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

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I am a nursing student and graduate in May this year! I decided to get into nursing because I have such an interest in Labor and Delivery (The hospital I live close to does hire new nurses). Now that I have been in the program, I hear so many people tell me not to specialize early because you "wont have that medical-surgical experience that you should start with". What is your input on this and what did you do or what would you suggest to me as a new nurse? I do have an interest in the medical-surgical nursing as well and would love to hear your input on this! Thank you!

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Specializes in Dialysis.

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

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Med/surg experience is nice to have if you are interested in working with sick adults -- but it is not all necessary for every specialty. There are a lot of nurses with successful careers who never worked a day of adult med/surg.

So if a good offer comes along in a specialty that interests you more, feel free to take the specialty. The opportunity for that specialty may never come again.

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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.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

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.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

If L&D will hire you, take it and run; don't look back. My nursing school instructors spewed that same party line. I have worked one shift in med-surg in my entire nursing career and that was because virtually the entire med-surg staff called in one night and I got dragged up from the ER to fumble through a shift and pretend I knew what I was supposed to do. You'll learn everything you need to know in the department.

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Specializes in Emergency.

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..

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.

Hey hey now..

MedSurg IS a specialty!

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Specializes in Med/Surg/ICU/Stepdown.
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

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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.

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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?

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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.

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