Is Med-Surg really a dead end?

[JustWannaWork,RN]

I am a new grad that finally landed an interview for a Med-Surg unit !!! I am beyond excited because I am finally getting a chance after months of online applications and subsequent rejection e-mails.

So my question is...

Why do nurses hate Med-Surg so much? I understand the things like nurse/patient ratio and lack of CNA/Techs for assistance on the floor. I witnessed this while doing clinicals, but honestly, it seemed as though there were complaints about work conditions on EVERY unit even specialties! I admit, my first love is L&D, but right now with things the way they are with the economy, my first choice is whatever floor gives me a chance at getting ANY kind of RN experience. Will starting in Med-Surg make it difficult to transfer later on to a specialty? Some of the best nurses I've followed in clinicals said that when they started out it was in Med-Surg and they learned so much and wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Then there are those that start out in specialties and do fine.

I want to eventually do L&D and would have jumped at the chance to do it fresh out of school, but a part of me always kinda wanted to do Med-Surg or something more generalized just to get core nursing skills that are applicable everywhere. I guess I just don't understand why nurses and nursing students (that's been my experience) hate Med-Surg so much. My problem with it in school was that the nurse was always so busy they never really had time to stop and teach so I felt like I didn't get a chance to learn anything. On specialty units, the nurses seemed to have more breathing room and were able to explain things a little more and had a little more patience with us to perform skills.

I just know above all else that I am ecstatic to be given a chance to prove that I can be a great nurse! :)

I know it was long but thanks for reading!

[9livesRN, BSN, RN]

Med surge is like the back bone! I thought I was " not so hot" when I landed on medsurge and I had friends in othe units! One year later I landed on an awesome Surgical PCU, and 6 months after that, I float to anywhere from skilled care to ICU!Just think, PCU,ICU,med tele,Surgical floor patientients always have "med surge like issues" along with something else!The med surge knowledge and skills allows you to better help your patient! Along with prioritization, hospital policy, procedures.... The whole environment.... Not to mention what you can learn from your patients alone! Plus it can be really fun!

[OhioCCRN, MSN, NP]

I work med-surg in a High acuity hospital. Some of our pt's would be in the ICU elsewhere. It is challenging but a great learning experience! Dead end? Not likely, Nursing is really what you make it!

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

No field or specialty of nursing is a dead end if you value the position and do a good job at it while continually growing. Really.

[Lovely_RN, MSN]

I think it depends on what you want to do in the future. If you don't know where you want to go next Med/Surg is going to give you a little taste of everything and help you identify where your interests lie. It may be difficult to get a transfer because the hospital doesn't want to lose a good Med/Surg nurse but with persistence it can be done. If you know without a doubt that a certain specialty is for you and you get it and have no desire to do anything else than you can get along without ever going to Med/Surg. I went from SNF, to out-pt substance abuse clinic, to Tele and I'm doing fine. I feel a little out of my element when I float to Med/Surg because while most tele pts have non-cardiac co-morbidities it's limited and I'm just not familiar with the variety of pts that a Med/Surg nurse sees everyday. That said no matter where you transfer to you are going to have to be oriented to the unit and there is always some self-study involved. Nursing is just too broad. I don't think there is any one specialty in nursing that will turn a nurse into a jack of all trades. Every area has it's nuances and a learning curve when your new to it. It just happens that Med/Surg tends to have the most variety in what you may see pt wise.

[Palliative Care, DNP]

I am certified in medical surgical nursing. I do not feel like it is a dead end but a gateway. I think that you can learn almost any basic skill that would be required to work on another unit. If you later decide to go into a specialty then you will have a strong foundation. The specialized area wold then teach you any particular skill required like telemetry or hanging chemo.

[nightengalegoddess]

Med- Surg can be a specialty actually. I think it is a very valuable specialty if one gets certified. You can always get certified L and D too. I don't know why Med-Surg would stop anyone from going anywhere at all. I don't know where you have heard that except that managers do not want to let you go.....you have to shmooze in with the L and D in your hospital......two years of med-surg and shmoozing will get you anywhere. Not knocking starting out in other areas at all. But Med-Surg teaches you how to be cool under pressure, how to time manage, prioritize, and how to people manage when all around are freaking out. And if you want L and D, the calmness you will acquire in med-surg will make you an excellent nurse with all the freaking out first time mothers. When you get your experience (and get the money rolling in from your probable overtime)...and you have acquainted yourself with the L and D manager and made it a point to go to him/her once a month or so to show your earnest....eventually a spot will open up and the manager will think of you first. Then your med-surg manager will probably be contacted by the manager of L and D and they will discourse about you.....and of course after your first year in Med-Surg you have already told your manager your goals of L and D.....I bet you will be transfered no problem.

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

Med surg IS A SPECIALTY!! ( I swore I answered this under the med/surg tab the day it was posted...)

Anyway, you have to be so varied in your skills and be able to multi task very well. It's interesting for many people.

If your med surg sucks, then it's the hospital, NOT the specialty.

My hospital is staffed well and med/surg is the main floor of the hospital. Without us, everyone else would be dead in the water when their pt's go south, but not south enough for ICU. The pts you see on the med/surg floors now, were the ones in ICU years ago. The acuity is getting more complex as the years go by.

I have worked in just about all the floors in various hospitals over the years. The only thing I have not done is ICU and catching babies. I have gone back to med/surg over and over again. I like the variety and I like the age range of pts.

You can use Med/surg as a stepping stone or be very happy there. It's completely up to you.

[LVNBSN2]

A dead end? No. LTC is the dead end. Once you're stuck there it's hard to get out of.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I was certified in M/S for five years. It was truly the gateway to the rest of my career and gave me the ability to sample other specialties, such as Mother/Baby and ICU, before settling into long-term care management. Med/surg teaches you those critical-thinking and prioritization skills which separate the great nurses from the run-of-the-mill ones. Yes, the staffing often stinks on ice, and that's a shame, because it's what drives nurses away from M/S just when we are reaching the peak of our skill and efficiency; unfortunately, by the time we're in our mid-to-late 40s, it simply becomes too physically demanding for many of us. But never, ever should it be considered a dead-end job......and NO, long-term care doesn't have to be dead-end either! There is a lot of flexibility and upward mobility in LTC for the nurse who enjoys working with the geriatric population; one just has to have something on the ball and be willing to work very hard. And don't ALL nurses work hard??

[Merlyn]

A dead end? No. LTC is the dead end. Once you're stuck there it's hard to get out of.

DEAD END!!!? I do more Tracs than I did when I worked Respiratory. More Psych than I did in the Hospital. More assessments than I did working in a clinic. More changing roles from a Med Nurse to a charge nurse. and more thinking on you feet than anything in Med/Surg. Sure it's a dead end if you crave the 'glory jobs', that they make TV shows out of. But, IMO, andI have done everything in Nursing except make a nurse from old body parts. I'm working on that one, there are no dead ends in Nursing. LTC may be hard to get out of but not impossible.