Med-Surg needed for new grads???

Nurses New Nurse

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I'm graduating in Dec and I'm soooo confused as to what area I'm going to apply to. I have heard from many, many nurses that having the Med-Surg background is essential in order to "survive" in another unit. I'm currently precepting on a M/S unit...I don't mind it, but I think I'd be happier somewhere else. Can any experienced nurses give their opinion upon whether or not this is true? Can you also give some words of advice for new grads in the OR or even in the NICU? Those are 2 areas that I'm interested in, but I definitely don't want to get eaten alive!!

Another ?...is there a 4:1 pt/nurse ratio in most Southern California Med-Surg units?

Being a new RN graduate is it best for you to work on a medical surgical floor for a little while to get some experience or is it best to just start working in ICU or any other type of specialty area.

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My Instructors always told us to get the most experience to start in a Med-Surg unit for at least 6 months to a year. I just finished LPN and transitioning to RN hopefully this January. Hope that helped.

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).

Merging two very similar threads. See also Similar Threads at bottom of page. Search pulled up lots of related items, as well. I think this is a popular topic because it's very much on the minds of new nurses.

Discuss away--but do consider looking at some of the older threads, too. Some of those "newbies" are probably "old hands" now.

BTW, I started on neuro/neurosurg. It's a med/surg unit, even though it isn't the med/surg unit. We see a lot of "off-service" patients, as well: cardio, renal, GI, trauma, etc.

The President of our AMSN chapter is the manager of our surg/trauma floor, which is also not nominally the med/surg floor. So I guess you could say there's Med/Surg and there's med/surg. Is that confusing enough?

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Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.

Before I worked in Med-Surg as an RN, I worked in home care as an aide. I definitely think that working in Med-Surg has given me a new appreciation for where the people who require homecare are coming from. I don't think it is necessary experience, but I can see where my med-surg experience will be helpful down the line when I move on to something else.

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Nurses still have it good in CA. In TX, I've worked with no CNA, and no unit clerk- and had 13 pts by myself in med surg.

sounds like where I work!! I want to move to CA

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