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| No. 50 | 
Jan 16, 2008, 11:17 PM
 Re: Bad Rep for Med Surg *Jess*  | | Advertisement Sponsored Links | | | | No. 52 |
Jan 22, 2008, 06:45 PM
Re: Bad Rep for Med Surg I am a new nurse and I just started on a busy med-surg floor. I find myself perpetually overwhelmed by the pt's acuity levels and the number of patients that I get (typically 6, but has been higher on several occasions). I am constantly running from one room to another, I am lucky if I get 15 minutes of break (management believes that if you schedule your lunch at a specific time and you didn't go, that it is your problem, not theirs). There's really no time to sit down and read the pt's history/chart to get a clear idea of what's going on with your patients, it's also hard to stay on top of all the labs/procedures/new orders. I do my very best to listen to the patient’s fears/anxieties/concerns and advocating for them, but most of the time I feel that my patients deserve more. Before getting this position, I did my externship on oncology floor and I loved being able to sit down, talk to my patients, get to know them, provide comfort and support. I walked away every day from that oncology floor feeling like a made a difference, I built bonds with my patients, they remembered my name and missed me if they didn’t see me for a couple of days. To this day, I remember most of their names and their medical diagnoses! And that was almost a year ago. The patients were more acute than the pts I have right now, but I only had 3 and I had ample time to stay on top of the labs and new orders, I was even present for doctors’ rounds every morning so I had a clear idea what the plan of care was. On this floor, I have to look on my sheets to remember the pt’s name and medical history. At the end of the day I feel tired and mediocre. I think this floor provides a good learning experience and a solid med-surg background, but I don’t think I will be staying past my 1 year commitment. | | No. 53 |
Feb 15, 2008, 06:18 PM
Re: Bad Rep for Med Surg
Med/Surg nursing is hard work. Physically hard and mentally hard at times. Too many patients and not enough staff. Multiple orders and nurses feeling overwhelmed.
In the military, if you don't come in certified in a nursing speciality, you have to do a year of med/surg before they will let you go to a specialty course. I think that this is good because really med/surg is the foundation of nursing.
A brand new nurse should not be given 6 patients right off of orientation. They should be in somewhat of a "protected' status for the first month until they gain confidence in taking more patients. We will usually have a resource nurse available to help this new nurse if the census is low and the resource nurse does not have to take patients.
| | No. 55 |
Apr 13, 2008, 08:54 AM
Re: Bad Rep for Med Surg
Ok, maybe I am late to this discussion.
But hear this: I am thinking of going into Med/Surg. This after two years of ER/Dialysis.
Why? I miss bedside nursing, one that I experienced in nursing school aeons ago. While I knew that the pace, load and stress is huge... I also know the excitement of everyday being a different and interesting one. Gosh, my years in dialysis is so boring, albeit being a highly (and it really is so) specialized field. You got to see same faces every week doing exactly the same thing. Repeat X1000.
And for the record, I should think that Med/Surg should be recognized as a specialty. Even when I was working in ER, I discovered that there is so much that I don't know about a case as I transfer the cases to the ward. Really guys (or girls?!) I see you all with highest respect.
Thinking about this, doing masters in Medical Surgical is not that bad.
| | No. 57 |
Apr 13, 2008, 01:43 PM
Re: Bad Rep for Med Surg
I have tremendous respect for med/surg nurses.
Here's an observation. We all have different learning and thinking styles, and it's generally a wise thing to take that into account when deciding where to work. Med/surg is a great specialty for those who like breadth and variety. Your focus is spread wide and there is always something new on the radar. Critical care, by contrast, is more suited to people who prefer depth. The focus is much narrower (fewer patients) and the things that pop up on the radar tend to require you to dig the same spot deeper.
From that standpoint, med/surg was not a good fit for me. I felt scattered when I wanted to concentrate. From what I know about critical care, that would have been a much better match, and if I were just starting my nursing career, that is where I'd head.
Seems like extroverted people who are energized by activity and interaction with others would thrive in med/surg, while hermits like me would be better off in the closer confines of 1:1 or 1:2 care.
I realize these are generalizations, but I think we ignore this aspect of our personal make-up to our detriment and then think something is wrong with us when we find ourselves struggling in an environment that runs counter to our design.
Wouldn't it be nice if somewhere along the way, we were all tested to determine our personality types, learning styles, and other attributes to give us some idea of what we are best suited for? For one thing, it would give us permission to decide if a particular kind of job fits like a glove, fits like a mitten, or fits like mousetrap. Then we could make choices based on our own mental health and inner needs rather than guilt and confusion.
It's probably a pipe dream to hope for this to become a normal part of nursing education, but individuals can gather some of this information on their own. For every square peg trying to jam herself into a round hole, there is a square hole going empty and a round peg looking for a home.
| | No. 58 |
Apr 17, 2008, 05:50 PM
 Re: Bad Rep for Med Surg Originally Posted by rn/writer  I have tremendous respect for med/surg nurses.
Here's an observation. We all have different learning and thinking styles, and it's generally a wise thing to take that into account when deciding where to work. Med/surg is a great specialty for those who like breadth and variety. Your focus is spread wide and there is always something new on the radar. Critical care, by contrast, is more suited to people who prefer depth. The focus is much narrower (fewer patients) and the things that pop up on the radar tend to require you to dig the same spot deeper.
From that standpoint, med/surg was not a good fit for me. I felt scattered when I wanted to concentrate. From what I know about critical care, that would have been a much better match, and if I were just starting my nursing career, that is where I'd head.
Seems like extroverted people who are energized by activity and interaction with others would thrive in med/surg, while hermits like me would be better off in the closer confines of 1:1 or 1:2 care.
I realize these are generalizations, but I think we ignore this aspect of our personal make-up to our detriment and then think something is wrong with us when we find ourselves struggling in an environment that runs counter to our design.
Such a great point! I think MANY people don't think about this, esp. new grads, esp. when they post things on here thinking that they're "horrible" nurses or nursing is the wrong fit.
So many people start in med/surg because they assume they have no other choice. But it's such a horrible fit for SO many people. I know med/surg isn't my ultimate home, but I chose to start there specifically because I wanted the broad experience to move on with. (I'd prefer to have too much information and go narrower than have to work backwards and learn more.)
I'm an extroverted introvert. Although I love working with people, at the end of the day, I need to close off from the world. Even on my days off, it's a stretch for me to talk to my friends vs. just texting them!
The best part (for me) about nursing, though, is knowing that I have such a wide range of possibilities. Although m/s is too much for me on some days, I know it's going to give me the experience I need to get where I want eventually.
| | No. 59 |
Apr 18, 2008, 09:30 AM
Re: Bad Rep for Med Surg Originally Posted by rn/writer Seems like extroverted people who are energized by activity and interaction with others would thrive in med/surg, while hermits like me would be better off in the closer confines of 1:1 or 1:2 care.
Hmm; interesting thought.
I've worked on a medical floor, an OB/peds floor, and in a birth center. I will tell you that the ones that worked best for me are the ones that were more stressful. I recently left OB to go back to the medical floor. Everyone was like "No one transfers TO medical, everyone transfers FROM them!" But I missed the energy and the challenge, and I think my sense of humor is definitely best suited for night shift on the medical floor.
I'm an extrovert.
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