Who Did NOT Do a Year of Med Surg?

[Satori77]

When I went to nursing school, I knew I didn't want to be a floor nurse. I had little interest in med surg. Now when I did my clinicals, and most were med surg, I enjoyed them for the most part. I like taking care of people. I don't mind the tasks. I have no problem cleaning up people, helping them to the bathroom or to eat. I like talking with and educating patients and family. I don't even mind the rudeness. But I can't stand being understaffed. High patient to nurse ratios. Very acute patients and little help from charge nurses or docs.

I worked in a SNF full time for 6 months, and still do PRN work because I love the residents. And then I took a med surg position to get my foot in the door at the hospital. I have been doing this for almost 5 months and I'm just not sure I can make it a year. There has been such turnover. We are constantly pushed to discharge patients and do more admits. Its very task oriented, and I don't believe I am giving the best care that I should be giving. And still being a newer nurse, I'm afraid of missing something and a patient getting hurt. Plus I am seriously getting burned out. I work nights (which I like the flow better, but it is still quite crazy with half the staff and a higher patient load).

With how rough it is, and knowing that I am not passionate about floor nursing, I'm wondering if I can/should look for another job. Now I can't search within my hospital system because you need to be in your 1st job for a year before transferring. Which I completely get. Should I just suck it up for another 7 months (at least) and try to apply elsewhere in the hospital. After all, I have worked hard to get where I am. Or can I start applying at other hospitals? Would they even consider me? I don't want to be someone who jumps jobs every few months. I want to find my home and stay there. Anyone else able to either not work med surg out of school or only do it a few months before landing a job that is a better fit?

For reference, the areas I am and have been interested in since before school is OR (including periop where I did my senior practicum) or WIS (including NICU). I just feel like those areas are so specialized and so unlike med surg that I wonder how much med surg (besides time management) is really helping me.

[johsonmichelle]

On 5/4/2019 at 11:55 AM, farrasha said:

It's possible to skip the year of Med Surg, I think Med Surg would be great experience and great area of its own but it doesn't have to be a stepping stone. it's a position that people like or dislike just like any other. As new grads, a friend of mine got hired in the OR and I got hired into the ED. I knew the ED was what I wanted so I applied to positions that hired new grad nurses for ED. I'm almost at my year and though it has been been a bit hard to adjust from school to the pace of ED I feel like I made a great choice.

I agree , I started on med -surg and still work on med -surg. I would advise that new grad should go for the specialities they want .

[OUxPhys, BSN, RN]

I started on a cardiac step-down because I knew I did not want gen med/med-surg. Granted, we aren't treated like a true step-down but at least its a specialty I enjoy and love. So I would say no, you do not need to start in med-surg. Find a specialty you enjoy and go for it.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

I graduated in 2008, when no one wanted to hire new grads. After a 10-month job search and a 250-mile move, I worked in assisted living for a year, then 6 horrible weeks in Nursing Home Hell, then 7 years in home health, with some flu clinics and a few months at a prison.

I'm now back in assisted living. I'd still like to work in Med Surg, but with no BSN and no hospital experience, no hospital in the area will hire me.

[NurseLAE, BSN, RN]

I did a year of med surg because i could not find a women's health job. i knew med surg would not be my thing, but it was good experience. I took time off to start my family and now im looking for a women's health job. I won' t settle for med surg this time around. Go straight into the specialty you want if you can.

[Satori77, ADN]

On 5/3/2019 at 7:44 AM, ruby_jane said:

Is your nursing license at risk every day? Or are you just uncomfortable? If I had it to do over again, I *might* have transferred to Med-surg for the remainder of the year. I would be more marketable.

Best of luck.

No, its definitely not like that. I do think there are nights when I have an unsafe load (I think many nurses feel that way), but I wouldn't say my license is on the line.

[Satori77, ADN]

On 5/3/2019 at 8:34 AM, Emergent said:

I think 6 months of SNF and then 5 months of Med/Surg makes you look like a unattractive candidate for your next job.

I've worked Med/Surg but not straight out of school. I started in LTC. I've worked in different aspects of nursing, always sticking with jobs for awhile.

My advice is to stay where you are for a couple of years at least.

Thank you. That's exactly what I was thinking. But I think I needed to hear it.

[Satori77, ADN]

On 5/3/2019 at 7:22 PM, NICU Guy said:

I started out in NICU as a new grad. Getting a year of Adult Med/Surg experience first would have done very little for me. I was fortunate to go straight to the specialty that I wanted from the beginning.

That's incredible. NICUs around here will not hire you without experience. Some require 6 months of NICU experience, which is frustrating, because how can I get experience if I can't get hired anywhere in a NICU?

[Satori77, ADN]

On 5/3/2019 at 9:16 PM, MEINstudent said:

I would stick it out for a year, so that you don't burn bridges at your hospital. I started in med-surg and transferred to the OR at my hospital after 2 years on the med-surg floor (I didn't care for the culture either). Does the hospital you work in have an OR nurse residency program and hire nurses with no OR experience? If so, I would contact the OR educator in a few months and ask to shadow for a few hours in the OR. Make that contact, ask about when they run those residency programs. At my hospital, it's 2-3 times a year. And the time you spend on med-surg will help you in the OR. Where I work, many of the OR nurses have spent their entire career there and have tunnel vision when it comes to patient care. I feel like I am always walking into work and noticing things that others have missed, that would have been first and foremost in a floor nurse's mind. Good luck!

No, I work at a pretty small hospital. They don't offer an OR residency.

[Satori77, ADN]

On 5/5/2019 at 7:25 AM, ORoxyO said:

I went straight to the OR and never looked back. It's what I wanted and I had a chance so it worked out great for me. (I did work as a nurse tech for 1.5 years while in school on a post surgical floor. )

I can truly say that had I done a year in med surg, I probably wouldn't be a nurse today. I want no part of it and I'm sure I would not have been able to handle it. I don't know how floor nurses do it.

I am definitely afraid of burning out and leaving nursing all together if I have to stay on Med Surg for a long time.

[Elizabeth777, BSN, RN]

Nope, I started in NICU as a new grad and did a 4.5 month residency there. I don't think that med-surg would have helped me in the slightest as NICU is such a different beast.

I did, however, work as a CNA in a nursing home for 2 years and on a cardiac floor for another 3. This did help me with prioritization skills and made me sure that I'd never want to work in med-surg as a nurse.

[Crystal-Wings, LVN]

I knew I never wanted to do floor nursing. I'm just not cut out for it. I went straight into home health to do one on one care.

[juviasama]

started in psych for 9 months, then moved to acute rehab with a mindset that I'll do rehab for at least a year then would go for med surg. Unfortunately only lasted 8 months in an acute rehab hospital.. the past 8 months is an eye opener that I'm not cut out for floor nursing. Management is nasty, trying to find the scapegoat.. all incidents reports turned into punitive.. I love patient care, but I hate working weekends too..

So I've decided to do some soul-searching.. I quit the acute rehab job without securing another job. That's how stressed out I was.

Now I'm still unemployed, and applying only for positions that I desire and thinking of making passive income...

I have some regrets, but God is good and He's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.