Trouble Choosing a Capstone

[desiruns]

I am a senior in nursing school (B.S.N.) and I am supposed to choose my top three areas in the hospitals that we work in for our capstone and rank them. I have always wanted to work with infants ever since I switched my major to nursing, but there is not a NICU or similar available in either of the two hospitals that I would be working in. Also, I just got back from a camp for ventilator-dependent children (4-18yrs) and absolutely LOVED it, so I am not completely sure I want to limit myself to infants completely. My class professor encouraged us all to get med/surg experience as a base line for basically any specialty that nursing has, except I find it pretty boring, and I know that I do not want to work with adults. Basically, I don't know how to rank my choices listed below, and what I should choose for my third option. Also, I will be working days in the fall, wherever I am if that makes any difference. Here is what I have right now:

1. Nursery

2. Medical/Pediatrics

3. ?????

A couple options I could do for my third include Telemetry, Cardiac Cath Lab, Med/Surg, just Pediatrics, or a medical or surgical intensive care unit. The Medical/Pediatrics floor will be a mix of adults and pediatric medical patients. Also, I am trying to stay away from the ones that EVERYBODY are requesting, like the ICUs or ER because I am less likely to get those and don't see myself working in an adult ICU or enjoying it there anyways.

PLEASE HELP ME!!! I just can't decide what would be the smartest option and what would still be the most interesting and strategic choice for me.

Thanks so much!

-Desi

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

You can't get a job as a new grad in Cath Lab, so I would cross that off. Most hospitals (except children hospitals) do not have many pediatric patients so you might not get much experience choosing pediatrics.

[amoLucia]

OB? Not the GYN, just OB.

[Guest 360983]

If you like sick kiddos, don't underestimate the value of an ICU or ER rotation. The ER sees every age group, including pediatrics (unless you have a children's hospital in the area, which I doubt because of the lack of NICUs). The ICU will teach you about vents and drips and how to do a thorough, focused assessment. You don't have to like your placement, you just have to learn.

Don't do nursery unless you're interested in L&D. In my not very progessive state, most hospitals have closed their nurseries in favor of couplet care. If you want to do L&D, great (someone needs to do it because I sure as hell don't! ), but otherwise you're not going to get a ton of transferable skills like you would on other units.

Do medical peds and general peds. Put general peds first if you would rather work there. Capstone is a semester long interview and ideally you want to do it on a floor you want to work on.

Seriously consider ICU if you want to do sick kids or ER if you want to do general kids. I promise the ER won't be boring and you'll learn things like septic workups on neonates, how to swab a cranky toddler's throat for strep, and why we give PCP (ketamine) to kids for sedation.

[EuropaRN]

Pcp isn't ketamine. They are in the same class and pcp was used in a medical setting when it was first developed. They have limited pcp to animal use now.

[DisneyNurseGal, BSN, RN]

In the hospital system that I work for you can not get your foot in the door with Pediatrics, L&D or NICU without two years MINIMUM of Med/Surg, ICU or ER experience. As boring as it sounds to you, you need the critical thinking, time management and people skills training you would get in these departments. Most new nurses do not get to land in their dream job right away; and working in these units will look GREAT on your resume.

As far as your capstone, consider something more broad that has mass appeal. If you can get your ideas implemented hospital wide, imagine how far that would take you in an interview.

Good luck!

[desiruns]

To everyone who responded: Thank you all so much for the feedback! I have taken all your suggestions and advice into account and have changed around my choices. In case you are wondering, this is what I ended up submitting:

1. Cardiac/Neuro ICU

2. Medical/Peds

3. Nursery

I believe I will get more of a range of experiences in both the ICU and the more general Med/Peds floors, but I also decided to leave nursery on the list, as infant health has always been my inspiration for nursing. I moved it to third, though, because I agree that to have a better chance at getting a job that I want, a capstone in an area where I will have more varied experience will help me. I couldn't get myself to put med/surg down or ortho because I know I would not enjoy the experience, and I don't want to force myself to be unhappy with my choice during an already stressful upcoming semester.

Thanks for the input!