New Grad Dilemma

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I graduate December 6th and applied for several positions on many different units including telemetry, ER, LDRP, ortho unit, surgical unit etc I applied to so many thinking I would have options I’ve had many med surg rotations in clinical and I just feel med surg is not for me and even tho I didn’t apply for the med surg unit my nurse recruiter called me and low and behold I had an offer from the med surg manager I am grateful for the opportunity but I do not wanna be unhappy with my job and hate going to work but this is the only offer I have and I’m pretty upset about it I know everybody says new nurses should start only in med surg but I would like to start in a position that will give me optimal happiness but other new grads in my class have been offered ER LDRP and telemetry jobs as new nurses and I just feel so down about my job search ... please send me any advice you can of even some success med surg stories of nurses that hated med surg and ended up loving it.

0 Votes

How unhappy will you be unemployed?

13 Votes
Specializes in NICU.

You're at the start of your career. You have plenty of time to find "optimal happiness." Appreciate the opportunity you've been given, wring as much knowledge and experience as you can out of it, and either a) you will find you actually love med surg, or b) you can reassess once you have 1+ years on your resume and see where to go from there.

Also, use punctuation. Clear communication is critical in healthcare and your post is extremely difficult to read.

11 Votes

@WuzzieBefore you assume anything I actually am a business owner and will never be unemployed. I pursued nursing as a new career path. I was seeking advice as to whether I should continue looking or go for the med surg position and see what happen.

@Coffee Nurse thank you!

0 Votes
Specializes in ER.
On 11/26/2019 at 7:55 AM, Nurse1999 said:

@WuzzieBefore you assume anything I actually am a business owner and will never be unemployed. I pursued nursing as a new career path. I was seeking advice as to whether I should continue looking or go for the med surg position and see what happen.

@Coffee Nurse thank you!

I would advise not to bring that attitude into the nursing workplace, wherever you land. The seasoned nurse will view you as an elitist snob and make your work life more difficult.

9 Votes

@Emergent I replied to something I felt was unnecessary for someone to say. As for your comment you do not know anything about me or my attitude. I posted this wanting to receive advice from other nurses or students just as other ppl have in the past, your comment it was truly unnecessary thank you!

0 Votes
On 11/26/2019 at 7:55 AM, Nurse1999 said:

Before you assume anything I actually am a business owner and will never be unemployed. I pursued nursing as a new career path. I was seeking advice as to whether I should continue looking or go for the med surg position and see what happen.

Holy moly that is NOT how we behave here. I made no assumptions. How the heck was I to know that you own a business? Your post with no punctuation and terms like "wanna" led me to believe that you were a 20 something just out of school. Now name-calling? You asked for "any" advice. Depending on where you are you may not get another offer for a very long time so if you turn this one down you may very well be unemployed as a nurse. If that's okay with you then sure hold out for a job that may be less likely to appear. Best of luck whatever you choose.

12 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Here's the facts. You may not like them.

You are a new grad. There is a shortage of new grad jobs across the nation. Not every new grad nurse that wants a job in the hospital is going to get to work in a hospital. The more a new grad narrows down to a specialty, the narrower the opportunities and the steeper the competition. This means having gotten a med-surg job offer is actually a pretty good deal. If you don't want it, no problem. Someone else does. Just know you may then forego the chance to get into acute care at all, as there may very well not be another offer coming, no matter what your classmates have found. They are your competition. Every job they get is one you didn't. You are already bumping up against the all-too-common realization that you aren't going to be in high demand and you aren't going to get your pick of specialties.

Nobody said anything bad to you above. The point was that you are being picky in a world that doesn't really cater to what you want. You have no experience so you aren't a desirable candidate. Get one year in med-surg and you will open a lot of doors. Go one year without a nursing job at all and you will find yourself unemployable in acute care. You don't have to look far around this board to find these stories. I encourage you to do that.

Telemetry is med-surg with a tele box on. Just FYI.

12 Votes
Specializes in ER.
17 minutes ago, Nurse1999 said:

@Emergent I replied to something I felt was unnecessary for someone to say. As for your comment you do not know anything about me or my attitude. I posted this wanting to receive advice from other nurses or students just as other ppl have in the past, your comment it was truly unnecessary thank you!

Many comments are unnecessary on public forums. I wish you well, you're in for an eye opening experience, business owner...

7 Votes
Specializes in PICU.

I would take the med-surg job. It is a job offer, and even though you did not directly apply for it, someone thought you would be a good fit. Work there a year, two years, see what you have learned and maybe then try something new. Only you can "hate" going to work. If you start off each day with a positive attitude, it can make you "hate" your job less. You may even really end up liking the unit. Nursing clinicals are no where close to real life nursing.

5 Votes
Specializes in Research, Neurology.

Got my first new grad position on a med-surg floor with GI emphasis. I was so desperate to get my foot in the inpatient door so I immediately took it. I was pretty nervous after hearing about the reputation of med/surg at the time and the thought of GI issues, I have to admit, grossed me out a little (C. Diff, GI bleeds, ostomies, colonoscopy prep, obstructions). Those years in med/surg ended up being the most useful years for me to develop my physical skills and mental toughness and I couldn't be more grateful! And I ended up really liking GI! Saw a huge variety of diagnoses, learned a ton. I definitely would not be the nurse I am today without that med/surg experience. Like others have said once you have some med/surg experience under your belt, you could be more attractive to other managers. Later, I transferred to a surgical specialty unit and they liked that I had med/surg experience.

5 Votes
21 hours ago, Nurse SMS said:

Telemetry is med-surg with a tele box on. Just FYI.

This. Telemetry is a "med" unit. In my hospital, there are people on the telemetry floor with GI bleeds, flu, etc., just wearing a tele box because they have a history of a cardiac issue. We also have people on other floors who are on telemetry monitors. Your post also says you applied to an "ortho unit" and a "surgical unit." Those units are the "surg" part of med-surg. Most hospital units are either med-focused (telemetry, oncology, neuro/stroke) or surg-focused (ortho, surgical). However, you'll see medical issues in surgical patients, and sometimes surgical issues in medical patients.

I'm a bit confused by your insistence that you want to be in a specialized unit, but you don't give any indication of what interests you, and some of your examples of floors you've applied to actually ARE med-surg. It almost feels like there's a need to be doing something "specialized" for the prestige of it. If that's the case, then the main barrier keeping you from being happy with the med-surg position you've been offered is the IDEA of med-surg. Note: since tone is hard to read on a message board, this is not an insult. Sometimes student nurses get the impression that specialized units are more prestigious, and the nurses that work in them are seen as "better" than med-surg nurses.

Going to all these different units as a float, I can tell you that none is harder or easier than another; each has its own challenges. The nurses on ortho and telemetry are not of a higher caliber than the nurses on general medicine or general surgery.

My best advice is to stop worrying about what you think you want. Your first year is going to be hard, no matter where you go. It's going to be harder if you go into it thinking that 'optimal happiness' is an option. It's not. There is a steep learning curve going from SN to RN. You will find yourself overworked and overwhelmed - over and over again. Focus on taking care of the patients in front of you, and learning everything you can to be a safe and effective nurse. You'll either find you like med-surg, or you will get an idea of what you might like better - and will have the experience to make you a stronger candidate for another position.

7 Votes
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