Your opinion???????

eaiston · Apr 11, 2007

Hey thanks for looking. I'm gonna be graduating from PCC in June. I transferred to PCC from Charity School of Nursing in New Orleans Louisiana after hurricane Katrina. I am currently doing my preceptorship this term and am in SPU / PACU. I've gotten mixed reviews about doing my preceptorship in SPU because some people have said that I am not getting the core skills i.e.: trach care, cath, etc.....that I would be getting on the floor in med/surg. I've also heard that it is almost an injustice to me, doing my preceptorship in SPU/PACU.

I was thinking that out of all the places in the hospital from my tech and clinical experiences that I liked ER,SPU and then the floor the best. So I applied to do preceporship in 1) SPU/PACU, 2)ER, 3)MedSurg. So when I got my preceptorship in SPU/PACU I was excited. Now I am starting to second guess this choice. Maybe I am looking into this too much???? I did not like ICU at all (no offense). I think mainly in SPU (surgical prep / second phase recovery) that I enjoyed greeting the patients, getting everything together, doing the initial assessment, then seeing the pt. post PACU and easing their pain and teaching them about their procedure and what to expect etc....

Just a little history: I used to work as a OR assistant/courrier for 2years and then a SPU/PACU nurse tech for 6months in Louisiana. I did not care for OR but I did enjoy the pt. RN interaction of SPU/PACU. Granted as a RN in SPU most of the time is spent checking paperwork, getting an initial assessment data and making sure everything is ready for sx.

I don't know, I guess I'm just trying to get an outside opinion of what all of you think. I'm a guy by the way, not that makes a difference in all of this.

I have also heard that many of the Preceptorship sites lead directly to a position in that department (I've heard that even from the RN I am precepting with). So another thing that is bugging me is whether I should try to attain a spot in SPU/PACU or just shoot for medsurg to get a more thorough knowledge first, ER, etc......

Any advice is GREATLY appreaciated.

THANKS ALOT!!!!!!