which nursing internship/job

I have to choice between an unpaid internship for a large hospital system in my state or a nicely paid student nurse job with the VA. The student nurse job allows you to do most basic nursing duties I.e. wound changing, tube feeding) except for meds/IVs which I think is a big chunk of nursing. I was thinking long-term and figured I'd have a better chance at getting a job after I graduate if i took the unpaid internship because there are multiple hospitals within the system and I also do clinicals there and my plan was to stay in state. I also was worried I'd be blacklisted if I declined after I accepted the unpaid internship a month later. Seeing that the market is really soft, it seemed to make sense. It would have really been nice to be paid though! What do you guys think? Last edit by esunada on Apr 11, '11
I wouldl try to get information regarding the percentage of people who take the internships who get hired immediately after. I have heard of facilities taking advantage of students to keep budget down with having no intention of hiring afterwards. Obviously, this is likely an exceptions, but it does occur. I'm not sure if Human resources would have that information or how you would go about aquiring that. Good luck

I would get a clear view of what the comparisons actually are.. so far all I see is one is paid one is not. Do you need the paid job to live? Does the unpaid job assure you of a position when graduated?