Why do a lot of nursing students hate med/surg?

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · May 1, 2009

Alot of people including myself may find medsurg or some parts of med surg difficult. Med surg requires alot of reading and understanding the disease process, pathophys, etiology, medical management, nursing management, medications, and pt. teaching for each disease/disorder.

I would not say I hate medsurg, yes at times its overwhelming however I do love to learn about all of the diseases and what I need to do as a nurse.

There are also some diseases that people may not be able to grasp, which may also make it difficult.

In med surg we are learning about more complex health problems and we really need to incorporate the whole nursing process when taking care of these patients with complex health problems. So to get back to your questions people may dislike med surg because it does take alot of time in reading and studying.

This is just may theory.

mariposabella · May 1, 2009

Thanks Nursing Student 19.It does sound difficult. Well I know what to expect for that class when I start nursing school next year.

cursedandblessed · May 1, 2009

for us it's all of that packed into 7-8 weeks, 2 hour lectures 3 days a week, then driving to the hospital 2 hours of preplanning, going home: clinical care plans until late into the evening, looking up and documenting every drug the patient is prescribed including all prn's (some of mine had over 30) comparing all lab results for the last 2 weeks to norm., up at 4 am on tues and thurs to get there on time. nine to twelve hours of clinical. trying to keep up with the reading, the formal paper, the tests. and finding time to breathe.

mariposabella · May 1, 2009

for us it's all of that packed into 7-8 weeks, 2 hour lectures 3 days a week, then driving to the hospital 2 hours of preplanning, going home: clinical care plans until late into the evening, looking up and documenting every drug the patient is prescribed including all prn's (some of mine had over 30) comparing all lab results for the last 2 weeks to norm., up at 4 am on tues and thurs to get there on time. nine to twelve hours of clinical. trying to keep up with the reading, the formal paper, the tests. and finding time to breathe.

wow! i can see why people hate med/surg! sounds like a nightmare!

cursedandblessed · May 1, 2009

at my school it's considered the weeding out rotation, those who have floated by with their mid-low c's and never come to class seem completely shell-shocked by it. i'm completely worn out, looking forward to a month off, after monday.

Lovelymo79 · May 1, 2009

for us it's all of that packed into 7-8 weeks, 2 hour lectures 3 days a week, then driving to the hospital 2 hours of preplanning, going home: clinical care plans until late into the evening, looking up and documenting every drug the patient is prescribed including all prn's (some of mine had over 30) comparing all lab results for the last 2 weeks to norm., up at 4 am on tues and thurs to get there on time. nine to twelve hours of clinical. trying to keep up with the reading, the formal paper, the tests. and finding time to breathe.

you don't have to do that with the other rotations?

luvbug080688 · May 1, 2009

i am putting off doing my medsurg study guide as we speak...i can't wait much longer though..finals in a week....boo.

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · May 1, 2009

for us it's all of that packed into 7-8 weeks, 2 hour lectures 3 days a week, then driving to the hospital 2 hours of preplanning, going home: clinical care plans until late into the evening, looking up and documenting every drug the patient is prescribed including all prn's (some of mine had over 30) comparing all lab results for the last 2 weeks to norm., up at 4 am on tues and thurs to get there on time. nine to twelve hours of clinical. trying to keep up with the reading, the formal paper, the tests. and finding time to breathe.

you hit it write on the nail ! sounds just like my med surg class ! sometimes i get so busy with studying going to the bathroom seems like a waste of my time.

cursedandblessed · May 1, 2009

not with maternity, peds, or mental health-no preplanning, and plus all of our other rotations give you one weekday off a week.

jjjoy, LPN · May 1, 2009

You don't have to do that with the other rotations?

Perhaps it's that other rotations have some sort of focus and thread of continuity... so there's a ton of material but it's a ton of material related to pregnancy and childbirth, or related to cancer, orthopedic surgery, heart disease, etc. At the end of the term while you won't have mastered the field, you can feel like you have a general grasp of the area and can point to what you have learned.

Med-surg is a ton of material on a whole cross-section of conditions and procedures. It can feel like one is jumping all over the board and never really able to sink their teeth into it. CHF, COPD, diabetes, renal failure, gallstones, thyroid conditions, peptic ulcer disease, peripheral vascular disease, etc. You can finish off the term without having a clear sense of what exactly was learned. The med-surg rotation is more about practicing applying the nursing process in general to a variety of conditions than learning about the specific conditions and associated nursing care.You gain a patchwork of knowledge and skills, as opposed to a somewhat cohesive picture of a certain physiologic system or class of diseases. So you can come out of it feeling like for all of your work (a little bit of everything) that you don't know much of anything. Other rotations can feel more satisfying in regard to feeling like you've made concrete progress in your knowledge and skills.

Heatherbear · May 1, 2009

i loved my med/surg!!! i am just finishing up this semester and for the first time i truly started to feel like a real nurse. you get to see the whole picture of a patient and then you move on to another whole different pt, with a whole new picture, its exhausting, for sure, but so cool. i saw a whole lot of stuff this semester and i loved every minute of it....