The benefits of a Med-Surg background

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Sep 19, 2008

I believe that what you learn in med surg is the building blocks for the rest of your career. All that knowledge is transferrable to other areas like home care, infusion nursing, ICU, ER, etc. Good luck to you.

ArwenEvenstar · Sep 19, 2008

I've been a nurse for 17 years, and I worked med-surg for the first 6 years or so. Many times since then, I have been thankful for my initial med-surg background where I saw a little bit of everything. The broad experience base has served me well. I am one of those old-fashioned nurses who still thinks all new nurses should have to work med-surg when they first graduate. (I think it is nuts to hire new grads right into specialty units!) Yes, med-surg is a specialty too, but you do get a real variety of patients, procedures, and experiences. Especially at smaller hospitals. At smaller hospitals all types of patients tend to be lumped together in "med-surg". While in a large hospital there would be a little less variety on med-surg because some patients would go to specialty units.

Since med-surg....I've taught LPN's, worked post coronary care, floated at a huge 800 plus bed teaching hospital, and now I do private duty. My med-surg background has served me really well in all these other positions. It was especially helpful when I taught LPN's - I had no problems teaching skills in the lab! It was also a great background for a float. With 6 years of med-surg at a smaller hospital, I had cared for patients with a huge variety of diagnosis. I was able to float to a wide variety of units at the large hospital without much of a problem.

I think you are making a wise choice. A friendly warning: med-surg can be crazy and fast-paced. I had a hard time as a new grad. They had to extend my orientation because I had such a hard time adjusting. But I survived! I wish you the best!

chenoaspirit, ASN, RN · Sep 19, 2008

I think med-surg is a good place to start because you learn alot of your skills to carry forth to any specialty you choose.

AnnaSL, BSN, RN · Sep 19, 2008

Yes, Med-Surg is a great START.. But you'll be overwhelmed too but as you grow older in an area, you get to become EFFECTIVE in that area. I've been wanting to become a MS Nurse in the ward and be assigned in ICU but it just so happen that it was not for me... But I was exposed in the MS ward too, but for 6 months then got rotated to OR. It was a great experience because you are actually having the REAL FEEL of a NURSE..

leosasha · Sep 19, 2008

Coming out of nursing school I went into Psychiatry. After a length of time I came to the conclusion that I was not fully competent with regard to dealing with the medical issues of this particular population. Psychiatric patients often have many medical issues due to the fact that they often neglect their physical health. I swithched my practice to medicine in order to gain the skills I felt I needed. I found that I loved medicine. I also discovered many oppotunities to use my psych skills in this environment. Now I move back and forth between the environments. Durring flu and pneumonia season I work medicine because there is an increased need for nurses durring this time. A medicine environment is very challenging and requires a broad range of knowledge. I think that any nurse that can master this environment can easily move to other environments. It is an excellent foundation.

NeoNurseTX, RN · Sep 19, 2008

I'm in a NICU and I don't think m/s would have helped me too much!

leosasha · Sep 19, 2008

Am wondering if you are planning on always being in a NICU?