Is medsurg worth it?

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Specializes in Case Management.

Hi all,

So I've been a psych nurse for a little over a year now and I'm really looking for a change. I feel like I should get some medsurg experience because all the job postings that I'm interested in seem to want some sort of acute care experience, plus having that foundation would be a huge plus.

The problem is the last time I worked in medical was a complete nightmare. It was a cardiac step down and I only lasted 4 months. I was miserable. I cried every time I went to and from work.

I don't hate where I work now the way I hated cardiac, but it's just not very fulfilling. I know I'm not an adrenaline junkie. I even hate psych emergencies when they come up, but prefer them over dying patients. (In cardiac I felt like my patients were circling the drain every shift).

So should I try medsurg to be more marketable to other opportunities? Or should I just stay in psych and just maybe switch jobs? Are there other jobs out there that would accept psych experience as valuable experience? Other areas I've thought about include: public health, mother baby, and case management. Some of these do say they prefer acute care experience.

Im worried about the horrific poor staffing that I hear about medsurg as well as a repeat of my past experience in medical. Thoughts? Thanks!

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Specializes in Utilization Review.

In my opinion, for the options you mentioned going into, medsurg probably wouldn't benefit you at this point. Honestly I am trying to get out of medsurg so I am probably a little biased but if cardiac stressed you out, medsurg probably won't be any fun either. Yes, you do see a lot of stuff and learn a lot in the broad sense but I honestly don't see it helping me in any of the jobs I want to do that required 3-5 years "acute" care. Case management is one. But if you went into public health I think they take a wide variety of backgrounds. Same with mother-baby on certain units. Either way, I would ask your manager for some extra advice or other nurses on your floor if they worked med surg and their thoughts. I hope everything works out for you!

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Specializes in Case Management.

Thanks for responding! Yeah a lot of the nurses at work did at least a year of med-surg before coming to psych. All of them say how beneficial it was and recommend getting some med-surg experience.

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I think med surg is a good foundation to have. It think it will ease the transition into other clinical specialties because it provides a great foundation of basic nursing skills. If you want to stay in a clinical role, then the medsurg background could help with future marketability. I started in medsurg and I think the experience has been invaluable. All the best on your decision.

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I believe you should find a good solid internship in med surg and get trained to work there. Med Surg is the foundation to all other specialties, so you can easily transfer those skills to other areas that may interest you. Whenever I have an opportunity to train new nurses, I always tell them to try out different areas of nursing. Don't get stuck in any one area because you never know what you may be missing on. I do know there are people who work in Med Surg, ICU, ER, OB-GYN, or OR from the beginning of their career to the end. But again, you may be missing out on an adventure in nursing. If you're bored where you are, then you need a change.

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Cardiac stepdown isn't exactly Med-Surg. Today's cardiac stepdown units take patients that would have been in an ICU 10-15 years ago. Find a true Surgical unit, and things will be quite different.

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I disagree that med surg is foundational. It may serve that function for you, but in all the experiences that I've had floating to medical, I would call med surg a very valid specialty of its own. The ability to manage five, six or more patients is remarkable. But managing that many different diagnoses, doctors, specialties, and family needs takes a skill set of its own, in addition to a great deal of patience.

Treating med surg like a spring board is unfair, and I would debate oftentimes unnecessary. If there is an endgame that you have in mind, why not apply for it directly? Maybe they will suggest acute care experience, but you might be surprised.

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Specializes in Case Management.

Thanks again for all the responses. Truth is there is no end game in mind. My goal when I started nursing school was to become a whnp. I like the gyn part the best. I didn't have the best mother-baby experience during clinicals and I'm no exactly a natural around babies, so I decided to find something else that interests me. I found that I have always been interested in psych and was thinking of psych np. However, being interested in psych and actually taking care of psych patients are two different things. I don't even know if I want to be an NP anymore because I see what doctors deal with and it just doesn't seem appealing. So now I have no clue. I want to do medsurg or something similar like ortho or oncology to help me figure out what my interests are as well as be more marketable to other jobs. I just don't want a repeat of the cardiac floor. These people were always having to get transferred to the ICU or have rapid responses called on them because they were so sick. I just want a place where I can practice my skills and time management without pts getting rapids called on them every night, if such a place exists.

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