Age Old Med-surg Experience Question - Page 2

I always advise my BSN students to go directly to their area of interest. In my personal opinion I would have rather been an accountant than a Med/Surg nurse. Forcing a new grad into the med/surg specialty has the potential of driving them away from nursing all together. The thought process of a Med/Surg nurse and a good critical care nurse is very different. Neither one would be able to handle the others job with ease.

Funny thing, I was just on the phone with my mom last night. She retired a couple of years ago after FIFTY TWO YEARS as an RN (yea, Mom!) and she said, "just concentrate on getting the RN, get your two years of med surg, and then go do what you want to do."

I thought, TWO YEARS OF MED SURG? Yish!

This was the first I'd heard of it.

I bet with the need for us being everywhere, the "requirement" is no longer.

Thanks for this thread. I was just accepting it at face value.

Whew!

I would really question the dedication of the new nurse to the chosen specialty. I am one of those "old" nurses who started with a med surg background. Most of my 16 years as a RN have taken me in and out of med surg. I have had the pleasure of working in float pool, ER, Day surgery, GI lab, management and now education. My strong med surg background served me well when my family needed me to be selective about my hours. Many of my friends who specialized were unable to achieve balance in their work and personal lives in a chosen field. If you asked me as a new grad if I wanted to do GI lab I would have yelled no way! Yet that was one of my most interesting experiences.
I know of one new nurse who started in med surg with the idea of going to the ER to work. After 2 years and a great deal of soul searching she realized she would miss following the progress of her patients, maybe ICU was the way to go. What a shame if she went right to the ER without finding what piece of nursing she treasured the most.