Where is a good place to work in order to prepare myself for a career in the ER?

[jmitt]

I want to end up working in the Emergency Room eventually. What areas should I look to gain experience in before I apply for a job? (ie: med-surg, cardiac care?)

[mcknis]

Any unit is going to get you better experience than to just wait around and look for one to come, if ya catch my drift. You are going to get a variety of answers by asking this question, but of course since i have a med surg/cardiac background, that is what i suggest. Any position in which you can get a good all around basic understanding of what is going on with your patients, is a great starting level! Good luck wherever you look!

[MB37]

I would imagine the more intense the better. I'm assuming your local hospitals don't hire new grads into the ER (they all do in my area). If you can work in any critical care area, including stepdown or progressive care, that's usually considered better experience than med/surg - but med/surg experience seems to be valuable in any job, and if it's all that's available, go for it. My hospital has a trauma med/surg floor, and I'm sure that would be a great choice if you can get it. Otherwise, try to get on a unit that does tele - you'll need to be able to recognize basic rhythms in the ER. When you look for jobs, think about whether the experience will translate - if the hospital has med/surg openings in renal, bariatric surgery, oncology, and cardiac, I'd probably go cardiac, but if it was cardiac and trauma, I'd go trauma. Definitely shoot for a hospital job over LTC or MD office, but as mcknis said, any experience is better than none. What's preferred may vary regionally as well, so make sure you ask nurses you know in your area. Good luck in the hunt!

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

Apply for a tech position in the ER. Then apply for a RN position in the ER,

The ER is it's own breed.... if it's what you want, do it from the get go.

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Agree with Steve. Working as a tech will expose you to a lot of the realities of the ER. Not all but a lot. If you decide the ER is where you want to be, then go straight in as a new grad. I couldn't imagine working anywhere else but the ER. Get to do basically everything (emergency, floor, critical care, oncology, ortho, peds, psych, etc.). Sometimes all within the same hour and occasionally all on the same patient.

[RedhairedNurse, BSN, RN]

The ER !

[jmitt]

in my area they don't take new grads into the ER. i've worked there for a few years as a tech so at least i know that's where i want to end up. thanks so much for all of the input!

[86toronado, BSN, RN]

I want to end up in the ED too, but as far as I know, New York State has a law that says you must have 1 year of RN experience to work there. Local hospitals get around it by having you "orient" in the ED with another nurse for a full year, but I'm just going to look for a position in critical care to get the experience, and transfer in a year or 2.