Pros and Cons

Nurses New Nurse

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Hello there,

I have a question for all you RN's out there. I am a new grad, as of yesterday when I passed my final. I haven't taken my NCLEX yet but will be as soon as my transcripts are released and received, it is already paid for, just have to schedule once I get ATT.

I have been sending out my resume and I have two interviews set up for next week. I am very excited. My question is this......one is in an area I think I really like. It is a cardiac position. The other is a med surg floor. I would like to hear pros and cons from ppl who have worked in either type of unit. I have done a clinical rotation both in med/surg and cardiac so I am somewhat familiar with both...but I know there are many of you with years of experience who could offer some good insight.

Thanks so much for your input SOjSYkJ8QEA

allnurses Guide

Nurse SMS, MSN, RN

6,843 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

It depends on what kind of a "cardiac floor" it is. Is it Med-tele? That isn't much different from Med-Surg, just with heart monitors involved. Is it CICU? That is a pretty specific specialty. Is it cardiac step-down (also called Cardiac PCU - progressive care unit - in some hospitals)?

I have worked all those. If it is med-surg vs med-tele, take the med-tele. If it is stepdown/PCU, take that one. In both Stepdown and Med-tele you will get enough med-surg overflow to get that experience solidly. If it is ICU vs med-surg, evaluate what you want - basic experience or to leap into a specialty.

Best of luck!

pmabraham, BSN, RN

2 Articles; 2,563 Posts

Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Per the previous poster, in order to best answer your question, it would be nice to know what you mean by "cardiac position." I work on a very busy cardiac telemetry floor, and since almost every cardiac patient has multiple comorbidities, we are in effect a medsurg floor. In addition, we tend to get overflow from the various ICU's such that we deal with patients that don't even have cardiac issues (aka med surg floor).

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