Is it really necessary to start out in med surge before branching out to other units?

[ashleybrooke1208]

All throughout nursing school, most of my class and clinical instructors repeated over and over the importance of starting out in med surge before branching out to other units such as L and D or CCU, etc. I was just wondering what others think about this topic.

[CrossCountryRN2008]

It helps a lot. I got into rehab first then over to med surg. I prefer med surg but it is specialty diabetes renal and colorectal surgery

[Concerto_in_C, BSN, RN]

It's not necessary, but it will save you frustration of starting your career in the wrong unit type. Med-surg nurses are among the best because they deal with a variety of cases and their thinking and problem solving skills are very flexible. Once you have a couple of years of med-surg experience, you can apply for just about any acute care position in the country.

Med-surg units are great places for new grads because they have the right balance of learning curve and acuity, so you can learn but hopefully without freaking our or becoming overwhelmed.

When you are a new grad who is interested in acute care, you do want to be in a high-tech place, but if the place has frequent codes (like ICU or ICU step-down or cardiac surveillance/telemetry) it could be a scary and discouraging experience.

Long term care/nursing homes is not a good place to get started in nursing, unless you absolutely have no choice. The good thing about nursing homes is they have so many problems hiring and retaining good managers, the path to promotion is much faster. With just 1-2 years of nursing experience, you could be an assistant-DON or something like that. I've seen it happen.

[Dobeigh]

I'm a newer nurse and I'm so glad I started out on med/surg/tele. I've noticed that my assessment skills are getting better and better. I've been on this floor for 5 months. I feel like my patients are sick but not so sick that I'm overwhelmed. When I have a really sick patient, I learn how to take care of the situation and/or send them to ICU. I'm getting so much good experience on med/surg/tele. It is busy but I love it. I do want to, eventually, be a critical care nurse. But, for now, I'm very happy to be where I am right now.