Med/Surg or Not to Med/Surg. That is the question?

dollphyn · Sep 27, 2008

Hi everyone, im a nursing student who will be finishing school next semester and im not sure where i want to start. I currently work on Labor and Delivery as a clerk and i enjoy the unit and would love to work there as a nurse but i get alot of mixed reviews about where a new nurse should start. Should i go to med/surg first then branch out to different units or go where i want to go (L&D)?

Go where you want to go, especially at somewhere that makes you happy. I started off my career in Med/Surg, but with a majority of patients in for Plastic surgery. I never thought I would be taking care of Plastic surgery patients, but it has been a good experience so far. Yes, med/surg will give you a good background for later on, but if you are happy with L&D and seem to have your foot already in the door, then I say go for it. I actually wanted to be in L&D myself, but my hospital did not have any internships for L&D, so I looked elsewhere and that was when Plastics fell in my lap. Good luck to you in whatever you decide and congrats on finishing school. Grass is greener on the other side once out of nursing school!!!

stalsrn · Sep 27, 2008

Personally I went for a surgical floor only because I wanted to refine all the skills I learned in school and learn new ones. I have a couple of friends who went right into a special field, one went into critical care and the other into L&D. They are both happy where they are and so am I! If you really like where you are currently and you are comfortable there then perhaps you should give it a try. You could also see if the hospital has any opportunities for new grads to shadow on other floors or maybe do some of your clinical hours on a med/surg floor. I did my preceptorship on the same surgical floor I work on now so I already knew it was the right fit for me. Good luck to you!

texasbsn · Sep 27, 2008

hi ,my advise ids go where you want to go,do not do medsurg if you do not really want it.

goodluck!

LakesideRN · Sep 27, 2008

Personnally, I think most everyone should start in Med-Surg. I think it gives a person a good foundation for their future. I believe that after you have mastered Med-Surg, you can master any other field. It gives you a lot better understanding of how the hospital works also. I started in Med-Sug, then Urgent Care, Post Partum, Home Health, Hospice, ER ICU, IMC, day surgery, etc. I don't think I would be the nurse I am today if I hadn't started on Med-Surg.

The nurses I see that start in a specialty area seem to have a "better than thou" attitude towards other departments, especially the floor. I think everyone should try it.

sweetspirit · Sep 27, 2008

GO WHERE YOU WANT TO GO! It is not necessary in this day in age to start out in Med-Surg! I have been working Med-Surg for 2 1/2 years and I feel like I am "stuck" here. My goal is to do NICU...and although I have acquired great skills and confidence and all that...I am finding it very hard to transfer to L&D, M/B or NICU....I wish I would have started out in NICU as a new grad! Good Luck

ZooMommyRN, ADN, RN · Sep 27, 2008

I turned down an offer to work ICU right out of school and opted for a med/surg position, but at the same time I already knew I loved med/surg and we're such a small facility (we're a secondary site to a larger adventist health facility) that on low census days I will have the option of floating into other med/surg floors at the main hosp as well as into our ICU and ED, if I had started in ICU my float options are cut out on low census call offs, they won't float out an ICU nurse who is used to 2 patients to the floor where they would have 5-7 pts, our ICU nurses openly admit they'd drown on the floor, also increases my chances of getting to pick up extra shifts once our friends from the north start comming back, it's odd that a hospital has a busy season, but such is the life in snowbird land lol

MB37 · Sep 27, 2008

I'm going directly into critical care as a new grad, but I was willing to work med-surg first. My first choice hospital only takes new grads into critical care via a really competitive internship program, I appied, but also asked the recruiter if she would forward my application to some of the floors (I had a few in mind that had jobs advertised). She told me no! That hospital (a level 1 trauma center) is opposed to the idea of an obligatory year of med-surg, and they don't like people to start working in an area they know they're going to transfer out of before they start. They certainly allow transfers, and the only other way into critical care there IS to have a year of MS experience, but she wouldn't even let me apply for the jobs. I got the internship, so it all worked out. If you KNOW you want to work L&D eventually, apply for some positions - just be prepared for the fact that they may be competitive, and you might wind up working MS anyways. I'm sure the experience is helpful, but not all hospitals want you to start that way.

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Sep 27, 2008

Go where you want to go.

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Sep 27, 2008

Med/Surg used to be the basic building block but no so much anymore. Follow your heart and your dream. Good luck.

lisacsu84 · Sep 27, 2008

I was one of those students that was dead set against doing med/surg. I said I would never work on the floor. I am working on a orthopedic med surg floor and I am so glad that I am there. I would say go where you are happy but don't completely give up on the floor it can actually be a good experience. good luck to where ever you end up.

Podeng · Sep 28, 2008

Hi! go where you really wanted to go and go where you think you be happy and succesful. :)