Transition Community Health to ER

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Hi everyone, I'm a new member. Just wondering how difficult it would be for me to make the transition form community health nursing to the ER. I went directly into the Visiting Nurse Service and did more social work than nursing. I've been a community health nurse for 1 yr.:typing

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

Hopefully you still remember your clinical skills, since you're not that far out from NS... I would go for it!

Just pick up some emergency nursing texts, and start rereading your old med-surg and critical care books from NS.

And make sure you take a job in an ER that believes in properly orienting their new staff. 12-16 weeks of class/clinical sound about right....

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It all depends on your nature and if ED is right for you. It could be that you are better suited for a slower paced environment or that you will actually feel more at home in a faster environment. Personally, I've been blessed to enjoy almost every facet of nursing; I like all the different paces.

Since you do have an interest, I think you should go for it. Focus on cleaning up IV skills, emergency meds, C-Spine and other fracture care. Noone is going to expect you to know everything; in fact, each ED is different, and even a veteran ED nurse will have to acquire new skills if/when they work in a different ED. So don't worry about that.

Go ahead and get your ACLS, and see what online CEU's you can do with Medscape.

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Thanks for the input and encouragement. This is a great forum:yeah:

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