Question from a student

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Mar 12, 2009

A med/surg unit provides an excellent foundation of nursing knowledge. Do not dis med/surg. Also, do not worry about the NCLEX. Your senior practicum should not be about passing the NCLEX, it should be about soaking up as much real world knowledge as you can before you are thrown out on the floor as a brand new nurse. Just my opinion....

ERjodiRN · Mar 12, 2009

i know you don't want med/surg....but it will still prepare you more for the NCLEX and nursing as a whole to fall into that than to choose pediatrics. i say go for the cc/ed.

MandaPie · Mar 12, 2009

I'm about to graduate in May so I had to make this same decision just a few months ago. I really wanted labor and delivery but I ended up being placed in med/surg/tele and although I was originally bummed out, I realized the only reason I didn't want it is because my experience wasn't amazing in it and I was going to end up learning a lot. I see so much that I never saw in my earlier clinical experiences...and these experiences during my final semester WILL help prepare me for many things I will see on the NCLEX, but will also prepare me for the real world (by the end of my internship, I'm expecting to work a full load of patients!).

So, simply put, my opinion would be to go for adult care or med/surg. If you do critical care, you have the opportunity to apply to some RN new grad programs that specifically have to do with critical care and require that experience. But either way, they're going to give you a much wider scope of what to expect on the NCLEX/real world.

vashtee, RN · Mar 13, 2009

I would go for the critical care/ER/med-surg because you are probably going to get to do a lot more procedures than you would in peds. Speaking as a mother, I wouldn't have allowed nursing students to practice on my kids.

Besides, I hated my pediatrics rotation. :)

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 13, 2009

medical surgical... i extened on the medical surgical floor and it helped me to understand what i had learned in school as well as hone my skills (you get a lot of skills)! also, that helped me to put stuff together mentally to assist me with studying for and taking my nclex! i highly doubt the other floors you mentioned will be of as much benefit, though they too cannot hurt. gl!

allnurses Guide · Mar 13, 2009

Med surg is good solid all around nursing. If you aren't interested in pediatrics, let someone have it who does want it. The specialty units are more "exciting", but also more limited in variety (fewer patients at any given time). ER is very rapid, large turn over, but not as much in depth care or assessment, we "treat and street". Med surg is honestly the best place to really get a foundation of skills.

JMHO.

AR_RN · Mar 13, 2009

I have to weigh in here with something worth thinking about. While I was in nursing school, I said the same things. I did NOT want med-surg. I was willing to do nearly anything but, and the thought of being stuck doing med-surg nearly bored me to tears. Once I graduated, I hired on at the pediatrics floor of our hospital. That floor is half peds and half urology/med-surg. Nearly a year into working there, I have to say I've learned so much and gotten practice with such a wide range of things working med-surg so much that I don't regret it at all.

My suggestion would be to choose whatever you think you want to do most, but don't write off med-surg. I scoffed at those that told me that med-surg was a good place for a new nurse to start. Now, I realize that I've had experience in nearly every aspect of nursing, nearly every gadget, procedure and technique commonly used. I was lucky enough to get a job that allows me to do peds as well, but wherever you end up, use it as a learning opportunity and a springboard to bigger and better things later on.