether a school nurse should have an emergency nursing background/ experience. I feel comfortable and confident with routine day-to-day care related to pediatrics, but not as confident when it comes to the potential for an emergency situation. School nurses, please describe your clinical backgrounds, the typical day in the life of a school nurse, and what clinical areas would best prepare a nurse for school nursing. Thank you!

Thanks so much, lovesongajp- I'll keep looking and trying!

Thank you TraumaRUS. In your opinion and experience, do you think that an APN should have ICU and/or ER experience before practicing as an APN, regardless of the setting in which they practice? I'm trying to figure out what kind of setting I should get more experience in while I'm going to school. Thanks!

Hi All, I am planning on advancing my education and career and becoming an NP. I've done a few years in med-surg and a few years in primary care. I'm wondering what kind of clinical experience would best prepare me to be an NP. I think I would ultimately enjoy being a home health NP in a rural area. Should I have ICU experience? ER experience? I'd be interested in learning what clinical settings you may have worked in before becoming an NP and how it helped you (or didn't help you!) Thanks so much!

Thanks Verdeacres! Good luck to you too!

Hi All, I'm curious about and interested in wound care and have been for some time. I've been working in a primary care setting for a few years and would like to pursue a career in wound care nursing. I have a couple of questions about this path: 1. Do any wound care clinics or inpatient wound care departments consider hiring nurses who have not yet taken a wound care course and are not yet certified, but have every intention of doing so and would happily agree to sign up for a course upon hire? 2. If I find that I'm not able to be hired directly into wound care due to lack of experience, what would be the best field of nursing to pursue in order to gain some necessary experience? I'd prefer inpatient nursing, but would consider home health nursing if I were advised that it's the best way to gain wound experience. Thanks so much!

Thanks so much, EMNMRN! So you're really learning nursing from the ground up in ICU! I would think you'd have to ask a TON of questions!! Hopefully your colleagues are patient with you. I keep hearing ICU is hard on your back- are you finding that to be true? Thanks for your time in responding to me!

More questions for you, EMNMRN- so then I take it that you learned telemetry/reading rhythm strips, all the different lines and all the meds on the job? Did you have a fairly long orientation? How was your nurse preceptor? Do you typically have just one patient or two? Does your ICU team work fairly well together helping each other turn patients for cleaning up, etc? And lastly, do you work nights? Is it pretty much a rite of passage that you have to start on nights and work your way to days? Sorry for all the questions!! Thanks so much!

Thanks so much, EMNMRN! Is your plan to become an NP or CNS?

Thank you, NurseOnAMotorcycle!

Hi All, Ive been working in primary care for a while and am looking to get back into acute care in the hospital. I'd like to land a job on a med/surg tele floor and get some good tele experience. Other than working on a tele floor, what do you recommend as a good way to really learn rhythms and meds? Any online courses you recommend that could supplement my work experience? Thanks so much!

Thank you Maevish. No, I don't do well with the sick-to-the-stomach approach. If anything, I'd run the risk of trying to learn too much and trying to be more comfortable than is realistic before applying to the unit. I'm a little on the Type-A side and have a tendency to want to understand as much as I can before I even approach anything new- which can be paralyzing. I see myself doing maybe 2 years on a take floor and then perhaps advancing to intermediate level care and so on. Thanks so much for your insight!