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.

[RNNPICU, BSN, RN]

Nope, never did Med/Surg, I knew from clinicals it was not the environment for me. I loved working with kids. I started off in the PICU with a great residency program. PICU prepared me for PICU, Med Surg will prepare you for Med Surg. Prioritization, delegation, and time management are so different for each speciality.

If you like Med Surg stick with it. If not, consider that it might be better to have one year of consistant employment versus two jobs less than a year. Start looking for what you want.

[midwifemae]

I did not to any floor nursing after nursing school. I went straight into public health and I love it. Do what you want that will make you happy.

[TAKOO01, BSN]

Why not just apply and see what happens? Ive left jobs after less than a year. I applied constantly and i have a job now that is ok. No one asked me on any of my many interviews why i was on jobs for a short time. They only asked the standard question- why are you looking for a change?

People know nursing and know what a beast it can be. I assume it depends on many factors, such as geography and market, but my experience was that no one cares as long as you bring the skills they want or show that you can learn the work.

[Satori77, ADN]

Update: I tried sticking it out for the year. But there have been some major changes lately where I work. Census has been low. Like we have had to close down an entire hall for over a month now. Med surg at this hospital is the whole second floor. Two hallways, while they renovate the 3rd hall to open up for a geri psych unit. So for over a month I get called off at least once a shift every week. Sometimes two. I can't make my bills. Its not picking up. Charge nurses were supposed to start taking patients themselves, but instead they call off a nurse or 3, and stick the ones there with more patients. AND they call off our CNAs almost every shift. So now on top of a busier workload, we have to answer every call light, help people to the bathroom, help them eat, etc. We end up staying late and missing breaks...for which we get written up for. And we have so many confused patients on bed alarms that we have had several falls in the past month (and several almost falls) because there isn't enough staff to run to 4 rooms at once.

I decided I had had enough. I'm not learning anymore, and the environment is unsafe when I work. Which I'm not working enough. So I started applying to the other major hospital system in this area and got offered two positions. One was med surg....it seemed like a much better floor than where I was, but it was still med surg. And I'm so burnt out. The other position is on an ortho floor. Out of all the med surg patients I take care of, surgical and ortho are my favorites. And there is a bridge program to get from ortho to periop, which is one of the areas I'm really interested in. I think this will be a much better fit for me.

[OUxPhys, BSN, RN]

1 minute ago, Satori77 said:

Update: I tried sticking it out for the year. But there have been some major changes lately where I work. Census has been low. Like we have had to close down an entire hall for over a month now. Med surg at this hospital is the whole second floor. Two hallways, while they renovate the 3rd hall to open up for a geri psych unit. So for over a month I get called off at least once a shift every week. Sometimes two. I can't make my bills. Its not picking up. Charge nurses were supposed to start taking patients themselves, but instead they call off a nurse or 3, and stick the ones there with more patients. AND they call off our CNAs almost every shift. So now on top of a busier workload, we have to answer every call light, help people to the bathroom, help them eat, etc. We end up staying late and missing breaks...for which we get written up for. And we have so many confused patients on bed alarms that we have had several falls in the past month (and several almost falls) because there isn't enough staff to run to 4 rooms at once.

I decided I had had enough. I'm not learning anymore, and the environment is unsafe when I work. Which I'm not working enough. So I started applying to the other major hospital system in this area and got offered two positions. One was med surg....it seemed like a much better floor than where I was, but it was still med surg. And I'm so burnt out. The other position is on an ortho floor. Out of all the med surg patients I take care of, surgical and ortho are my favorites. And there is a bridge program to get from ortho to periop, which is one of the areas I'm really interested in. I think this will be a much better fit for me.

Hey at least you did your best. If I was in your situation I would be doing the same thing. If you enjoy ortho then it sounds like you have found your niche! What’s funny is the upper administrators will sit there like “Why are we having a mass exodus?”.

[BeenThereGoingThere, BSN, RN]

I started out on a burn unit taking care of large burns with ventilator management. I floated to ER. I went from there to ICU. Granted, things have changed a lot. But, I was frequently there when those “ changes” were developed. I didn’t like med surg and never did it. When I traveled I encountered floating. I’m amazed how many places think you should be able to do things you've never done.

[_littlemissBSN, BSN, RN]

ME. And I really have no plans working in med-surg. I've been working in acute rehabilitation hospitals for 2 years now and it's pretty tough. If med-surg is 10x more stressful than that (like they say), then I don't really want to try. I don't think it's worth risking my mental health and job satisfaction going into it.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

I was hired as a new grad into a specialized residency for orthopedics (there was a program for many of our specialties) I got a fabulous 6 month orientation. There is a lot of medicine issues with prthopedic patients, but on the weekends, we fill up with Gen Med or trauma patients. I love it.

It sounds like you are in a facility that is a little scary as far as stafffing, etc. I hope you are able to find a better place.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

I did not - Jumped into LDRP straight out of RN school did that for two years before transitioning to psych which I have been doing ever since (going on 20 years)

Hppy

[Closed Account 12345]

I never worked Med Surg, and I don't think doing so would've been particularly beneficial.

Many common diagnoses on a Med Surg floor are managed entirely differently in the ER, L&D, ICU, or procedural settings. Caring for a 75 year old with chronic HTN on M/S wouldn't prepare an OB nurse to better care for a woman with pregnancy-induced hypertension/PreE who is in labor, for example.

One of the best things about nursing as a profession is its diverse opportunities. I encourage new nurses to pursue the career path they're interested in. I don't believe everyone "should" do a year of M/S unless that's their professional preference. I went right into an emergency setting, and I don't regret it one bit!

I think saying everyone "should" work M/S for a year to learn about managing chronic diseases/acute conditions is on par with saying everyone should work psych for a year since mental health patients are seen in all specialties. It just doesn't make sense.

[Skips, MSN, RN]

I didn't, and I am glad I didn't! I never had interest in doing a year of med/surg. I wanted to get into L&D right from when I graduated, but of course, I didn't at first. They don't really hire new grads. So, I worked in a clinic and did school nursing before I finally landed a L&D job. I was lucky.

[Subee2, BSN, MSN, CRNA]

Just wondering.....are nurses in California as apathetic about working med surg with having nurse-patient ratios? Would all this antipathy disappear if nurses never had to take care of more than 4 patients? So, is it the specialty or the working conditions?