What areas of nursing to choose?

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Mar 18, 2011

Is float an option? That will let you experience many different areas to get a good idea of what they are like. If not and you want to stay general you can do surgical. Usually their is a med/surg floor than a surgical floor specifically or wing, and maybe medical. At least that is how it is at our hospitals here. ED you will see a variety of different things as well.

dstevens · Mar 19, 2011

In my region the hospitals are set up as surgical units and as medical units. This allows you to gain experience on both floors thus fulfilling your objective of med/surg. Also we are required to do one community rotation, I don't know if the same applies to you but if all I wanted was med/surg then that's what I would do. Additionally, it might be worthwhile to do a rotation where assessment skills are constantly used because on med/surg you could detect changes in condition more readily. For this I'd recommend ICU or maybe triage- if they let you.

Wish ya the best,

Derek

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Mar 19, 2011

If you "want" med-surg, which seems to be a rarity, you'll probably get it, lol. That's kind of likely joining the army and begging to go to the stan.

solneeshka, BSN, RN · Mar 20, 2011

Yeah, if you want med-surg, you'll get med-surg! Tele is a good 2nd choice, then maybe oncology, ortho, transplant, any of those areas will have similarities with general med-surg. But I guarantee you no one else is asking for it, so you'll get it. And good for you for not wanting to specialize up front! I myself thought I would die if I couldn't get into the ED or OR right out of school. It was out of the question and I ended up starting in med surg. I moved into the OR after a year, but it's true what they say: that first year in med-surg was critical to gelling my understanding of the nursing process and how disease processes function. Go go go!

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Mar 20, 2011

Yeah, if you want med-surg, you'll get med-surg! Tele is a good 2nd choice, then maybe oncology, ortho, transplant, any of those areas will have similarities with general med-surg. But I guarantee you no one else is asking for it, so you'll get it. And good for you for not wanting to specialize up front! I myself thought I would die if I couldn't get into the ED or OR right out of school. It was out of the question and I ended up starting in med surg. I moved into the OR after a year, but it's true what they say: that first year in med-surg was critical to gelling my understanding of the nursing process and how disease processes function. Go go go!

At least 6 people in my program asked for med/surg. It's not as hated as some thing. I did rotation on medical floor and I learned a lot and got a good experience. On my Sr. Practicum Request I put Tele first but than Float or med/surg. I put Tele because I want to do ED and I know a good tele background would help me with that, also ECG's and strips got glossed over by one of our teachers so I don't feel very educated about them. We were told by her (she disliked tele, she even told us that) that we would cover it in depth the next semester. Turns out that isn't true and her little lecture on it was all we got :|

dizzyray822 · Mar 21, 2011

Thanks for all the replies! Now, you're making think..."Do I really want med-surg?" :). Hmm...well honestly of all my rotations I loved med-surg the most. I like the diversity. I started out school (my first three rotations actually) on a respiratory unit and didn't care for that. Then I did my specialties (OB, Peds, and Psych) and those were mostly a Big no for me. Then did my med-surg which I enjoyed. Then did Telemetry which I liked too...it wasn't as diverse as med-surg but I enjoyed it. Now I'm in my Trends rotation and I was placed back on Tele. Yeah....after thinking about all I've seen I still REALLY want med-surg. Just curious....are there any happy med-surg nurses out there?

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · Mar 22, 2011

If you "want" med-surg, which seems to be a rarity, you'll probably get it, lol. That's kind of likely joining the army and begging to go to the stan.

:lol2: