Is it ok to specialize right out of school

[melbauman]

I am a nursing student in my last semester of nursing. I will be graduating in December of 09 and need to get started on applications for jobs. I have wanted to be an OB nurse from the moment that I decided to go into nursing, but as I talk with other nurses I am being told that I need to start out on a med/surg floor so I can really get my skills down. I am really torn about this because I don't really enjoy these areas as much. I understand the thought process behind starting in med/surg for skill development but I'm just not interested in that kind of nursing. I want to know if a year on a med/surg floor will really be as beneficial as everyone says. Please tell me what you think!

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

I just want to say thank you to the people in this thread, VirgoRN in particular. As a passionate Med/Surg nurse it is nice to hear the support of other nurses, and not the constant "ewww med/surg" we often hear on popular boards such as this.

I have greatly loved my med/surg experience and have learned far more than I ever thought possible. I work hard and would recommend Med/Surg to any new grad as a great place to start off.

Someone earlier mentioned that people who started in Med/Surg often left nursing, however I feel no matter where they would have started there is a good chance the same thing might have happened.

And to the person was was looking to go to the ER at some point, but was worried about it after nursing school, Med/Surg might be the perfect place since the exposure is so varied and so is the ED.

Tait

I did my final preceptorship of NS on a surgical unit. It was an incredibly valuable experience, and I almost considered working there after graduation, simply for the purpose of gaining the skills, and because that floor had the best aides in the whole house. As a cardiac nurse, I was especially glad to have had the experience, because a fair amount of cardiac patients are post-op for everything from hip replacements to TURPs. People experience new onset A-Fib or experience chest pain, or chronic A-Fibbers can go into RVR because they haven't been getting their regular meds and their bodies are stressed. I only knew what to do with all those incisions and drains because I had that preceptorship experience to draw upon. I knew how to do TPN and PCAs from the med/surg unit. I knew about NGTs from the med/surg unit. You learn a lot of valuable assessment and critical thinking skills on a med/surg floor, and I tend to agree with those nurses who consider med/surg a specialty. I'd rather myself or my loved one be cared for by a med/surg nurse who is interested in being there and takes pride in their work than someone who is just doing their time. I think it does make a difference.

For myself, cardiac was where I wanted to be, and I think it did make a difference to my patients, because they could see how interested I really was in cardiac medicine. I knew it would be a disservice to the patients under my care on a med/surg floor, because as good as my intentions are, the interest just wasn't there.

As important as it is to gain the skills that the med/surg unit has to offer, I think it's probably more important to be interested in the area you're working in, and that is why I think new grads should follow their interest.