Is 6 months enough??

Specialties Med-Surg

Published

Hi all,

I just graduated in spring of 08 and have been working on a 40 bed med/surg floor at nights.

I have had it....I knew I needed to get some med/surg experience under my belt but I do not like this field......tooooo much chaos for me!! I know other nurses I work with love this pace but I can't take it any more.....

Just wanted some advice as to whether 6 months experience in this field would be sufficient enough to move on.....I am miserable and wondering if nursing is for me at all....I feel soooo bummed out feeling this way after working so hard to get where I am.:(

I look forward to hearing from anyone with advice! Help!

Thanks!!!!

I truly THANK everyone for their replies......... all the help given is truly appreciated.... I received a job offer at a Long Term care Facility and have a great feeling about it; this place has a great rating and it seems warm and inviting for the clients that live their. I love working with the elderly so I accepted the job....:redbeathe

I can't wait!!! I keep everyone updated on how it goes!

THANKS ALL!!!!:yeah:

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
I truly THANK everyone for their replies......... all the help given is truly appreciated.... I received a job offer at a Long Term care Facility and have a great feeling about it; this place has a great rating and it seems warm and inviting for the clients that live their. I love working with the elderly so I accepted the job....:redbeathe

I can't wait!!! I keep everyone updated on how it goes!

THANKS ALL!!!!:yeah:

Good luck to you krispy. The 6 months of experience you have will probably be useful to you in your new job -- and it sounds like you thought it through well enough to identify the type of patient care you enjoy and want to do. I think that is about as much as you can do to help yourself make a good choice.

I hope it works out well for you.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
My thoughts are these, I want enough to qualify as "having had medical experience", enough to possibly leave the options of the OR or L&D open. Is 6 months enough for this? I have no longterm plans for med-surg, definitely no desire for "expert" status. Thanks for your help!

For this purpose, I think 4 months is not enough ... 6 months is borderline ... and a year is what is normally expected.

However, in some situations, you could probably get a job in some of the specialties that interet you with minimimal or no med/surg experience. It all depends on the specific place you are applying to.

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Specializes in Psych, Med-Surg.

Thank you!

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Congrats on your new job!! LTC is hard work too, but if your passion is here- you;ll do great!!

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

I do not feel that it is enough. You should stay on med-surg for at least a year. Were I hiring you, I would wonder if you would be able to stay in the job I hire you for.

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Specializes in Psych, Med-Surg.

Congrats, krispymommy, on finding a new job! Good luck!

Although I know that 1 year is ideal, I don't know if it is the right/smart/healthy thing to "push" myself out the door for the next 8 months to accomplish it. I try to come in with a smile, despite my inner panic every day. I don't show up late, call off randomly, or disrespect my coworkers. I try to be the best nurse that I can be, but I am truly and deeply unhappy.

I know the 6 months on my resume is not a testament to my expertise in med-surg. I knew from nursing school that it was not the specialty that I would end my career in. But I thought that I should follow everyone's advice and do it. I thought that I might come to enjoy it.

Around Christmas my unit director went on leave for personal reasons. Then they temporarily shut down our unit for low census. This past week they told us that they are changing the type of patients we care for. On top of this, I had a 10 pt assignment, with all of the frustrations that you can imagine (can't get labs on time, dementia pt trying to get out of bed, pt on cardizem drip with crazy HR, etc.)

I really hope that a nurse manager at some hospital in L&D can look past my 6 month stay in med-surg and see someone that spent over a year in her first position (charge, preceptor, on a committee) and just understand that it's not for everyone. And now I know it's not for me.

Sorry for the rant. Just had to let it out.

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Specializes in Certified Wound Care Nurse.

My advice to krispymommy - stick it out for two years. It took me a good year before I could even consider whether or not I wanted to even "be a nurse". Now - my experience is this - at nine months on a chaotic tele/med-surg floor - I thought I'd had enough experience to move to a specialty. I did... ER in a very seedy part of town - saw things I never imagined and gained a ton of experience... however, I was "too slow"... didn't have enough experience in med-surg to have really moved forward. Now I am back on the former chaotic tele/med-surg floor with the previous experience under my belt - I am enjoying med-surg even more now and enjoying nursing MUCH more. I attribute that to time - just time. I still need help - and am not hesitant to ask.

Take good care,

RiverNurse

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

If you are having to take 10 patients...get the hell out of there. You cannot provide even basic care with that kind of staffing, no one can, no matter how much experience they have. I would be very interested to know if you work for a for profit or a not for profit hospital and what state you are in. Are you part of a union? Please email me back and let me know. This just sounds like a horrible place to work. We have a 5:1 ratio on my unit on 3-11 and WE NEVER go over that ratio, no matter what. I am very interested in seeing the specifics about the hospital where you work.

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Specializes in Psych, Med-Surg.

I work for a non-profit, non-union hospital in PA.

I work nights, so I knew I'd get more pts than day or eve, but wasn't told I'd get that many. I had 4 patients that night who had a knee or a hip done that day/eve ( so IV antibiotics, neuro checks, dressing checks, etc ). The other pts were medical. I was told that "this doesn't normally happen."

If it weren't for my mostly supportive co-workers, I'd be long gone...

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Specializes in liver,spk,sb transplant/ wound care.

time will help you gain knowledge & to decide on what part of nursing you like. sounds like since you enjoyed being a mom at home perhaps peds may be the place for you, you may even enjoy peds clinic. (the flow is not the same pace as hospital flow) stay positive & it will come to you:nurse:

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hey i wanted to know if you could answer a question for me? i am thinking about being a RN, how does someone go about and get experience in the medical field? would becoming a CMA be a good start? thanks

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