Career advice: Med-Surg to ER?

canuck2texan · Jun 3, 2010

I have been a nurse for just about 2 years now and all my experince is in pediatrics emergency medicine. The ER is a great place to get all your skills ( that's why I chose it post nursing school). I have seen and done more in our ER in 2 years than most new grads see in 5 years. I love my job and have no regrets going straight to the ER. The most important skill to have is critical thinking and a really good understanding of anatomy and physiology. We see approximately 3-5 thousand pedis a month so we are a very fast paced ER and very leaned staff.

50caliber · Jun 3, 2010

If you have 1 year med surgical, that should be more than enough in terms of having developed your nursing skills.

The rest of it, you will have to learn as you go. Time management, dealing with multiple patients, aggressive/combative patients, constant stress, pediatric patients, drug seekers, psych pt, and codes. This takes time as you learn the flow of the ER. You should be okay with your 1 year med surgical experience, you just have to have a different mindset when working in the ER. Although, some ER will require or prefer previous ER experience. I started my nursing career in the ER about a year ago and I'm doing just fine.

50caliber · Jun 3, 2010

I have been a nurse for just about 2 years now and all my experince is in pediatrics emergency medicine. The ER is a great place to get all your skills ( that's why I chose it post nursing school). I have seen and done more in our ER in 2 years than most new grads see in 5 years. I love my job and have no regrets going straight to the ER. The most important skill to have is critical thinking and a really good understanding of anatomy and physiology. We see approximately 3-5 thousand pedis a month so we are a very fast paced ER and very leaned staff.

How cool is that. I wish my facility had a dedicated pediatric ER. I don't mind most emergencies but its the true peds emergencies that I start to get stressed over.

fungez · Jun 3, 2010

If you want to go to ER, do it. It's so totally different from m/s that you'll feel like you're starting from scratch. For one thing, it's problem oriented rather than goal oriented. The charting and patient care is very different from the floor.

Personally, I hated my year in ER, but I don't regret the experience. Just one of those things I wanted to try out.

mcknis · Jun 3, 2010

Perhaps you can contact the ER nurse manager to see if you could shadow for a shift or two, just to see the pace of the unit. I came from working m/s for 2 years as a nursing assistant and 1.5 years as an RN. the experience was awesome for the ER setting. You don't often get to insert foleys or drop NGs in the ER, unless during a trauma or code, but that is usually set aside to the techs or medics to complete.Your experience has probably also allowed you to become familiar with IV sticks, which is a hot commodity in the fast paced setting of the ER. I have been here for 6 months now and do not regret it one bit. It is truly an exciting environment and one that most can't handle. If you shadow and enjoy it, chances are, you will love it! Good luck!!!

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jun 3, 2010

Go for it. I went straight into the er from school. Coming up on 2 years and am very happy with my decision.

Protocols differ from er to er. Where I am, if the admitting orders call for a foley or ng, it's inserted in the er by the rn, not the tech.

And when "the hotel is full", you'll get to be the m/s nurse for your holds, along with your other pts. You'll get to be the unit rn too when the board lights up with cardiac/intensive/intermediate care holds.

ER. Ain't no place I'd rather be......

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Jun 3, 2010

you don't often get to insert foleys or drop ngs in the er, unless during a trauma or code, but that is usually set aside to the techs or medics to complete.

uh, no. i drop my own ng tubes and foleys on the medical beds all the time. this is dependent on the er not the type of patient. my er uses primary care nursing. thus, techs in my er don't get to do as much as techs at other facilities so i have gotten more skilled working in the er then i did working med surg. in fact, i rarely had to start ivs, place ng tubes, or drop foleys when i worked in med surg. the patients arrived from the ed with everything in place. :twocents:

delilas · Jun 3, 2010

No reason to think a year isn't plenty! You have your footing, and that's important as not all new grads can take ER right out of the gate of schooling. But you've gotten your feet wet, showed your strengths; go ahead and talk to a manager about shadowing at the very least. You will learn SO much in the ER, and no number of years in medsurg will fully prepare you for it.

JTworoger · Jun 3, 2010

Speaking from experience, 1 year as a nurse on the medical-surgical floor is plenty. In my opinion, I believe all nurses who work at the hospital should have to do at least 6 months on a medical-surgical floor. Its like taking college courses, they want you to be a well rounded student, which is why they make nurses take a computer science class. pfft. I worked in the ER as a ER Tech while I was going to nursing school and was migrated to M/S when I graduated school. After a year of M/S experience I needed a change of pace and I wanted to go back down to the ER. They transfered me and I worked there for 3 years. It was an experience I will never forget. There will be things you know as a M/S nurse that those ER nusres won't, somply because most of them may of never worked on a M/S unit. Have fun and good luck!