Do I need to start my career in medsurg?(infp and hsp personality here)

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Hi all,I'm a new nurse. I'm deciding where to begin my career. I liked the ideas of public health, mental health, and home health while I was in school, but would really love to get my masters and do research within the next couple of years. Writing is my forte and I love it. I'm just having trouble deciding on where to apply right now to begin my career. I'd like to get a good foundation so everyone says go for medsurg. I agree, I just have a hard time with this type of nursing as its so fast-paced and nightshifts are so hard on the body! I am an INFP personality and also a highly sensitive person for those who are familiar. I get so drained and stressed in this type of nursing. I heard complex continuing care is slower paced, but will I get a good foundation? I'm also more dreamy and creative but can succeed in medsurg if I really try, it just goes against my basic personality and I get depressed doing shift wor as I think I have SAD related to my high sensitivity. Any advice? Should I suck it up and work medsurg for a year and then follow my dreams to become a nurse researcher? If anyone else has a similar personality type, I'd be curious to know where you are working as an RN. Thanks!

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

No, you do not have to start your career in med-surg: lots of successful nurses start off in other areas. A year in med-surg, while it can't hurt, doesn't necessarily guarantee nursing success.

That being said, having actual nursing experience under your belt will be invaluable to you when you become a nurse researcher. So find an area that you like and get your year or two of experience in there.

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I am an INFP and work in Acute Rehab - slower paced, more time with patients.

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No, you do not have to start your career in med-surg: lots of successful nurses start off in other areas. A year in med-surg, while it can't hurt, doesn't necessarily guarantee nursing success.

That being said, having actual nursing experience under your belt will be invaluable to you when you become a nurse researcher. So find an area that you like and get your year or two of experience in there.

Amen to dat! *LOL*

While old school conventional wisdom held that a year of Med/Surg experience was almost de rigueur, that opinion was not always universally held then or now.

The practice of nursing has become so specialised that perhaps a better way of looking at things is getting as near to where you want to be instead. I mean if your ultimate goal is NICU then somewhere in peds will probably be a better starting point.

Meriwhen is quite correct in that before going for your masters and working in research you really do need to get some floor/unit experience under your belt first. In order to look at data and so forth you are going to need some sort of experience to draw from, otherwise your conclusions may be quite far off the mark.

If you truly are undecided look for a hospital that has a general rotation orientation program where you spend a bit of time on different floors/units. This may give the exposure you seek to many areas and help make a decision. Also input/feedback from your peers and management may help as well. Others often see things in ourselves that we do not, you may have a hidden talent! *LOL*

Best of luck,

DGTG

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Lol thanks.I'll have to look into the general rotation thing. Something like rehab does sound appealing too. I guess what's comforting is that if I don't like something, I have so many other areas to choose from. Maybe I can consider this year ahead of me an extension of my schooling, because I think that's really what it will be like...lots to learn.

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