New Grad Dilemma

[Nurse1999]

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.

[kkbb, BSN, RN]

I see this often on this site....new grads that do not want to work med/surg because of what they saw/experienced at clinicals. The only advice I have to offer is that you (and any new grad) need to remember that being the actual nurse in charge of a pt is very different that what you see at clinicals.

My unit is technically a med/surg unit that specializes in oncology, meaning we can get anything. I know what to expect with my onc pts. I feel that I can anticipate things better. But even my onc pts receiving chemo have med/surg issues.

You never mentioned your thoughts about the actual hospital that offered you the position. Is it a company that you would be happy at? Remember, you might not start at your dream unit, but you can always transfer later. Being at a hospital you want to be at is sometimes the harder thing to find.

[Cowboyardee]

14 minutes ago, turtlesRcool said:

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.

This. Im quoting this post because merely liking it wasn't quite enough.

Learn the lay of the land. Learn a little bit about medicine. Heck, learn everything you can to be as good as you possibly can be at the job you've got in the time you're there. Become a specialist in that position. Then specialize in something different that interests you if you still think it will be more fulfilling.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

I work on an ortho floor that has telemetry pts. And a lot of comorbidities so it is kind of like a med/surg floor. We do heparin gtt, insulin gtt, just no cardiac gtt.

I love my floor. I didn't know what I wanted to do when I graduated, my first job was on an ortho rehab unit in a SNF. I then got my current job that I have been at for 7 years. You never know what you are going to like. I thought I wanted peds. After seeing some of the kids in my clinical, I knew that I would not be able to handle it emotionally.

Just get a job and go from there.