Suggestions on career routes?

SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN · Feb 27, 2014

Nurses, especially new grads, frequently cannot get their dream job right out of school. It is a tough market.

If you do go into nursing, you need to enter the field with the idea that you're a nurse--not a surgical nurse--but a nurse, because otherwise you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

No one here can tell you if you're going to be a "good fit" in nursing or if nursing is going to satisfy your surgical yearnings. Same goes for any other career field you pick. You and only you can determine what's best for you.

See if you can shadow a surgical nurse and do the same with a tech. Watch what they do in the OR and see what you think. In the end, it's your decision. Get all the info and experience you can before you invest yourself.

zzbxdo · Feb 28, 2014

You should do more research. The requirements for a crna is icu/critical care experience. If the surgical setting for you, an OR nurse is completely different and your knowledge base does not over lap at all. In fact, you lose much of your general nursing assessment and skills. Volunteer and shadow, the advice above is solid. With nursing after a year or two of experience, you can hop specialities but don't expect much right out of school.

sjalv · Feb 28, 2014

OR nurses don't get to do a whole lot. You just get things for the people in the sterile field, answer the phone, blah blah. Of course you manage time outs and ensure that sterility is being maintained, but that's about it. You don't get to do a whole lot. Another term for this nurse is the circulating nurse. But, being an RN is a prerequisite for becoming a CRNA.

If you're an adrenaline junky, the ER would be your fit, not surgery. At least, not as an RN. Maybe as a CRNA or Scrub Tech where you're in the midst of things, but not as a circulating nurse. I would recommend against becoming an AA as job opportunities for CRNAs are far more numerous than those for AAs. STs, like you said, are pretty limited in what they can do. Their salary is okay, but it caps out pretty fast and there is little room for advancement.

If you want to be involved in surgery, I would recommend either RN -> CRNA, or becoming a PA and finding your niche in surgery. The road to becoming a CRNA is not easy or quick but I'm sure you knew that.

Jkadkins · Feb 28, 2014

Thank you guys for all of your replies so far! I will tell you I AM pretty interested in the more OR/Surgical setting, but it isn't a make or break for me. Firstly, I want to be a nurse..and that to me means providing awesome care to anyone, anywhere.. I realize I might have sounded a little adamant on my placement, but I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea..I just want to take care of people.

That being said, I think you guys are right researching more and more with the combined help of advice I can get from this site and other resources is in my best interest.

Also it helps that after pursuing the RN path, there are an incredible amount of advancement positions as far as possible specialties.

MY only remaining question is; Do you guys think it'd be best to just jump into a BSN program and go straight through with it from the get go..or is it a good idea to get a job as a ST or CNA or something before hand to gain experience while I'm in school. Right now, I'm working as a Pharm. Tech, which doesn't hold much relevancy, but I just wanted at least some kind of exposure to medicine and patients at an entry-level position to see if I'd like the whole idea.

Thanks again for your time and replies! Cheers.

sjalv · Feb 28, 2014

If you want to know whether being an RN would be right for you, shadow an RN. Being a CNA will expose you to patient care but not on the same caliber as an RN would be giving. While being a CNA gives you a leg up when you start nursing school, those who were a CNA and those who weren't usually even out in skill level by 2nd or 3rd semester since being a CNA only prepares you for basic nursing care (changing beds, doing skin checks, taking vitals, etc) and just general patient interaction which, at its core, is really just people skills (and either you have it or you don't).

You can become a CNA in 2 weeks at many vocational schools, but becoming an ST will usually take a year. STs have different roles and I don't think being an ST will prepare you for the concepts of patient care like being a CNA would. The only way I see being an ST would help you in your training as a nurse would be.. you would be familiar with sterile technique, you would have an idea of how intraoperative care works (maaaybe), and you would be familiar with how the OR in general works. Of course, STs get paid much better than CNAs do, but if you are going to do either or, you kind of have to weigh the pros/experience vs the pay. I would recommend being a CNA vs an ST if your financial situation allows it. Be warned that it isn't exactly easy for a person to get a CNA job in a hospital upon certification. Many places will require a year of CNA experience such as in an LTC. In this setting you would still get experience in patient care, changing beds, and taking vitals, but in the hospital you would see a much more varying population of patients and in some facilities, you could be trained to do other things that generally won't be dead in an LTC facility.

You asked if you should go straight for your BSN or work as a CNA/ST. Why not both? Nursing school is going to be stressful whether you go the BSN or ASN route, so I would say just go straight for your BSN and work as a CNA or ST while doing your BSN. However, something to consider: you mentioned a possible end-goal is to become a CRNA, which requires at least 1 year of ICU experience (most places prefer 2 years). If you were to get your ASN first, you could try to secure employment in an ICU (this will either be impossible, very hard, feasible, or very easy depending on where you are located in the country) as an RN while working on your RN-BSN (this usually take 1-1.5yrs and most programs nowadays are online). This way, you could be getting the necessary ICU experience while working on your Bachelor's (which will you also need for CRNA school), as opposed to spending the extra time going straight for your BSN and THEN starting on your 1-2 years of ICU experience as an RN.

Okay, after typing all that, this would be my advice to you: Get your CNA certification, and try to get a job in an ICU as an ICU tech while attending an ASN program (2 years). This will give you a foot in the door for when you get your RN and want to start getting ICU experience as an RN. Work as an RN in the ICU setting while getting your Bachelor's. Take the GRE, and get your CCRN after you get your BSN.

Since getting employment as a CNA in the ICU won't be particularly easy, I would at least try for a med/surg position or anywhere in the hospital, and try to transfer when/if an opening pops up. The same idea goes for being an RN. Specialties can be more difficult to get into right upon graduation even if you have CNA experience. Many hospitals have externship programs with student nurses that will allow you to get to know people at the hospital so you can get in the know with people who can make or break your goal to get into the ICU to get the experience needed to become a CRNA.