Med Surg only ... for New grads???

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Why do they tell New grads to start out in MED SURG? Why to they discourage new grads from going right into their area of interest? DETAILS please? what is so great about med surg for us?

:D thanks

Specializes in critical care; community health; psych.

I know I don't like med-surg. If I had to work on a med-surg floor for any length of time, I think I would feel discouraged and might get a sour taste about nursing as a whole. I think it's important to know where your interest lies, and start there. Of course there are some highly specialized units like CVICU (IABPs, fresh post-op open hearts) where one might want to start in a unit less specialized.

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Why do they tell New grads to start out in MED SURG? Why to they discourage new grads from going right into their area of interest? DETAILS please? what is so great about med surg for us?

:D thanks

When I was in the hospital recently the Med-Surg nurses were awesome to me. I never thought about Med-Surg but the fact that they have a variety of patients is really interesting. :)

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Many people say I don't like med surg but all nursing is med surg and to a degree psych nursing.

All assessments include VS, lungs, apical rate etc. This is basic med surg nursing and if you do not have the basic skills all nursing is difficult. I have done all types of nursing, OB, ER, LTC, MR and physician office, personally if you hate med surg you must hate nursing. Are there specialities of med surg, you bet, ICU, Neuro, OB all other nursing specialites stem from Med-Surg.

All nursing also has a psych element, anxiety due to hosptialization, depression over a diagnosis, feeling of hopelessness, loss of control etc.

I respect all other speciality areas and wonder sometimes if nursing students hate med surg due to the attitude of instructors or rather the bias of some instructors who themselves hate med surg. I remain at med surg not because I am not competent enough to work ICU or the ER but because I think med surg nurses are some of the best and brightest nurses you will ever me and it is an honor to work with these nurses.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.

I dislike med-surg because of the staffing problems...too high of a pt ratio, pt's being discharged too quickly because of it, not enough one on one time with the pt, and too many hands in the pot because the RN can't safely do everything for the patient.

I work as a tech in ICU. I have one year left until graduation and have already been offered a position once I am finished with school. I love it because I get to do total patient care and I prefer that, my pt load will be 2-3 pt's, it is still a variety of dx/ds/skills...almost everything has to be done on the floor so I get to see a lot more stuff than a med/surg nurse, I get a lot more down time (translation: time to pee), and I really get to work my critical thinking skills because the pt's conditions are far more critical. I would not be happy anywhere else.

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Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, LTC.

A lot of people don't like med/surg due to horrendous staffing and unsafe workloads. Can't blame them. I am stuck in med/surg since there isn't anything else in this area really. (one small hospital only) All of the other units in the hospital are required to work med/surg when their census is low. I have to admit, you do learn a lot. But this is a way for bigger hospitals to staff med/surg units, by requiring new nurses to get the magic one year med/surg experience before moving on. It really isn't necessary though w/ a proper orientation into another specialty. I worked LTC and Psych before working med/surg.

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I agree that pt to nurse ratios need to change and that the quick discharge time is not always beneficial to the patient. I also think that unitl nurses in general unit and start bringing attention to this it will continue. We all need to write letters to the editor, try to get radio interviews and write our local representatives. If all nurses belonged to the ANA think of the lobbying power we would have, how many docs do not belong to the AMA? Now think of how we outnumber them but have so little power to change things. I am not saying professional organizations are the best but they offer some support in lobbying for change in our profession.

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I don't want to go into med-surg. I am going into this at close to 40 years old and I know my limitations as far as the running around and physicality. I told a nurse recruiter that I have no interest in med surg and she said I should do it because its a great way to get my feet wet. Well, I am too old to spend time doing something I don't plan nor want to do, and I ended up not applying there. I was offered and accepted a job as a post-partum nurse when I graduate in the spring and that is just fine for me. I will be busy, of course, but 4 mom-baby couplets sounds much better than 6 or 8 complicated, varied patients. Plus I can cross-train into L&D later if I want.

In fact, the hospital that hired me also hired a classmate of mine for post partum as well. And several other classmates have also talked to the other nurse recruiter and had been told the same thing' that they need to do a year of MS first. Its almost like someone saying that "I know you worked hard to achieve your dream but you can't do it until you spend another year doing something you don't want to do.' Very disenheartening.

I personally don't like the higher-tech end of nursing and will leave it to those who do. I am looking forward to teaching the new moms and becoming a lactation consultant after a while on the floor.

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Coopergrrl~

thats what i want to do..Post Partum. When i was in the hospital after having my son thats when i decided to go into nursing because i really liked postpartum.... I heard you could cross train into L&D too... I also thought about eventually going into lactation or teaching the new mom classes later on as well.... I even took a few communications classes to finish my AGS degree (which i just finished last week, Nursing School starts January) YEAA! I figured they would help me communicate a little better.

Sounds like your plans are what im hoping to do one day!

Keep in touch I'd like to know how it goes for you!!!

Mandy =)

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Specializes in Urgent Care.

I want to go into psych, and it will certainly possible for me to do that right out of school. But after reseraching I will be doing my 1-2 yrs med surg to start out. It will open up more jobs to me for one. And since so many psych pt's have mulitple health probs it will be a big advantage to have the background and be better able to provide/contribute to all the nursing care my pts need.

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I want to go into psych, and it will certainly possible for me to do that right out of school. But after reseraching I will be doing my 1-2 yrs med surg to start out. It will open up more jobs to me for one. And since so many psych pt's have mulitple health probs it will be a big advantage to have the background and be better able to provide/contribute to all the nursing care my pts need.

Balder- this seems very very sensible.

As far as hating med-Surg- I think it is the idea of med-surg that is conjured up in many minds. The heavy nurse patient ratios, and also the lower acuity of patients (though some patients get high acuity very quickly)Now that I am traveling I wish I had both ED and M/S specialty, but having never been on a M/S floor its unlikely that I'll have that!

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I start my med surg. rotaions Jan 9, in a nursing home, Please tell me how much med surg a student can really get from a nursing home. I dodnt understand why they placed in a nursing home, we have already done out long term rotaion.Any one have any ideas for why we would go back to the nursing home for med surg.:uhoh3:

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I want to go into psych, and it will certainly possible for me to do that right out of school. But after reseraching I will be doing my 1-2 yrs med surg to start out. It will open up more jobs to me for one. And since so many psych pt's have mulitple health probs it will be a big advantage to have the background and be better able to provide/contribute to all the nursing care my pts need.

I in no way want to talk you out of your plans and dreams but I just came off my psych rotation in clinical this week. The psych pts who are sick are put on the regular floors, and go to the psych floor only after they have been medically cleared and stabilized. Maybe it is not like that everywhere but the clinical instructors at my school sure made it sound so.

I did not see but one ill psych patient in the last 6 weeks of clinicals. We barely did any hands-on nursing at all.

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