To be a well rounded nurse...

[KalipsoRed]

So I've been a nurse for a year and a half. I'm still at my first job and I did days for 6 months then had to go to nights because days were just WAY to crazy! I've learned a great deal on nights because I'm able to read the charts and really get to know the people I take care of, but lately I've been feeling kind of restless and maybe a little bit bored. I've been thinking about trying days again or possibly going to a different floor all together. I work telemetry right now so I feel that I am pretty familar with pre/post CABG pts, we also get a lot of pace maker implants and post cardiac cath pts, and since my floor is cardiopulmonary I see a lot of people with VATS and lung resections. I think I'm pretty familar with EKGs, chest tubes, and a little post surgical care. I decided to start in telemetry because when I was a tech in the ER many of the nurses said it was a great place to start to prepare for the ER. Now that I've been out of the hectic hustle and bustle of an ER I'm not so sure I want to go back just yet. In a yearish I was thinking I'd like to work for the Indian Health Services or the United States Public Health Service, but those are very rural nursing experiences from what I've read and those nurses need a pretty strong and versitile skill set. So I was wondering if any of you more experienced nurses could give me advice as to where I should go next? Should I try med-surg, ICU, or try to switch to a pediatric med-surg so I have some experience with children?

[diane227, LPN, RN]

You know, the job I loves most in my life was my time spent in the emergency department. I was fortunate enough to be hired at one of the largest trauma centers in the US, Ben Taub Hospital in Houston. I learned things there that I would have never learned in any other settings. When I started there in the early 80's it was like third world medicine. We did not have enough room for patients, no equipment, very few stretchers. I learned how to assess sick without even having a set of vital signs. I learned intuition and he has held me well throughout my nursing career. And I use what I learned there still every day of my life.

You really might want to give emergency nursing a try. You sound like you have a good foundation. But in the ED you have to learn how to triage your time and how to set priorities because depending on the size of the ED that you are in, you many have a lot of patients to take care of. And it can get really hard to coordinate your time.

My best to you and if you need further help, let me know.

[RNperdiem, RN]

Make it a project to shadow some nurses in areas that appeal to you.

How a job looks on paper and how nurses function in a real environment can differ.

Right now you are in a good position. You have a job that is paying the bills and giving you time to look around at what else is available.

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

ICU.

That places reinforces all the basics plus some.

You can take that experience ANYWHERE. (ICU has to have pretty sick patients to learn from though) not the "stepdown" types that cal themselves ICU.

[tewdles, RN]

I cannot possibly know what would work best for you. I followed a path from neonates to peds to adults, from hospital to community health, from birth to death. We each find our own way. Some are contented to find a place and spend a career there...no problem with that. Others, like yourself perhaps, seek a new challenge every so often. Whatever you decide I hope you have success and many amazing adventures.