Did you start off at a nursing home? Hospital (ER, ICU, etc)?
People judge me for wanting to start off in a nursing home. They say it's not challenging enough.
I want to start there because I don't want to start off in a hospital yet, I'm afraid of messing up and getting in such huge trouble. Lives depend on you and the thought of messing up the first day or so, is a living nightmare for me right now
I start nursing school this spring 2016. But just thinking ahead makes me so nervous and having small anxiety attacks
How was it the first month or so where you worked? Have you ever messed up? Tell me some stories and advice :)
In a school. And I am still there and love it. But I was a rare breed in my graduating class that had zero desire to work in a hospital. Before I landed the school gig, I almost took a job in LTC.
I was hired straight into my specialty. I work in a large children's hospital on an acute care med/surg floor (that also services many pediatric specialties.) It's a lot of fun. There is so something to be said about starting your job as a nurse in the hospital - because you are going to see things and do things that you will not have the exposure to outside of that environment. It's a great teaching place to learn all your skills!!!
My first month was crazy and terrifying, but we have great orientation and I never felt "alone".... and of course I have messed up, we all have. It's part of the job, and the whole curse of being human thing. :)
How that first month is going to go depends on what your nursing school is like. My last six weeks of nursing school, I spent 3 shifts a week, 7p to 7a, with a preceptor in MICU. I stayed her whole shift every shift, and by the end of it, I was taking both of her patients - assessing, medicating, etc. I started work in a different MICU but I already had a pretty good idea what my work flow was going to be like, and I was taking both ICU patients on my second day at my first job because I had the routine down already. My first month was more about getting to know my coworkers, physicians, and the charting system than it was about anything else.
If your nursing school doesn't offer a preceptorship, and/or you do a preceptorship in a different specialty than the one you ultimately end up hired in, your first month of work is going to be a lot rockier than mine was. The first month is a heck of a learning curve if you haven't been working full shifts with a preceptor, and taking full responsibilities like medicating a full patient load, calling the physicians, etc. before you graduate.
I started of in corrections and psych and I'm still in corrections but do public health. I love it. I left briefly to try my hand at med/surg but hated it. I'm spoiled. I like my 8 hour shift with weekends and holidays off and as far as i'm concerned corrections, forensic psych and public health is where I am staying:)
Hematology/Oncology unit. There was also overflow thrown in just for the extra exercise. No better way for a new nurse to learn then chemo, codes and crazy patients all on the same shift!
There's a good chance your plan will change after you do your nursing home rotation.......and once you see all the other options out there. Of course your afraid, you havent even started nursing school yet. You will build confidence in nursing school.
I don't think I've ever hear of anyone knowing where they want to work before nursing school, graduating, getting a job right away in that specialty, and loving it for their entire career. The best advice I can give you, having just graduated myself, is to stay open minded. Especially to yourself! You will gain the skills and confidence needed to step up to whatever opportunity knocks.
That said, I just got a job offer (today!!) at a local critical access hospital on the floor, with the opportunity to float to the ER. I precepted on the OB ward at the IHS hospital on the reservation near my home, and loved it, so I may go back after my kids are a bit bigger. :) I could have applied for a job on the special care unit in the vet's home I worked at, but LTC drags me down. I want to help people get better, and I love patient teaching. It's difficult to teach residents who have dementia and Alzheimer's. :/
You'll find out what you love and hate in nursing school!
Cardiac floor. If you want to work in a nursing home, you should pursue it if you are excited by it and you have a decent offer. But don't avoid hospitals out of fear. Many of your clinicals in school will be in hospitals. Patients can code as easily on the floor or in an LTACH just like they do in the ICU. Be brave, pay attention in school, practice nursing safely. This will help you no matter what sector you go into. Don't let anyone make you feel "less than" if you choose LTACH. I got flak because I went to the floor instead of ICU or ED. There will be nitwits in school, at work, everywhere. Tune them out and do what you enjoy.
Additionally, anyone who thinks LTACH nursing or SNF nursing is "easy" because of the patient acuity doesn't know what they are talking about. OK, so the patients aren't on vents and you don't have to titrate drips but you may hvae 16 tota care patients. Nothing easy about that.
An LTACH is not the same as a nursing home and does sometimes have both patients on vents and pressors. It is a long term hospital. many patients have picc lines for long term abx, and they maintain IV access. the main difference is their admissions come from another hospital or ICU, and their average stay may be 3 weeks. in addition an LTACH does not have an ER. In many cases they are located within a larger hospital and are referred to as a HIH, or hospital within a hospital. I worked for one briefly and they desperately wanted ICU nurses because of the acuity of some of the patients there. The patients that went there were typically those that the local ICUs no longer wanted from what I can tell. Many were still intubated or had a trach, and some were still on pressors and receiving sedation.
Specializes in Care Coordination, Care Management.
Did you start off at a nursing home? Hospital (ER, ICU, etc)?
People judge me for wanting to start off in a nursing home. They say it's not challenging enough.
I want to start there because I don't want to start off in a hospital yet, I'm afraid of messing up and getting in such huge trouble. Lives depend on you and the thought of messing up the first day or so, is a living nightmare for me right now
Anyone who says SNFs are "not challenging enough" have clearly not set foot inside one recently. Period.
JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN
3,035 Posts
In a school. And I am still there and love it. But I was a rare breed in my graduating class that had zero desire to work in a hospital. Before I landed the school gig, I almost took a job in LTC.
You do you.