ER vs. Medsurg

[ovnerati]

Try as I might, I have been unable to secure a position working on a medical surgical unit. I do however have experience working as a nurse in the Emergency Department. When filling out applications that ask whether you have medical surgical experience does ER nursing count for anything?

[emmanewgrad]

Try surgery, pacu, post op.

[FancypantsRN]

Above post, if that's an interest to you (that's what a couple of my ER coworkers do as their 2nd job.

Or just keep applying for med-surg. Have you applied and they told you that the ER doesn't count as experience? I know it's a different specialty, I had that problem with getting travel assignments. I was unable to get an assignment there with step down experience.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Any nursing experience is nursing experience. I am not sure what you mean but jobs in general are very tight...there are many more applicants than positions in certain areas of the country.

What I would say on the application is that although I have not worked on a med-surg unit, I have worked in the emergency room which has taught me how to prioritize my patients needs and care for multiple patient and issues simultaneously. I have learned how to assess multiple situations swiftly and effectively and how to manage my time to best enable me to care for the patients in my care as well as anticipate any unexpected interruptions which would make me an asset to any unit and patients in my care.

Good luck!

[ovnerati]

I was told all through nursing school that every good nurse should have atleast one year of medical surgical nursing under their belt before starting into a specialty. The issue I run into now is that because the jobs are slim and almost every new grad is trying for the medsurg jobs it is actually a lot easier to obtain a position in a specialty field then medsurg right now. This was certainly the case for me as I have been hired on as an ER Nurse and a Psychiatric nurse.

Now however as I look through job postings online most of them have a simple yes/no question for "Do you have medical surgical experience?" or just have a scale for how many years of medsurg experience you have. There is no space for a narrative answer.

I am not currently searching for a new employer, but I am curious how this will effect me in the future and just wanted opinions on whether you would answer yes or no to whether ER nursing counts as medical or surgical nursing.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

One difference between ER and MedSurg is that ER tends to make focal assessments while MedSurg is more global. I would love to hire an ER nurse to MedSurg - for the coding experience if nothing else. Maybe you need to emphasize more about what you have experience in that would relate to MedSurg, like knowledge of meds, assessment of change in condition, when to call MD, EKG changes (if they are monitored), etc. Perhaps you could start out prn till you and they feel there is a good fit. Good luck!

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Why WHY would you want to go to M/S after ER?!