Sub-Acute Rehab to Med-surg

[SleeepyRN]

Hi everyone. I was wondering what your opinions are on my line of thinking. I graduated 3 years ago from my associates program. I have 1.5 years experience in an asthma, Allergy Immunology office. 6 months experience in long term/skilled nursing. I now work for a strictly sub-acute Rehab facility. I will be finished with my RN-BSN in one year. I have on average 16 patients on 3-11 shift. We have patients recovering from Septic shock, post op ortho surgeries (many with wound vacs and dressings around pins at wound site,) stroke and MI recovery. I recently assessed a patient s/p open heart surgery and saw what looked like a scant amount of pseudamonas greenish discharge. Her first f/u with surgeon wasn't for another week. I got order for ABT.

I hang TPN among other fluids through PICC line, do trach care....

So my plan is this. My ultimate goal is to work for the VA hospital near me. I want one solid year here doing sub acute rehab, then in a year when I get my BSN, start aggressively applying for med-surg jobs. With the experience I'm getting as I stated above, do you think that I (assuming I'm not a slow learner in general, just average) would pick up on things more quickly than those who went straight from say, 1 year LTC?

I honestly don't remember what my med-surg clinicals were like.

I just hear how so many people struggle VERY much for the first 6 months or so on med-surg. I know I'll struggle, but do you think sub-acute rehab is a good transition to Med-surg. A decent foundation to start?

Thanks for reading.

[NurseKatie08, MSN]

In short, yes. I had four years sub acute experience before transitioning to med surg. Definitely can be done.