Floor Nursing

Nursing Students General Students

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I have been working the Ortho/Oncology floors as a tech for about a year now in prep. for nursing school. I graduate a while from now...two years, however, there is one thing that concerns me daily. I do not enjoy the floor. There are so many interesting places to go in nursing and the floor doesn't appeal to me personally so far.

My question is do you think it is necessary to do med surg or any floor first if I never plan to go there again?! What if I just got a nice job in the OR or outpatient procedures. I feel much happier when I'm not spread too thin and floor nursing is a bit of a run around crazily job. Even the nurses run about crazily where I've been working.

Don't think I hate floor nurses, they are very fabulous at their jobs. I just might dread work if I have to do it each day. Call me lazy.

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You will get many experinces doing clinicals in NS, and they will help you find your passion so don't worry to much about it until you get to see what else is out there. You probably won't choose floor nursing in the end since you have some taste of what it is like. I probably won't do floor nursing either, but it is because every floor I have worked has been boring! Everyone gets pretty much the same meds and it is very routine. I hope to eventually work ICU, or ER or maybe even surgery, although I'm not sure I could stand to wear a mask for 12 or 16+ hours!

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Specializes in ER; HBOT- lots others.

if you dont like it, you dont like it. i know for sure there are certain places i will NOT work in/at. dont feel bad or anything, people are not always cut out for certain things. But make sure you keep your options open, JIC, cuz you never know what you may have to do to get to where you want to be.

there is a hospital i did clinicals around here at, and i HATED the floor. the nurses were rude, not nice and snotty. i love the patients and the type of stuff, but hated the situation. same with another place, but same situ as below post, the same meds, the same surg's all that crud. I am now going to be on an acute surgical floor, and it will be some different stuff, but i swear, if i get all knee's and hip's i am gonna go nuts this semester. i shouldnt complain, cuz its all stuff i know. but i just couldnt handle doing the SAME thing ALL DAY LONG...

i was a paramedic, i thrive on that adren rush,,,i will end up in er or flight medic...i know. but i also am resloved to the fact that maybe, just maybe i may need to do something i dont want to do, or like lots less, but will just use it to help the pt's as best i can, and get to where i want to be. my time will come, to be a happy nurse. i.....hope.......

-H-

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Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.

I think it is great that you already have a sense what you want and don't want when you get your nursing degree. There is no reason that you have to do medsurg first before you do what your heart tells you to do. Unfortunately, nursing school won't expose you to much besides bedside nursing, so it may be more difficult to get a true sense of other areas, but there are ways around that. Perhaps, you could ask to shadow a nurse in an area that interests you while you are still in school. You should be able to observe in the OR as well.... very cool stuff!!

Good luck and keep true to yourself...;););)

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Thanks guys! I'm going to follow my heart! I really want to expidite the time until im a "happy nurse" -somedayrn. Luckily my mom's an OR nurse so i've seen her way of life as it were and got to observe a total knee before. Hopefully I'll get to come and see more before my time to decide comes!

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

We don't get a lot of clinical experience outside of med/surg floors except for a day here or there.

I was fortunate enough to get an ER internship last summer and I am working on doing a shadow in a NICU and maybe another place or two prior to graduation decisions have to be made. I hope I figure it out soon!!! :eek:

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Specializes in Acute Care.

I think if you have a specialty area picked out, its not that big a deal.

I'm going straight to Fort Logan MHC to work as a psych nurse after graduation. From clinical experience and talking with nurses, it seems like med/surg floors are understaffed, money focused places to dump new grads into for a year, until they get burned out and leave, just in time for another bunch of new grads to come in and take their places. Or maybe I'm just really not cut out to do floor nursing.

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