Qualifications/Skills of a Medical Surgical Nurse

The steps to become a medical-surgical nurse vary, based on your starting point. If you’re not already a registered nurse, you’ll start a different point. 

First, you must enroll in an accredited nursing education program--either an associate degree program or bachelor’s degree program. Once you graduate from nursing school, you must pass the National Council Licensure Examination, which you’ll also hear referred to as the NCLEX. Then you can apply for your state nursing license. 

Once you have all that under your belt, you can start applying for jobs and then start practicing as a medical-surgical nurse. If you’re already an RN with a valid state nursing license, you can just start applying for med surg nursing jobs!

Some hospitals will require that a nurse complete a med surg internship or mentoring program before starting on the medical surgical floor. When searching for job opportunities, you might ask about these types of requirements. 

A smart way to polish your resume as a med surg nurse: get certified. Certification for med surg nursing is currently offered by the Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNCB), via the Certified Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse (CMSRN®) credential.

You can also find numerous online practice resources and online professional development opportunities via the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses. You can take an online certification review course, or you could pursue numerous other continuing education units that will help you stay current on developments in your specialty and build your knowledge base. 

Read More About Medical Surgical Travel Nursing Salary and Requirements from the link below.

To discuss a med surg travel nursing career with a recruiter, simply complete the form at the bottom of this page.