Published
Med/surg is highly recommended for new grads, especially if you don't have other prior experience and don't have your heart set on a specialty for your career. It's a great place to be exposed to a variety of patients, to build your skills and knowledge base, and to make connections and see other areas you may want to get into with time.
Depending on your state and job market, with an ADN, you may find it challenging to find hospital work, and may end up in a non-acute setting (home health, LTC, etc), but experience is experience, and with the market the way it is, the best kind of job is the one you can get. Apply to as many positions as you can feasibly do, and utilize any connections you've made along the way.
Good luck!
Anywhere you can get a job is good. I think med-surg or telemetry is a good place to start. You can basically get a job anywhere with some telemetry experience. My former coworkers have moved on to positions such as critical care, emergency, maternity, cath lab, angiogram recovery, and resource nursing.
I would say whatever you're interested in and get hired in : )
I don't really buy into the whole mandatory year in med-surg for new nurses.
I've known nurses who took a med-surg job because they thought they should, HATED it, burnt out, and never returned to floor nursing.
I've also seen posts here from nurses who really want L&D or Peds but had trouble getting a job, because their experience was just med-surg. So med-surg experience doesn't always translate well to other specialties.
I really wanted L&D so I pursued it and got hired as a new grad. I'm happy I did.
I really have no desire to ever work med-surg.
Hailbop16
138 Posts
what area do most new grads get jobs in? I will be getting my ADN. at one point I heard med/surg was easiest to get into.