What floor did you first work on?

RochesterRN-BSN, BSN, RN · Apr 5, 2009

I wanted to do OB and did....my first job was on a L& D deck. I had started nursing school when my son was just 5 months old and maybe that had something to do with my interest. I would watch shows on the Discover Health shows with L&D nurses and thought that was just what I wanted to do......I went and interviewed on a geri-med floor and in L&D and was offered a job in each and took the L&D position. I was there for 6 months. I ended up leaving as I felt like I maybe had made a bad choice and wanted to use more of what I had learned in NS...L&D was very specialized. I went and worked on a medical/respiratory floor, and then to psych once I had like 2 years under my belt. I have been in psych since but just recently took a job as the director of Education for a nursing home.

Would I reccommend new nurse go straight to L&D....hard to say. As once you are there for a while you are pretty much stuck there. If you love it and want to only do OB nursing for your career that is fine but most who start in OB stay and I was told by co-workers on the OB unit that once nurses are there for more then a year they usually don't feel comfortable leaving to do medical, as they have not really used those skills in so long.......

I know several nurses that I worked with in psych that started there right out of NS. Same idea...if you go straight to a specialty after a period of time there you really don't feel comfortable to do anything else. And really I used my medical in psych....since people with metal illness commonly don't take care of themselves physically there is medical to be done. And the geri psych patients can have medical needs........

Do I think all new nurses need to do med/surg.........well it is helpful. And really you will use it regardless of where you work......pregnant people can have medical complications, pts with mental illness have medical problems......etc.

so maybe a year or two on a medical floor would be helpful. After this you have so many choices.....and I think you will feel more confident going into those areas......weather ER, ICU, Cath lab, OR, or whatever..........

hope this is helpful. Good luck.

Bklyn_RN · Apr 5, 2009

I started out in med/surg, stayed for 3 and a half years. It was constantly touted by my instructors while I was a student. I felt I wanted to be as well rounded as possible as a nurse, therefore, I did not want to specialize so early in my career. I knew that there would be sufficient time for other areas later, if I so decide.

Think about it, where do student nurses spend the majority of their clinical time? On a med/surg floor. It is essentially the backbone of nursing. It does provide a strong foundation for a new grad especially. But if you think you have mastered it while still a student, then by all means follow your heart to what ever area you like. I think going to med/surg first made me a more competent practitioner. It also makes you more marketable.

I would recommend it as a place to start. Even if just for a year.

schoolnurse09 · Apr 5, 2009

A Mother-Baby unit in a smaller hospital in VA. We also took care of Gyn Med-Surg patients. I never worked on a regular Med Surg floor, but we had to float there. To say I thought it was not my cup of tea would be a huge understatement. I hated it. I had other jobs in Mother-Baby with NB Nursery--loved it. L & D...lasted 2 years. Go where your interest is. Nothing says you have to spend the rest of your nursing career where you have your first job. That is the great thing about nursing--you will find your niche ! Good luck !

*ps- When I was in school there were those who thought you "had to have med-surg experience" to be a good nurse, so that thought is not new. Do I think it necessary? No. You should only do it if you want to.

southernbelle08 · Apr 5, 2009

I started out in Oncology. I stayed there for 8 months. I will not say that I wouldn't ever recommend it, but I also wouldn't jump to recommend it. Make sense? LOL! I learned TONS of skills, but it was also very stressful and with it a lot of responsibility. Of course nursing comes with huge responsibility, but giving chemotherapy (and being expected to) fresh out of nursing school - no thanks!! I am thankful for all the skills I acquired there, but I am MUCH happier on the Med/Surg unit I work on now. We mainly deal with Post-Op patients with the occasional few Medical pts we get when our Medical floor is full. :)

RedhairedNurse, BSN, RN · Apr 5, 2009

Medsurg is definintely giving me much experience. I highly suggest medsurg for a new grad and NOT critical care. I once had an instructor that told me a couple of years on a medsurg floor will basically give a person more opportunities. I plan on going to ICU in about another year. I couldn't ever imagine a new grad starting in an ICU, there are so many basic nursing responsibilities to learn before handling unstable patients, IMO.

RNperdiem, RN · Apr 5, 2009

I started on a medicine floor.

The surgical patients had their own floor.

I started there because there was a recession, jobs were hard to get, and I could work day/night rotations and not evenings.

I stayed a year and moved on to ICU.

I would recommend it for a new grad who is undecided in what kind of nursing they want to persue.

aspiring_midwife_wi · Apr 6, 2009

I graduated on December 18th and began my career on a med/surg/peds/ob floor of our little rural hospital on December 22nd. I love the experience and knowledge I am gaining every day by working in this environment. I really think a little bit or everything was a good way for me to go.

Regarding if a new grad should work on a med/surg floor by default. I say no. My passion is obstetrics. I long to work on a LDR unit. I feel comfortable saying that because it is my passion, and I have been studying OB for years prior to attending nursing school, I would be ready to work in labor and delivery now if there were a position available in the area.

I do think that any new grad should do some serious self evaluation before deciding what postion to apply for. When reality shock hits you, it's like a dump truck full of bricks. Be sure you will be able to handle the stress and responsibilies involved in the position you are attempting to obtain.

On a side note, I will say that if you can possibly afford to do so, take some time off after graduation. Relax first, then study well for your boards. Starting work three days after graduation has been very stressful and overwhelming. If I had it to do over again, I would not begin applying for positions until graduation.

Good luck in your careers!

Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN · Apr 6, 2009

I started in the NICU a couple months ago, and so far, I'm hanging in there. It's a steep learning curve, of course, but that's what I expected to find during my first year as a nurse, no matter where I worked; and if it's steeper than average -- well, I don't have anything to compare it against, so it makes no difference to me!

Med/surg is a good place to start if you have no particular affinity for any specialty, but I definitely don't think it's needed to make you a competent practitioner. Personally, I knew I wanted to do something in the perinatal area, and med/surg would have been nothing more than an unpleasant necessity, to me. Also, I didn't like the idea of applying for a job that I knew I would be planning to leave a year later. It struck me as being unfair to a prospective employer.

mama_d, BSN, RN · Apr 6, 2009

I did gero-psych for about 1 1/2 years right out of school. I did do a stint for about three weeks doing flu shot clinics/private duty style stuff for a temp agency while I was looking for a more long term job. My best friend from nursing school got a job on the psych unit, and there was an opening, so that's why I started out there.

I then moved on to doing med-surg/rehab through an agency for about two years. I worked over 90% of my shifts for the same hospital system, so when they went agency free some of their managers recommended me as someone to hire on, which is how I ended up where I am now. I was done with doing med-surg/rehab by that point anyway, so I jumped on the opportunity to work tele.

I'm one of those who strongly recommend getting a year or so of med-surg under your belt before going on to other specialty acute care areas. I work tele now and we've had several brand new grads start out on our unit. A handful of them took to it like a fish to water...mostly they struggle. The patients we deal with have issues that are beyond what the med-surg unit can handle; I think that having a firm foundation of taking care of med-surg patients before moving up in acuity benefits both the patients and nurses. We have new grads who can't handle caring for the basic med-surg needs of our patients who also are responsible for being able to handle whatever cardiac/neuro/oncology issues the patients have. It just doesn't seem fair to anyone and has caused more than one new grad to really question their abilities.

Call me old-school, but that's my two cents :)

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Apr 6, 2009

1) What floor did you spend your first year/months? ER

2) Why did you choose the floor? It's where I wanted to eventually work and I was given the opportunity to begin in the ER.

3) Would you recommend that for NS soon to be graduating? Yes, I think you should go where you want to be, not where someone tells you to go. Your life, not theirs.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Apr 13, 2009

I started out in Oncology. I stayed there for 8 months. I will not say that I wouldn't ever recommend it, but I also wouldn't jump to recommend it. Make sense? LOL! I learned TONS of skills, but it was also very stressful and with it a lot of responsibility. Of course nursing comes with huge responsibility, but giving chemotherapy (and being expected to) fresh out of nursing school - no thanks!! I am thankful for all the skills I acquired there, but I am MUCH happier on the Med/Surg unit I work on now. We mainly deal with Post-Op patients with the occasional few Medical pts we get when our Medical floor is full. :)

I walked onto our Onc floor here from day one under the advice of an instructor and I love it.

My two interests are what I call "drugs and bugs" - I love pharmacology and disease. (Weird? You bet!). And where better to satisfy this than a cancer floor? I love knowing about all that chemo and watching what it can do to cancer, and being frustrated and annoyed at what it does to the patient (and often what it can't do to the cancer).

I also love the patient contact - many, many of our patients are repeat admits d/t treatments and complications. I've already watched several of them fight, live, and then pass away - and I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. I have family members who have requested me as their RN and have had ones whose family member passed away seek me out and thank me for caring for them (to us, the family is also the patient - sometimes more so than the patient!).

We had a great orientation and wonderful instruction in chemo. The only one that scares the crap out of me is Taxol - it comes in these GLASS bottles instead of bags and it hangs from the pole with these plasticky paper things. (!!!) I know if I EVER drop chemo it's gonna be paclitaxel. . .and I dread it. I'm horribly careful with it.

When our Onc census is low, though, we almost become a gen med floor - so much so that we as nurses are considered to have med/surg experience.

I love it here and will stay here for at least another year, until it's time to go back to school for that NP I so covet. . .

ETA - I found out about a month ago, though, that I'm also a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so who knows what might happen in a year or two??