Work in ER first?

My back ground is in women's health. I have some ER experience but that isn't where I received my training or experience. I think that if you have a good SANE program that can give you the experience with pelvic examinations and abnormal/normal anatomy of both males and females then it really doesn't matter what specialty nurse you are. Most programs offer didactic portion of the class and then a clinical component of the course as well. Getting comfortable doing pelvic examinations, collecting the evidence and photo documentation can be a new learning experience, but not one only to the ER nurse.

I am going to have to advocate for some ED time. While comfort and proficiency with pelvic exams are a part of being a SANE RN, thats not the biggest component. The majority of your exam is actually the head to toe secondary assessment. Your recognition of trauma, wound identification is a greater portion. Your general assessment skills need to be strong. And injuries don't always say "notice me". You need to understand subtle variences of both physical and genital injuries. I know the ED is not the only place to gain this experience, but it tends to offer you the repitition of injuries you need to be able to assess, recognige, and document. Just my $0.02. Good Luck