What unit is the best for new grads?

[andrea2015rn]

I will be graduating in December and will hopefully take the NCLEX in January. Now that residency applications are opening I have no idea which department to apply to. Before starting nursing school I knew I wanted to work in pediatric hematology/oncology; however now that I have been on different units I absolutely fell in love with NICU and adult ED. I have been "pre-offered" positions in the NICU and ED and I have no idea which unit to choose. I am afraid that if I work in the NICU I would lose some of the basic skills that I would practice daily in the ED, because the NICU is so specialized. But even though I loved the ED I am afraid that I will burnout quickly like a lot of the nurses that I observed. And my heart is still in pediatric hem-onc. I was thinking I could work PRN in the ED and full time in the NICU or pediatric hem-onc. My question is which unit do you think is the best for a new grad based on my current options? Also, can new grads work PRN in the ED?

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

The 'best' place for a new grad is the one that can offer the most support for his/her transition to practice. Since these units offer new grad programs, I would assume that all of them are well prepared to assist new grads through this period.

In most surveys, NICU nurses express a very high level of job satisfaction and there is usually very little turnover in these departments. This is definitely NOT the case for Emergency Services. Any oncology area is inherently stressful, due to the emotional effects of dealing with terminal illness - for most of us, dealing with terminally ill children is even more difficult.