ER vs Med/surg- someone wanna clue me in?

[PAERRN20]

Hi guys. ER nurse of almost 2 years here. Never have worked anywhere else, thinking of picking up some shifts in med-surg. Wondering if I can do it? Obviously it is different on the floor, but how much different? Can anyone enlighten me? Any ER nurses actually enjoy med-surg? Thanks!

[C-lion]

The exception to this is when the same patient has meds ordered an hour apart. What moron thought that one up?

This made me laugh! I thought the same thing to myself, and especially a particular pt of mine (one of six pts, as usual) who had meds every single hour of my shift save for two. What, why!? And him being rude for my coming in so often did not help.

[muesli]

What ACRNO6 described is right on the money. You focus on more of the comfort things, the less critical aspects of care. But in that don't underestimate your impact on patient outcomes. Sure, it's humble work, but you have time to educate, turn and reposition, think about the big picture, and affect the psycho social component affecting health maintenance. And honestly i like being able to do the little things to make people more comfortable. And because often you have more time and patients are not as stressed, people tend to like you a little better lol. It's not as stressful, but the pace is more routine and a little more boring, despite being busy. But as an ED nurse with varied assessment and acute/critical care skills, you'll certainly be able to handle it. It may just bug you the things that people focus on (like how long you scrub a hub, or the frequent q5 minute vital sign monitoring after giving a med no one would really flinch at in the ED), but in a way it's good to get an appreciation for best practice for the little things because they do matter. You may though feel like you're not allowed to be part of the fun in a true emergency. A med surg nurse is not always allowed to participate in a code where I'm at, and there's usually like a hundred people at the bedside just staring. And I'm talking about staff.