Hello everyone, I am a new grad. I've been working on the med surg floor for about a month now. & I realize that I do not like it at all. I am very stressed out. I suffer with a hx of anxiety and bouts of depression before going into nursing school. I used to have full blown panic attacks. & I sense them about to start again. I love nursing, I love taking care of people.. But not like this.. (the hospital i work at is the largest in my city ((Chicago)) the hecticness of the hospital is not the right environment for me. I know that every RN is not meant to work in a hospital. And I'm starting to see that I am one of them. So I was just wondering from any nurses out there who did not go into the hospital setting where should I work? I have my BSN and my RN license of course. I'm willing to go back to school if I need to get my masters in order to find a job. Any suggestions would be great. I remember my clinical professor told me that she went into public health right out of nursing school. And never worked in the hospital.
I just want to say I really do take my hat off to any nurses that work in the hospital acute setting. That is not an easy job at all! And I've seen from first hand you guys rock and deserve more credit than you get;)
I'm not looking for the easy way out, I know nursing is hard in whatever Avenue I decide to take. Im starting to think things like I hate nursing or why did I go to nursing school in the first place. And I don't want to be that person where I build up animosity in my heart because i actually do love taking care of people.
PLEASE don't take this the wrong way, because I'm not trying to be mean- what exactly did you think nursing was exactly? What were your expectations? Did you think you were going to come straight out of school and just have a simple 9-5? ,nurses get their experience from their diversity- that's how you find your niche! It's also the way you find out where you DONT want to work. I believe that med-surg IS the foundation of nursing. Oh yes you went through clinicals, but there is nothing better than hands on experience.
So please dont take this as ME being mean, but did you really think I was going to answer your questions?? You are trying to be insulting and patronizing. You didnt answer my original question. Thanks for reading!
There are also numerous RN-to-MSN programs available nowadays so one could acquire an MSN without working as a staff RN.
Yes there's actually a student on my floor, that's in a program to graduate and he will have his MSN- RN. And he's never been a RN or on the floor. So yes things like that are possible.
I would look into Urgent Care and/or Occupational Health. I currently do both and I'm a "clinic nurse" and I love it. I am actually paid better in the clinic than I was in the hospital as a new grad and I don't have mandatory holidays, OT, nights, or take call. Currently I'm working on my RN to BSN at UTA. I'm comfortable, have stable income, and it allows me to devote time to doing my RN to BSN program to maintain my 4.0!
To be honest - new graduates are not successful in hospice and most likely also not in home health unless the agency has a special new graduate program in home care.
Hospice - especially home hospice - requires the ability to work alone, be secure in your nursing practice, and a variety of nursing skills.
I can not imagine that this setting would be good for somebody with low stress tolerance and anxiety issues.
How about office nursing?
Completely agree.
I'm seeing more of how nursing school does not prepare grads for the acuity levels seen in Home Health these days. We have more referrals pushing us to take patients on Inotropic therapy, new trachs, PleurX mgmt and more medically complex at high risk for rehospitalization.
And the difference with home health is that the nurse isn't there to perform these tasks themselves but to have the knowledge and experience to teach lay people to perform them as well as recognize early s/s complications and appropriate action to take. (And ironically it's easier to teach lay people than new nurses). And pharmacology, you need to know meds well enough to monitor for their effectiveness and side effects and teach patients/caregivers, patients often take 20+.
On top of learning a tremendous amount of regulations/reimbursement criteria and their seemingly infinite nuances.
Except for those agencies with an ability to provide the type of training and support to teach both nursing basics, advanced nursing assessment and home health regulations/reimbursement, home health is no place for any nurse without relevant experience.
I don't understand why HH is repeatedly recommended to new nurses. It's been a long time since we were just performing wound care and basic disease management.
Have you considered switching specialties within the hospital? Pre-op, OR and PACU are very different than floor/ICU nursing. It may be hard to get into but might be worth asking to shadow. Our pre-op nurses do assessments, check orders, place IVs, etc - it's all pretty routine (not that they don't have crazy days they do), but it's not as crazy as the floor. I'm an OR nurse, and most of my experience is periop - maybe worth a shot. Also - in our hospital system we have a lot of clinics, plus dialysis, infusion (chemo, etc), and lots of other options.
Personal experience: my floor jobs were anxiety inducing and I don't have a history of anxiety. Some of it was the politics, some of it was the patient load. Switching helped me tremendously. I didn't want to leave acute care, and I love what I do now. Never know.
Specializes in Med/surg,orthopedics,emergency room,.
Oh, okay, new.grad, you have clearly misinterpreted my meaning! When we all graduate we all have expectations and maybe have a feel of where and what type of nursing we want to pursue. BUT you need to have a good foundation, and getting out there and maybe doing rotations that you may not like. Remember, not many companies will hire "fresh" out of school nurses because the experience level is not there. I HATED working med surg, but I did it because I knew I needed the experience. My comments were not meant to be insulting or patronizing.
I feel ya, new grad! I am only at the start of my BSN program, but I am already searching for pathways towards non-hospital, or at least non-floor nursing work. I agonized over my choice to go to nursing school and have posted similar new grad questions in the past. My opinion is based on my experience as a nurse aide, from speaking with nurses, and from what I have read rather than from working as a nurse. However, I'm willing to go out on a limb and wager that the reason so many nurses dislike working on the hospital floors is because they are expected to take care of too many complicated patients at once and there are never enough nurse aides (even though we work cheap). This is because the owners of the hospital want to make as much money as possible and they need to give the CEO his $5,000,000 bonus for the year. For-profit businesses tend to work their employees as hard as possible and pay as little as they can until they finally can't find anyone to fill their open positions.
Anyone who is unhappy should consider all their options. I have been told by public health nurses that you do not need hospital experience to start a career in public health. This may vary depending on where you live. I think the wisest course would be to keep your job, learn as much as you can, search for alternatives, and then exit gracefully as soon as you secure a better job. (This is exactly what you are doing, I assume.) It does look bad on your resume if you leave sooner than six months or a year, so consider that.
Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
Yes there's actually a student on my floor, that's in a program to graduate and he will have his MSN- RN. And he's never been a RN or on the floor. So yes things like that are possible.
But not for a new grad RN, yes for an RN that enters a master's level informatics program. Which is an option for this poster...obviously not for the development of clinical systems that require clinical experience but that's only one aspect. A new non clinical person can be a super user and train others how to use a new or updated EMR. They can also conduct the necessary research of front line clinical staff to design changes that may be needed to improve efficiency.
That and I need to reread posts I write when half asleep.
Great post. Many excellent nurses do not find med surg floors to be a rewarding experience. And the thinking that med surg is the foundation of nursing practice is old thinking that isn't more than someone's opinion. Lots of people I graduated with hated med surg and went on to specialize in other areas successfully without it. I personally started my career in subacute hospital nursing that had a more healthy pace of work. But my favorite new grad job was in a hospice which was a wonderful experience with a slower pace of work and a focus on treating patients and family well...holistically. It was lovely. I'm on a med surg floor now and I quite dislike it as do most I work with. There is lots of good advice on this post. Ignore the haters who find their way into every workplace and post. I believe a good manager is more interested in hiring the right person and training them rather than someone who may be experienced but has a poor attitude. Research supports this and I say go for whatever is most appealing to you!
Well, I can sympathize with your panic attacks and whatnot, and PLEASE don't take this the wrong way, because I'm not trying to be mean- what exactly did you think nursing was exactly? What were your expectations? Did you think you were going to come straight out of school and just have a simple 9-5? ,nurses get their experience from their diversity- that's how you find your niche! It's also the way you find out where you DONT want to work. I believe that med-surg IS the foundation of nursing. Oh yes you went through clinicals, but there is nothing better than hands on experience.
Hate to call you out on this but you are being mean spirited. Respectfully, please link the evidence that med surg is the only foundation for nursing.. and that the only way to find ones niche is through diversity of work and working a job you hate. Where does this idea come from that nurses need to earn the right to have 9 to 5 jobs... Easy to be hostile behind the anonymity of the Internet huh. Might do you well to read over your nursing code of ethics.
Hate to call you out on this but you are being mean spirited. Respectfully, please link the evidence that med surg is the only foundation for nursing.. and that the only way to find ones niche is through diversity of work and working a job you hate. Where does this idea come from that nurses need to earn the right to have 9 to 5 jobs... Easy to be hostile behind the anonymity of the Internet huh. Might do you well to read over your nursing code of ethics.
I didn't take the post as mean. Or hostile. The truth is nowadays, with many markets over saturated with new nurses, the plum jobs with plum hours will go to those with experience. That's not being mean to say so. Its reality.
Great post. Many excellent nurses do not find med surg floors to be a rewarding experience. And the thinking that med surg is the foundation of nursing practice is old thinking that isn't more than someone's opinion. Lots of people I graduated with hated med surg and went on to specialize in other areas successfully without it. I personally started my career in subacute hospital nursing that had a more healthy pace of work. But my favorite new grad job was in a hospice which was a wonderful experience with a slower pace of work and a focus on treating patients and family well...holistically. It was lovely. I'm on a med surg floor now and I quite dislike it as do most I work with. There is lots of good advice on this post. Ignore the haters who find their way into every workplace and post. I believe a good manager is more interested in hiring the right person and training them rather than someone who may be experienced but has a poor attitude. Research supports this and I say go for whatever is most appealing to you!
I agree it is old thinking that med surg is the foundation of nursing, the basics of nursing are needed no matter which specialty area a nurse works in because patients who are admitted to hospital have more comorbidities at younger ages than ever before. In thirty years of nursing, I was only floated once to med surg (never went back again), my foundation knowledge was not hampered in anyway.
new.grad.rn
31 Posts
So please dont take this as ME being mean, but did you really think I was going to answer your questions?? You are trying to be insulting and patronizing. You didnt answer my original question. Thanks for reading!