Which way do I go? Which way do I go?

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Feb 18, 2006

Med/surg also has a psyc component to it. People with psycologic disorders have surgery and get sick. But you wont have surgicals and acute disorders in psyc. You have to weigh what options are best for you and your lifestyle, what offers are best, and what hours work with your life.

jonear2, RN · Feb 18, 2006

ok, here's my humble opinion, do med surg first. Nothing against psych, but if you go straight to an area where you are not using your hands on skills, you may lose them before you get them. Psych is a great place to perfect your therapeutic communication skills and learn how to read between the lines as to what your patients are really telling you. And if you want to be a psych nurse for a long time then go for it, but I think it would be wise to give med surg further consideration while you are fresh out of school because MS will help you cement the skills you have just learned. And don't for a minute think that you won't have psych patients up on the floor b/c you WILL. Psych patients get sick just like everyone else. We had a patient the other day who had a hx of schizophrenia and just went off throwing her lunch tray at her roommate and had to be restrained. The nurse also had to get a foley in and when he did she purposely defecated during the insertion and rubbed her bottom in it singing "Nah nah nah nah nah nah." Anyway to get around to the point, you can have psych without med-surg but you can't have med surg without psych.

crb613, BSN, RN · Feb 18, 2006

Thanks, ya'll are saying exactly what I was thinking. While doing M/S clinicals I had quite a few psych patients. I do want to develop my skills, and that is main reason I am having such a hard time w/going to psych first.Would it be crazy to go with M/S, & do psych on a prn basis, or am I trying to do to

much to quick? Thanks for letting me bounce ideas off of ya'll & for your opinions.

Drysolong · Feb 18, 2006

ok, here's my humble opinion, do med surg first. Nothing against psych, but if you go straight to an area where you are not using your hands on skills, you may lose them before you get them. Psych is a great place to perfect your therapeutic communication skills and learn how to read between the lines as to what your patients are really telling you. And if you want to be a psych nurse for a long time then go for it, but I think it would be wise to give med surg further consideration while you are fresh out of school because MS will help you cement the skills you have just learned. And don't for a minute think that you won't have psych patients up on the floor b/c you WILL. Psych patients get sick just like everyone else. We had a patient the other day who had a hx of schizophrenia and just went off throwing her lunch tray at her roommate and had to be restrained. The nurse also had to get a foley in and when he did she purposely defecated during the insertion and rubbed her bottom in it singing "Nah nah nah nah nah nah." Anyway to get around to the point, you can have psych without med-surg but you can't have med surg without psych.

Your "humble" opinion is very good advice for me as I also want to do psych nursing, but feel I need med-surg experience

taoist · Feb 18, 2006

That was my question last year. I felt I was getting conflicting opinions regarding which way was the better approach. I guess alot of my concern centered around the fact that most of the pysche hospitals in this area are stand alone facilities, and patients must be medically cleared prior to entering them - which was fine and dandy in theory - but I didn't want to be responsible for them if they coded. So I changed my game plan.

Instead, I got very direct when dealing with nurse recruiters, and told them very specifically what I was looking for - an learning opportunity which allowed me to work in med/surg with the clear understanding that I wanted to go into psyche eventually. Most medical facilities I spoke with, were more concerned about meeting their quota for new med-surg hires than meeting my long term goals, but I found a good match with the VA. I hadn't known it prior to the interview, but many of their pts have a psyche component to their diagnosis, so my interest in psyche was a huge plus for me getting the positon. Now I am enjoying the job so much that I'm not sure I really want to move to the psyche floor at all - I'm enjoying the mix of patients so much.

SFCardiacRN · Feb 18, 2006

Med'Surg is great training for...med/surg. It is really not that much help in other specialties. Unless you really want to do med/surg I would avoid it. It is easy to get trapped there while you watch new grads snap up the new grad programs. IMHO

purplemania, BSN, RN · Feb 18, 2006

Let's say you decide on Med/Surg to perfect skills then a year or two later go to Psych because that is your first love. Fast forward 5-10 years. Now you want bedside nursing. Guess what? Everything has changed! The skills you learned are rusty and the equipment is all different. My advice? Take the job that suits you now. You can always adapt to another position later. Nurses are flexible.