Where to work.....

OK.....so blogger ticked me off and I have to repost the entire thing.....arrgghh...

Am I just fooling myself? Am I going to end up working on the floor I work on now? I know I'll learn a lot of skills...and have patients from total self care, to the nursing home completely dependent patients....We get patients with all sorts of tubes, lots of ICU transfers, etc. We have the rep of being the toughest floor on the hospital. Would I just get in a lot of skills, and then go on to another department in a year or two? Plus, I know i could count on the aides(those I trust), my fellow nurses, my night crew...etc. know the docs, know the protcols, know what to do for the majority of the patients....
Or do I really want ER, ICU, tele? ER- not so much right out of school....I feel like I need to establish my baseline, and get good skills down...then do them again. Plus, I dunno if I can handle the senseless deaths.....ICU- again, not right away...every time I tech up there, I'm total teching...and running...and there's so many things to do with very borderline patients.....
tele? Maybe, once I get those chest stickies down....again though, they are just stable enough for the floor somedays, and then have lots of codes/emergencies happen....to anyone that remembers what it's like to be the fresh RN...how do you decide?
also I have follow-up interviews at another hospital...2nd choice. I really want to follow through, just to ensure that I have job offers if my own hospital(for whatever reason) doesn't offer me a job, or one that I feel I want. Tele up there and they pay for ACLS, and tele cert.....I'd rather just go out of pocket if my own hospital won't pay for it, since it wouldn't be part of my job on neuro/ortho. good idea?

spring break...and recruitment dinners

So, what have I done with the first few days of break? Slept, did laundry, shopped a little, and that's it.....
Looking forward to relaxing, and my big interview tomorrow at the trauma I center for their ICU and their step-down unit. Hopefully, will be worthwhile for the trip. It's an hour away, and if I get it, I'll have to move down there. Would be a neat place to work.
On the other hand, I wound up going to the recruitment dinner at the hospital where I work. It was ok, but quite hokey. they did make some good points about education, magnet journey and so forth. However, I heard from other staff that my own manager tried telling people that the ratio was 1:5....plenty of nights the nurses are running at 7-8:1 and have admits or transfers coming. If I do end up working there, I want to work in the ICU or on my own unit...it's such a challenge to figure it out. just a thought....if I worked on my own unit, would the aides respect me, or figure that I should do their work as well as mine? As opposed to ICU where I'm doing all total care without aides? Just another challenge to figure out...