Locations:
Search IconSearch
November 20, 2024/Nursing/Clinical Nursing

Medical-Surgical Nursing: A Specialty, Not a Stepping Stone (Podcast)

Med-surg nursing is ideal for energetic innovators who want to care for a variety of patients and disease processes

There’s a common misconception that new nurses begin their careers in medical-surgical units before moving on to a specialty area after a couple years. However, medical-surgical nursing is a specialty – and a rewarding one.

Advertisement

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy

“I’ve been a nurse for 24 years, and I’ve been in med-surg all 24 of those years,” says Catherine Skowronsky, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, CMSRN, Clinical Nurse Specialist at Cleveland Clinic Fairview Hospital. “That is my career, and it’s not because I couldn’t do anything else – it’s not by default. It is by choice and my love for the specialty.”

In this episode of Cleveland Clinic’s Nurse Essentials podcast, Skowronsky is joined by Julie Seelie, BSN, RN, CMSRN, SCRN, a clinical nurse on a medical-surgical unit at Fairview Hospital, to discuss the specialty. They delve into:

  • Why medical-surgical nursing is an important, unique specialty
  • How leaders can support med-surg nurses who manage a complex patient population
  • The importance of networking and joining professional organizations such as the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses
  • Advice for nurses to recharge after difficult shifts

Click the podcast player above to listen to the episode now, or read on for a short, edited excerpt. Check out more Nurse Essentials episodes at my.clevelandclinic.org/podcasts/nurse-essentials or wherever you get your podcasts.

Podcast excerpt

Podcast host Carol Pehotsky, DNP, RN, NEA-BC: Why should nurses honestly consider medical-surgical nursing as a specialty and not as a stepping stone?

Skowronsky: Well, I think it was actually one of the Consult QD articles from Cleveland Clinic that referred to medical-surgical nursing as the backbone of nursing. I just thought that was great because it runs through all of nursing. And the skills cross whatever other specialties you may find yourself in throughout your career. … So, by all means, give medical-surgical nursing that chance and you'll be amazed at what you find.

Advertisement

Pehotsky: Julie, now I'll turn to you. Why med-surg nursing?

Seelie: It really is a sampler of all these different disease processes and types of patients. So, if you want to figure out what you like, what you don't like, what you're super passionate about, then med-surg is a great place for that.

And for as long as it's been around, it is by no means a perfect system. … But instead of looking at it in a negative way, there's so much room for improvement. So, people who are innovative, [med-surg] is a place where you can think, "I have this recurring problem every shift." You're not the only one who's experiencing that. What's the solution? And that's where networking comes along as well. Even if it's just improving a process, figuring out who are the stakeholders there. Who can I reach out to get this accomplished? But also coming up with product development and stuff like that. I know we've had quite a few nurses within Cleveland Clinic do that and were very successful.

Med-surg is definitely a place that could use a lot of innovation and energetic people, so it's definitely a good place to start out for new nurses. You get a lot of experience, and you learn a lot very quickly. But you learn a lot about yourself, and I think you grow a lot as a person as well.

Advertisement

Related Articles

people in the spacious lobby of a medical building
How Patients and Caregivers Are Shaping Our New Neurological Building

Input from these central stakeholders is leading us to design for healing and hope

Portrait of nurse Maureen Schaupp
Caring for Patients with Congestive Heart Failure (Podcast)

Nurses play a vital role in helping patients manage the chronic disease in inpatient and outpatient settings

Redcoat volunteers
Redcoat for a Day: Walking in Their Shoes

Volunteer program invites caregivers to serve as patient navigators

Opthalmology
Ophthalmology Nursing: More Than Meets the Eye

A multitude of subspecialities offer versatility, variety

Nurse researchers
May 30, 2025/Nursing/Innovations
Advancing the Nursing Profession Through Science

How nurses are using frontline research to improve patient outcomes and healthcare delivery

Pink stethoscope with NICU label
May 30, 2025/Pediatrics
Why Words Matter in the NICU

How one simple project changed the conversation about care and the patient-parental experience

Helicopter
Anytime, Anywhere: Critical Care On The Go

Transport nurses prepare to manage all patients and acuity levels

Nurse Kristen Vargo
Successfully Transitioning from Nursing Peer to Leader (Podcast)

How to move from working side-by-side with nursing colleagues to leading a team

Ad