I had no idea... med/surg vent - Page 4

YEP! We beez liars!

The system makes us lie.. therefore .. it is a white lie!

I have 30 years under my belt .. I lie every shift .. over and over again.
Just click on the NECESSARY boxes.. to fulfill the extraordinary demands of administration and keep your job.

As long as you are prioritizing and taking care of the patient.. those boxes mean b.s.
I am concerned about " Stuck with a pt who is tanking for 3 hours until the transfer to ICU?"
Are you in a facility without a rapid response team?
If so... when a patient is unstable and you cannot leave the bedside .. you MUST notify your charge nurse and have your other patients taken care of when you are in that situation.
If charge won't/can't call supervision.

You cannot do both safely.

i've got to add my worthless two cents in. with 17 years of icu nursing, i'm now traveling and yes that means out to ... "duh, da, don"... med surg. i cringed, kicked myself for leaving a cake job in the ep lab and decided to suck it up, put on my big girl panties and go with a positive attitude.

i'm actually liking it!.. the staff is wonderful, and that makes a huge difference. but, but 17 years in, i had no idea how to manage 5 patients... all my meds were late, my charting done sporadically and poorly at first and simply finding a personal "flow" to the process took several float days.

i see it as a new challenge to multi-task differently, and a new skill to learn. med surge is an art of flexibility, juggling, organization and being able to see that team members may need my help more, no matter how behind i am... prioritization for the floor as a whole.

it is great to hear you are adapting. my long story, not so short is that after 17 years of nursing, i'm learning new tricks of the trade from these experts and it makes me a better nurse. don't ever discount med surge. it is a true skill to master!

good luck to you and your career. and, never be afraid of new challenges!

To the original poster: Congrats and I'm glad you are more comfortable. Thank you for sharing your story, it helps give me hope! I am a new grad in a medsurg unit and I feel like every shift is awful. I agree that management can make a huge difference. On my unit they like to keep everyone nervous all the time we get a ton of e-mails and signs around the unit with reminders that there will be strict disciplinary actions for not answering call lights, bad customer service. Recently a CNA that worked there for 2 years with good attendance was fired because she didn't realize she was scheduled one day and had to be called then came in an hour after the shift started. I thought maybe there was more going on I don't know about but everyone was outraged and didn't think she deserved it. It is a stressful place to be 5 days a week.