Student Nurse Tech in CCU?

[su9032]

Hi I just finished my 3rd semester in an ADN program and have one more semester to go. Today, I got a call back from a nurse recruiter and she said that I was not selected for the nurse tech internship on the med-surg floor, but she "may" have a tech position for me in ER or CCU. I'm very happy that she called me, but I'm intimidated by the idea of a position in ER or CCU since I haven't had clinical experience in either department and I'm afraid of getting in over my head. My actual interview isn't for another week so I'm trying to learn about each area in case I'm asked where I'd prefer to work. I was hoping to get some feedback from experienced CCU nurses to see if this would be a good place to tech in comparison to ER if given that option. I'm under the impression that CCU is generally not the place to start out because it's so specialized and requires a higher degree of knowledge and skill. On the other hand, I would think that ER would be quite chaotic and equally as difficult. I think my greatest fear is setting myself up for failure as I'm hoping to get a job offer after I become licensed. Any feedback would be appreciated such as the kind of person that thrives in various settings or the pros and cons of CCU vs ER.

Thanks for reading,

Su

[su9032]

Thank you Nursingpower & Jelly221,

I appreciate your encouragement and enthusiasm. I just had my first day of orientation and I'm very excited.

Thanks again, Su

[PerrtyB]

Hi, I just got a call from human resources today for a position in the CCU as a patient care tech, and i'm a 2nd year RN nursing student. Nervous as you were, i'm interested in knowing how was your interview? What in particular did they look for in you? I feel as though i need to study school material before I go on my interview lol silly but im serious :)

[su9032]

Perrty,

It's been a few weeks now since my interview, but they asked me where I want to work when I graduate. I said that i really didn't know and that I know that many new grads start in med-surg, but my friend who works in CCU has been encouraging me to go into CCU and that was the reason I had gone in and introduced myself to the CCU manager in the first place. I also talked about my understanding of how CCU would be a good place to work & learn (b/c its more specialized, etc) verses med-surg (more general where I would learn a little about lots of things). That is something that you may want to be familiar with in terms of how CCU differs from med-surg. They also wanted to know about my experience with customer service and dealing with conflict. They asked about my goals and I would be completing an RN to BSN bridge grogram upon receiving my license and i stressed that I wanted to work in the hospital as a bedside nurse and find something stable where I could grow within the department. I wanted them to know that I was in it for the long haul and not just looking for anything. I even told them that I had a toddler (which normally I wouldn't mention), but when asked if I wanted to work days or nights, I said days would be ideal given that I have a small child. I also mentioned my personal experience with my father when he was in the hospital for heart problems and how he loved his nurses and how it really made a huge impact on me in terms of how important a nurses work is and how a patient may not remember everything a nurse does to them, but they always remember how they felt when interacting with them.

[PerrtyB]

thank you so much, this was really helpful. Some of my classmates that are techs have been telling me they're not going to question me about blood pressures and medications lol but they more so want to get to know who you are as a person. And from what you have told me it seems that is the case. Thank you very much. this has definitely decreased my anxiety for this upcoming interview. :)