Is it better to do 2 yrs of Med-Surg after graduation or go directly onto a floor

[student456]

Hi, (I'm from ontario canada btw)

Ive heard from countless people that its better to take 2 years of medsurg then go into what you want to do. I want to eventually be a psych nurse for children / adolescents (probably in the field of eating disorders) but sooo many people have told me to do 2 yrs of med surg first.

Does it really make a difference?

Can you still get hired without 2 years of medsurg?

Thanks

[sequelae]

i dont think that it is necessary because if that is the field that you want to be in, by all means get in that field. gaining 2 years in medical surgical wont necessarily make you more qualified or even be an effective psychiatric nurse for that matter.

[meownsmile, BSN, RN]

I think it depends on the individual. If you are sure you wont ever want to work anywhere else but a certain specialty then id say go ahead and try to get in the department you want. But,, if there is reason you may want to do something else later, ie. travel nursing, office nursing, you might want to go med/surg a while to be able to engrain the skills and knowledge base you learned in school before you forget it. All that information is easily lost if you dont use it in practice, but if you actually use it in the clinical setting for a while it will be more like catching up to speed instead of finding the speed if you do leave your chosen department.

[piper_for_hire]

med-surg is a specialty like any other. I've only worked ICU and PACU and I would have to start all over if I went to med-surg. Just go right into psych.

-S

[Diahni]

piper_for_hire,

I second that. I loathed Med-surg as a student. There are so many different aspects of nursing these days, I don't think the one year of med-surg is entirely true any more. Let's face it, each job has lots of skills associated with it. You learn by starting that job.

Diahni