Med Surg Nursing

[BSN_TN, BSN]

Hello! New grad here.... I've been licensed since Jan 17. I've been on a Med Surg floor and absolutely can't stand it. The short staffing on a constant daily basis, multiple total care patients, makes me not wanna go in. I floated to ICU and the ER and loved it. Critical thinking really kicked in on those areas (and it does in Med Surg too) I listened to everyone say med Surg for a new grad so I went, but it's not for me. Anyone else have this problem?

[EDNURSE20, BSN]

Wait just a couple more months, get a year of experience in then start applying else where. You will look much better to employers with some experience. Plus changing jobs with only a couple of months experience wont give an employer much confidence in you, they'll be thinking she will just do the same to us. It's only a couple more months! Use that time to work on cv, researching where you wanna go, what you can do to make you look better to employers, see if you can pick up extra shift in different areas of the hospital on top of your normal shifts, network.

[RNperdiem, RN]

I started in med-surg too, and after a year I transferred to ICU. Eighteen years later, I have no plans to leave.

Still I don't regret med-surg as a new grad.

Finding a job as a new graduate is hard enough if you want to work in a hospital. Med-surg is often willing to hire a lot of new people and train them. My ICU unit takes maybe 2 new grads a year. I talked to one of the nurses we hired and she said that she was one of 700 new nurses to apply for that position.

While I didn't enjoy that first year in med-surg, I am grateful for the skills it taught me in dealing with CNAs, juggling multiple interruptions and generally making things work.

[BSN_TN, BSN]

I've put into to transfer to another location that's more up todate etc. but is within the hub of the network.

[Sour Lemon]

ICU may be a better fit for you, but be aware that med/surg nurses who float to ICU are often given the "easy" patients and not even told about some of the tasks/charting that are typically done. You're usually helping them make it through the day as opposed to working at 100%.

[caffeinatednurse, BSN, RN]

Stick with it for a year. If you can't make it a year, try to make it to the 6 month mark and then apply for a transfer to a unit that you're interested in. Be aware that although med-surg isn't ideal for a lot of reasons, you will use the skills that you acquire as a med-surg nurse for the rest of your nursing career. I currently work LTC/short term rehab and there is not a day that goes by when I don't use my assessment skills and acute care experience to take care of my residents. Some of the nurses that I work with have never worked in an acute care environment and often rely on my experience (however small).

Also, being short staffed is not uncommon in healthcare. We are often short staffed and yet, we somehow make it work. You will eventually get to a point where you are able to work through being short staffed without being as stressed out as you are right now.