What is the best unit to work in and why?

Hi. You will find that the opinions vary, depending on personal preferences. That's the great aspect of nursing...many options. Realistically, at this time, people are accepting jobs wherever they can get them. Many layoffs and hiring freezes everywhere due to the economy. Try to make good contacts while you complete your program. School alone isn't enough.

I honestly think you could ask 100 nurses that and get 100 different answers--or at least like 80-90. There are so many different areas and every nurse has their own personal likes and dislikes. One persons favorite part of a job could be anothers worst part. Ones strengths can be anothers weaknesses. Take this example.....I could say psych. I love psych. I think it challenges you in so many ways and not having all your answers to what is wrong in black and white with a test is interesting to me. To have to sit and talk to the patients to find out. To see how disease of the brain and its neurotransmitters can affect a person in so many ways. All of it is fascinating to me. However I know many nurses who you could not pay enough to work in psych for a day! They can barely deal with the patients with STABLE psych issues who are in the hospital for medical/surgical reasons. Give them trauma and adrenaline--life and death and they thrive. Others love kids and hate working with adults. There is a different area of nursing to fit all the different types of people that are nurses--thank god!! lol So I don't think there is any one answer for you.

The best unit to work on is the one you love working on. You'll sleep well at night, you wont go home and kick the dog after each shift, the hours will fly by, and you'll be amazed that they pay you for this.

CVICU of course. Duh.

Cath lab best unit ever!!

Emergency Department!! I love it because its fast paced and high energy!

a unit that has supportive co-workers, Mgt that won't throw you under the bus and a schedule that allows you to have a private life too. :)

For a new grad I would have to say telemetry. You get a touch of med/surg, cardiology, and some things you may see in an icu. You also get exposure to some drips.

As others have said, the best unit would definitely be the one you enjoy going back to day after day and supportive/helpful coworkers are definitely a must.

Call me old school, but the best unit for new grads is med-surg. Gives you a chance to get your time management skills down and really drills in those basic skills that you need before moving on to more acute settings.

We have had a handful of new grads come to our tele unit who kicked butt and got in the groove within a couple of months, but generally speaking it doesn't happen that way.

The OP didn't ask about new grads...just opinions on the best department.

I have been a med surg nurse for 2 years. I thought the med surg experience was the "must" step I had to take in the nursing career.

But,,, If I can do this all over again, or

If you are my sister/brother, I will recommend you to choose some type of specialty, either tele, or ER.

personally for me, any unit that will hire me!!

I loved the ED as a CNA and miss it terribly and want to return as a RN, but I will take any unit in a hospital setting, SNF is not for me