New nurse choosing between ortho/spine unit or general surgery unit

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I am a new graduate nurse and have just been offered two jobs! The problem is I don’t know which one to choose. One is for an orthopedic/spine unit and one is for a general surgery unit. They both are at the same hospital, same FTE and same day/evening shifts. I think eventually I would like to work in labor and delivery, but I’m not sure. Can anybody speak of their experience working on these units or give any advice about which one would be best to start on? Thanks!!

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Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.

You’ll learn a tremendous amount in either. Flip a coin if you don’t have a preference as to staff. You go, you!

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

I have been an ortho RN my entire career. As EBP and Covid have pushed our total joint replacement pts to outpatient, we have started taking trauma pts. If you have a chance to stick with ortho/spine, it is much more focused. In Gen Surg, you are going to get everything and anything. I find it draining to have so many different types of surgery. 

Bones are simpler ? Most of them are not very sick, just "broken". Gen Surg, you may get much more sick pts. 

Just my 2 cents. 

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On 8/24/2021 at 6:13 PM, mmc51264 said:

I have been an ortho RN my entire career. As EBP and Covid have pushed our total joint replacement pts to outpatient, we have started taking trauma pts. If you have a chance to stick with ortho/spine, it is much more focused. In Gen Surg, you are going to get everything and anything. I find it draining to have so many different types of surgery. 

Bones are simpler ? Most of them are not very sick, just "broken". Gen Surg, you may get much more sick pts. 

Just my 2 cents. 

Hi, could I ask your opinion on working on a neuro/ortho floor? I've applied but never had clinicals in this type of environment. It's been labeled as ortho/neuro but still medsurg and I'm not sure what to expect at all.

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

Since there may not be enough ortho/spine to fill all beds, there may be some overflow med/surg pts. that flow in. I have spoken with some of our medicine attendings and the number of medicine patients is insane!  Not sure if it is the beginning of the boomer-boom, but every single specialized unit is having some med/surg overflow. 

I think it helps learning about comorbid conditions that the ortho/spine will inevitably have. What makes the difference, is when you learn ortho/spine, lots of others come to you for help on how to deal with them. 

OT/PT is very important and I have learned how to move pts with different types of surgery. Traction, ex-fixes, wound vacs, etc. I really love being an orthopedic nurse and as thing change, I am learning about the trauma now. We get a LOT of MVC, GSW, and how to treat new paras. The next skill we are being taught is chest tubes and trachs. 

I find it fascinating. Lots to learn!  

PS I work at a teaching hospital so the opportunities to learn are great, and the opportunity to help teach the new docs is fulfilling as well. 

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