Will nursing school prepare me to be an ER, oncology, or medical-surgical nurse?
Jul
30
I’m thinking of entering an accelerated BSN program. (I have a bachelor’s in a different discipline) The program is basically 12 months of clinical experiences in different areas of nursing. I was wondering if an RN license is all I need to work in the ER, OR, or oncology or if I’ll need additional coursework. Also, if I work in one area of nursing and want to switch to a different area is this feasible?
July 30th, 2010 at 4:25 am
a huge amount of nursing is learned on the job. Most new grads start in a med-surg venue. If you are interested in another venue, find a hospital that offers mentoring in the area in which you have interest.
July 30th, 2010 at 4:30 am
changing ur specialty is certainly feasible. i honestly am not 100% on the requirements for certain departments but u can contact the human resources department of a local hospital and they can tell u . different places may have different requirements
July 30th, 2010 at 5:04 am
The degree is the same. They ask for experience when you apply for nursing jobs in those areas. Thats it.
But most departments hire new grads, and give them longer orientation. They pay less for new grads Vs. nurses with experience. So its a win win situation.
July 30th, 2010 at 5:16 am
Nursing school will definitely prepare you to work in all departments, but u can select the department u really want to work at, for example, ER accepts new grad, they can train or orient as long as 6 months and they can assist u to be a certified er nurse… during ur nursing school training, u will have a feel of what you really want to do…oncology nursing…go to oncology unit, u can be trained to be a chemo/biotherapy provider and u can advance to be an oncology nurse, through ONS……lots of options just know what u want to do and what u r comfortable with….
July 30th, 2010 at 5:33 am
Hospitals are great places for training and offer courses in these and other areas so that RNs can move up or enhance skills. Once you have your license and are employed, look into it. Switching from one area of nursing to another requires additional training. For example it’s a bit easier to go from ER to ICU and vice versa, than from ER to Onc because of similarities in job experience. Bear in mind that it costs money to hire nurses especially when a sign-on bonus is involved so hospitals want to keep us around for a long time. We have access to all kinds of training that will make us more valuable to them. You’ll probably want to take advantage of that.