Where to start....MED SURGE???????

[unclebenny20]

So as a new grad i have been told that I have to do my time on the med surge floor but I really don't want too. How important is it to do that time on the med surge floor? I can't stand the med surge floor it is to boring can someone help me???? please....

[Jules A, MSN]

Find your niche. Follow your heart.

Well said! When I read the numerous posts here about new grads that are miserable I wonder why. Did they feel pressured to take a med-surg position? Did they not investigate their prospective team and unit before accepting the job? In any event it is sad and I wish everyone could be as fortunate as I was with my first nursing job.

[Guest296136]

I know how you feel, I hated med-surg when I was in school, but it is different when you are working as a nurse. You need to get your skills down, I can't believe I'm saying this but I love my floor!!!! It's oncology but a mix of med/surg, I do alot of Blood, NG tubes, Dialaysis and Post Op patients as well as chemo and radiation treatments.

It takes time to learn the computers, hospital policy as well as how to do a proper assesment. If you really want to learn, you can learn on any floor, but remember if you feel you want ER, then once you get a year of med/surg under your belt you will be much more adapt to picking up what is going on with a patient more quickly and won't be fumbling to figure out how to use equipment in an emergency situation when you need to be quick on your feet.

Be patient learn the basics it will save someone's live.

Good Luck

[LadyTiger44]

I wish I would have listened to everyone and gone into med surg when I got out of school. I am working in transplant ICU now and looking at transferring because the patients are such high acuity and so sick. I feel so extremely overwhelmed everytime I work and most nights leave crying. It is also hard to get skills down-like putting in foleys and IVs because they all have PICCs or central lines. I am actually looking at transferring to a cardiac surgical floor, which is more of a med surg type. I think I have learned SO much compared to what I knew when I started, but I can't continue working on a floor like this either.

I think it depends on what kind of experience you have starting also. I only had my clinical experience, which was very limited. If you want to work on your skills I think a med surg floor is great to do that on. And also looking at where you would like to go one day. I would eventually like to be in substance abuse nursing, but I know I need to have my skills down and just basic experience before I start out there; if I ever wanted to leave that it would be just that much harder for me to go back to bedside nursing.

But I think that ICU (any ICU) is the hardest place to start. My unit, and many more I have heard of from new nurses who left are really truely eat their young. I need to be nurtured and taught ongoing after my preceptorship, instead of the seasoned nurses sitting there watching me drown and talking about it-that is no way to grow a new nurse in my opinion.

[JAshley]

I want to go into Labor & Delivery but I think I need some Med-Surg experience first, so that's what I'm looking for.

[MJJFan1, BSN, RN]

Boring? Yeah right!! Listen to this one night patient assignment on a MED-SURG floor: Patient 1-Peritioneal Dialysis with 6 exchanges

Patient 2-Comfort care DNR on Morphine PCA

Patient 3-AIDS patient with multiple decub and q6h dressing changes--did I mention confused and attempts to leave the bed?

Patient 4-Self care patient but refuses to do own TRACH care

Patient 5-Comfort care Gangrene foot with dressing changes and morphine PCA

Does this sound boring to you?

And all of their IV's were outdated--except the two PICC line PCA pt's

[futurenicunurse2008]

I want to go into Labor & Delivery but I think I need some Med-Surg experience first, so that's what I'm looking for.

I want to do neonatal care or L&D but where I live it is VERY HARD to go right in to neonatal or L&D w/out a yr of med surg the hospitals here prefer it..

Plus if you can stand to be patient do what I did.....get your foot in the door I took a job in a critical care stepdown unit for now the hospital does alot of internal hiring and I hoping after a year I will be able to transfer to the nicu or women's unit. I even told this to the hiring manager and she was cool with it and said I was going about things in a smart way because if you can do med surg effeciently you can do anything.

Remember where you start isnt where you have to end we are nurses and our possibiities are endless...

BTW I am not sure where you did your med surg clinicals but mine was anything but boring.

I only had 3 pt at a time but one day my case load was

1. intractable n/v and I had to get her to drink two big containers of barium.

2. psych pt actively manic suicidal andpulling out her IV.

3. Oncology pt in severe pain

I was not bored hang in there we're all in the same boat