What is the best department to work in?

eveningsky339, LPN · May 18, 2010

I will hopefully be attending nursing school in the fall (still waiting on my acceptance letter) In the mean time I am in CNA training to hopefully get my foot in the door at a hospital. I DO NOT want to work in a assistant living/nursing home type of deal. What department is the best to work at in a hospital? Why and what do you do?

I've worked in Med/Surg and ICU.

Med/Surg is a step above nursing homes. You still do basic care for a set of patients, but they tend to be younger and sicker, and you won't feel like a "babysitter." You also have doctors and nurses going all over the place, admits and discharges, etc. It's a fairly fast-paced environment and the workload tends to be lighter than a nursing home, though sometimes you have total care patients come in from nursing homes and if you have more than one you could potentially get overwhelmed.

ICU is also a busy place, but you have fewer patients. However, you are devoting a heck of a lot more time and energy to that set of patients. It's an intense environment, but it can get tedious and even boring spending time with the same group of people. But that's just my personality, I can tell you that Med/Surg and ICU nursing are not "for me" (though I work on Med/Surg!).

I live in a small rural hospital, so no burn units or anything interesting like that.

I think that I would enjoy working in a much more fast-paced environment where you don't have to do stuff for the same patients for days on end. The ER peeks my interest, and I plan on going for an EMT license soon. OB/Pediatrics (combined unit in my hospital) also sounds neat, but of course it's absolutely cut-throat to get in.

I see your username is futuremidwife. I recommend trying OB/Peds if that's where your interest lies.

ijh6890 · May 20, 2010

It's hard to get a CNA job in a hospital with no experience. If you change your mind about working in a nursing home try finding one with an alzheimers unit or wanderers unit. It's a lot easier because there is little to no lifting involved and usually all patients are continent and require little assistance.