I will be graduating from a RN program in December. Everyone in my group seems to "know" their niche. Most are looking towards CCU/ICU and anything else with a "CU" after it. I am in an ADN program and most of my clinical rotations have been on regular Med/Surg floors. I was at an interview this week and was asked "What do you plan to specialize in" and I really don't have an answer. I feel like there is still so much to learn. I enjoy Med/Surg because there are so many different things to practice. SImple stuff like Foley's can JP's that, while I know I have done before, I still kinda hold my breath each time I try again. I really don't feel 100% ready with the basics, much less ready to move to Critical Care areas.
Am I supposed to know what I plan on specializing in? Is there a problem with liking Med-Surg? Is the pay less in Med/Surg??? Is that why people want to leave it? Experienced RN's -please give me advice. I want to know what makes everyone want out of the Med/Surg floors. I really dont get it.
M/S is the greatest "specialty" if you are not afraid of challenge and plain old hard work. I've worked them all in my 33 years. Last shift - ages ranged from 8 to 96. And that's not near my record - 6 weeks to 101.
God Bless the MedSurg nurse. We sure need 'em. But...my last clinical day in school was the last time I would ever do it again. Med Surg is no doubt the hardest and least respected job in the hospital!
No M/s nurses don't get much respect. For example, last Friday was "employee appreciation day". M/S nurses didn't get to go , we were to busy. I don't think anyone missed us. For some odd reason, we don't care about our no respect status - in fact we thrive on it. That's one of the things that makes what we are. We are M/S nurses and a rare breed indeed.
Specializes in M/S, OB, Ortho, ICU, Diabetes, QA/PI.
good for you - there's nothing wrong with liking Med-Surg - when your classmates do their job and get their patients ready to move out of a critical care area, they are going to need someone who knows what's going on because you are the last stop before home!! there is no difference in pay at my hospital for med-surg vs critical care (which sort of peeves the ICU nurses who do the open heart surgery patients) and we have some med-surg nurses who have done it their entire career - they are good nurses with awesome time management skills and the ability to prioritize..........
we get floated out to med-surg every so often and I really don't mind - our nurse/patient ratio is not overwhelming and it's actually nice sometimes to talk to a patient who can answer your questions (as opposed to sedated ventilator patients!!)
i have worked med surg for a year and a half and dont think i would like it anywhere else. (never have worked anywhere else and really do not have the desire)
Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.
I like Med/Surge pretty well, when I have good nights! I honestly go from hating it one night to absolutely loving it the next. The reason for that, I guess, is that things on a med surge floor can all change on a dime. The acuity level of the entire floor, the census... the overall atmosphere of the floor... it can change like that. *snap!* It's really a great place to work if you don't like to be bored!
Really, the only other specialties that I personally would ever consider are psyche and peds. My desire to leave Med/Surge is actually waning, though. I'm really starting to like it more and more and finally learning to accept that it is probably going to be forever my specialty. I'm proud that I've survived it for 2+ years. That's more than a LOT of people can say.
I've been in med-surg for 14 years. I get the "why don't you go to critical care" question freqently, as is med-surg is somewhere where people don't want to stay.
Sorry, JustJen, but you probably are an oddball. You just have a lot of company,
For example, today being Halloween most depts. dressed up. When they came to M/S to take pics; none of us had any costume on other than our usual uniforms. I was asked why we didn't participate - I replied that we were busy and only would have gotten our costumes tangled up in IV tubing or worse.
as a new LPN (1 year) on med/surge floor i have learned way more than what nursing school prepared you for, and i absolutley love it. readin other replies, i totally relate. the flow of the day CAN change in a quick NY minute! it's so true! no lunch, no break it happens, but at the end of the day you can reflect on all that you have done. so maybe i'm weird too!!!
I honestly go from hating it one night to absolutely loving it the next. The reason for that, I guess, is that things on a med surge floor can all change on a dime. The acuity level of the entire floor, the census... the overall atmosphere of the floor... it can change like that. *snap!* It's really a great place to work if you don't like to be bored!
Hopalong
69 Posts
M/S is the greatest "specialty" if you are not afraid of challenge and plain old hard work. I've worked them all in my 33 years. Last shift - ages ranged from 8 to 96. And that's not near my record - 6 weeks to 101.
The key - prioritize.