Help! Specialize... or Med Surg???

Apply for anything and everything. Many new grads will be competing. Don't worry if you want L&D, take it if offered and benefits/pay ate in line with what you want

If the specialty you are looking for offers you a job, take it. Some people are very successful starting off on their chosen floors. I've observed new nurses do very well on a cardiac progressive care unit, for example.

Labor and delivery is such a hard specialty to get into. Apply any and everywhere including med-surg. If you get a decent offer in labor and delivery with a great orientation, take it. Med-surg has such high turnover that you could always go and get a med-surg job. Labor and delivery? Not so much.

First off, congrats on graduating this May! Pursue the area of nursing that you are drawn to, but take any offers that come your way as the nursing job market for new grads is competitive. Put in a year or two and then transfer to the specialty you are drawn to..

Hey hey now..

MedSurg IS a specialty!

Hey hey now..

MedSurg IS a specialty!

I was going to say EXACTLY THIS. And you won't truly see that until you become a Med/Surg nurse.

Signed,

A Proud Med/Surg RN

I started off in med-surg with my heart set on OB. Back when I was applying, the jobs were very minimal (it has since turned around where I live). Anyway, I took the first job I was offered (med-surg). You should apply to any and everything, take what you can get. I'll tell you this... now that I look back on it, I feel like having that med-surg background provided an amazing foundation for the start of my nursing career. I feel confident in transferring to pretty much any other speciality. BUT in the midst of working med-surg, I was pretty miserable! I hated it. I was unhappy. So I say, if you can get into your specialty take the job! If you plan to eventually get out of L&D and do something more critical, I would say to start in med-surg. But if you know L&D is where you'll be for the rest of your career, by all means start there. Good luck! I'm sure you will be fine either way you choose. You will adapt to whatever situation you put yourself into.

Hijacking thread (just a little) to ask a quick question. I know I want to end up in education. Right now I'm a New Grad ER RN but I'm looking to leave my ER. If I want to be a well-rounded teacher, should I look more towards med/surg? I've applied at places offering ICU placements because I do have critical care experience and want to learn more critical care to increase my skills. Which would help me more if I eventually want to teach?

I don't plan on applying for anything else other than L&D. I know it's what I want to do.

That being said. I KNOW they hire directly into specialties where I live. They literally start hiring new grads that expect to graduate in May in January and February!

I don't really care to start in Med Surg unless I have to. I almost consider Med Surg to be its own specialty in sense.

Hijacking thread (just a little) to ask a quick question. I know I want to end up in education. Right now I'm a New Grad ER RN but I'm looking to leave my ER. If I want to be a well-rounded teacher, should I look more towards med/surg? I've applied at places offering ICU placements because I do have critical care experience and want to learn more critical care to increase my skills. Which would help me more if I eventually want to teach?

I'm still a nursing student but I'm not sure it matters. Our nursing instructors all have varying specialty experience . Some LTC, some had alot of managing, some l&d, one has only ER, etc.