Senior nursing student looking to work in Critical Care - advice please!

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Hi there, very new to this site so I apologize in advance if I'm posting in the wrong forum.

I am a senior in nursing school and am interested in pursuing a career in critical care upon graduation - whether that be ER, ICU, or NICU. Preferably the last two (ICU or NICU) because I am also looking to become a CRNA after I get a few years of experience.

Our nursing program usually offers seniors in their last semester to intern at their choice of specialty (LnD, ER, NICU, ICU, Med-Surg, etc.). However, recently our program has been going through a lot of changes and they're now only letting us intern at Med-Surg floors. I'm really concerned about getting a job in a specialty area upon graduation if I don't get to intern at a desired floor because that really helped the seniors that graduated this May to get a job at whatever hospital they were at for their internship.

I guess my question is what can I do to better my chances on getting a job after graduation in a critical care area? I have 3.25 GPA, am working as a Nurse Tech on a Med-Surg Orthopedic Floor and have my ACLS. I know I need to improve my grades, but are their other certifications I can get before graduating?

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In a similar situation you are, want to specialize in ER or ICU, and wanting to know of anything I can do to help me along in that direction.

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Specializes in thoracic ICU, ortho/neuro, med/surg.

Grades don't matter, what matters is that you pass the NCLEX-RN and get your license.

At my facility it's really hard for a new grad to get a specialty job without already having a foot in the door -- if you could work even part-time as a tech for an ICU, it can help a lot.

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Hi there, very new to this site so I apologize in advance if I'm posting in the wrong forum.

I am a senior in nursing school and am interested in pursuing a career in critical care upon graduation - whether that be ER, ICU, or NICU. Preferably the last two (ICU or NICU) because I am also looking to become a CRNA after I get a few years of experience.

Our nursing program usually offers seniors in their last semester to intern at their choice of specialty (LnD, ER, NICU, ICU, Med-Surg, etc.). However, recently our program has been going through a lot of changes and they're now only letting us intern at Med-Surg floors. I'm really concerned about getting a job in a specialty area upon graduation if I don't get to intern at a desired floor because that really helped the seniors that graduated this May to get a job at whatever hospital they were at for their internship.

I guess my question is what can I do to better my chances on getting a job after graduation in a critical care area? I have 3.25 GPA, am working as a Nurse Tech on a Med-Surg Orthopedic Floor and have my ACLS. I know I need to improve my grades, but are their other certifications I can get before graduating?

Sounds like you just need to go with the flow. If your program works that way, I guess you need to work on Med-Surg. Your priority is to get into a facility and start working. You can always transfer later. Do 6 months, and transfer. GPA does not matter.

Check to see if Health systems have residency programs for ICU.

If not, you just might need to settle for Med-Surg.

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

Most NICU/ICU willing to hire new grads want them fresh so they can train them. MS floors give you a good mix of disease processes and a great baseline for specialization. Enjoy the experience!

From a school point of view, my program for pre-RN had over 80% of the class wanting to precept in pedi or CC. Obviously not enough spots for everyone. On top of that, we had only one person get a job in pedi or CC.

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Specializes in Tele.
Grades don't matter, what matters is that you pass the NCLEX-RN and get your license.At my facility it's really hard for a new grad to get a specialty job without already having a foot in the door -- if you could work even part-time as a tech for an ICU, it can help a lot.
Actually, since OP is considering graduate school, grade matter a lot. Most need a 3.0 gpa or higher
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Hi @meraki86! I just posted a similar thread to yours. Could you please give me some advice on parkland sicu? i want to PM you but I think my profile is too new...

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