Pediatrics exposes you to virtually every specialty area as the kids are kept together. Otherwise I advise working Med/Surg to actually learn diseases process, intake and outcome and how to do the mundane things that end up bogging you donw. In Med/Surg one of the most important things you learn is time management/prioritizing. This pays off in ER, ICU, OR etc.

Good luck and hang in there. Like any endeavor the first couple of years are the hardest. Don't give up and do not let yourself be eaten by the minority of nurses who pick on newbies but forgot that they also had to start out as novices.

I'm a new nurse too, and I'm wondering  what is the best job that would make the transition into nursing not so daunting. I've been recommended the med/surg unit, nursing home and even a specialty unit. Honestly, I'm not very fond of working in a nursing home. I really would love to get on to the labor and delivery unit but it's not that easy to get into. I'm open to the med/surg unit because I know I'll be able to learn a lot on that unit.  Any other ideas, suggestions?

It depends on your goals and your licensure.

Most LPNs work in LTC.

I advise all my students to work at least one year on a medical surgical floor before they move on to any specialty unit.

Med surg teaches you time management, organization, pharmacology, and exposes you to how diseases processes work.  You see how treatment plans work on patient, and learn how the course of a disease progresses.  You fine hone your assessment skills, and learn what happens when patients decline.  You have time to perfect your skills performance.

That gives you a good foundation to work from when you move on to a speciality unit, where patients are usually much sicker, and nurses have to be able to spot problems more quickly, and work with more dangerous drugs and procedures.

Med surg isn't my cup of tea, but I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.

 Thanks for the advise, I will post once I get hired. 

My advice is Med/Surg, a solid year on a busy unit.  You will become familiar with just about everything that you will come into contact with later down the line.  You will learn/re-enforce all your basic skills from drugs to time managment.  I spent 5 years on a busy Med/Surg unit, and wherever I went afterward (ER, nursing home, rehab, alz unit, acute care) I used every one of those skills.  You would be amazed at the variety of stuff that comes through a med/surg unit everything from stable trauma, GI, GU, to CHF.