I disagree that a good nurse needs to have 1-2 years of med/surg experience.... If given a proper orientation program, I have seen many nurses succeed as new grads in the ER or ICU. I have never worked med/surg, and I'm a damn good ER nurse. I started off as a new grad in a very specialized area- peds oncology/chemotherapy, and did fine. I switched to ER after doing that for a year and a half.