Bad Rep for Med Surg

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.

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.

The saying is that if you can make it in med-surg, you can make it anywhere. It may be true, but what if you CAN'T make in med-surg? Does that mean that you can't make it in nursing at all? I hope not!! We need to nurses too badly in so many different capacities to toss out all of those who find today's med-surg environment overwhelming and/or dissatisfying.

I don't think it's one of those hard and fast laws of nature, no. I do not believe the old saying. I think some people in m/s could never make it in ICU. But the opposite is also true. M/S may be demanding and cover a broad base of nursing skill, but it doesn't mean that skill is applicable to every other area of nursing. If I go to ICU, I still have to learn ALL the equipment they use that's NEVER used in M/S. But an ICU nurse would have to take a step back & spend time passing tons of meds & giving teaching, etc. etc. for 6-10 pts. There are so many differences. Yes, they're all fruit, but some are apples, oranges, bananas / some art tropical, some are prickly... Yeah, they all contain fructose, but they're still all different. Or something like that

I am a new nurse on a busy med surg floor. I've been there for 5 months and everyday I go to work, I want to quit. I just figured it out why. I thought nursing was spending time with pt and getting to know the emotional and spiritual needs as well as the physically needs. This is what we were taught in school and I loved it. The real world is far from this. I only have time to find out (after spending a hour or so trying to find the chart) what I need to know about the pt to get through the day. When they are trying to talk to me about their personal life, Im thinking to myself about the other 4 pt, charting, labs etc. I can not seem to get a handle on this and feel like I am drowning all the time, everyday. It is a horrible feeling and I feel sorry for the patients. We spend so much time with paper work that it's unbelievable. I am thinking about my next move because I do not want to work under these conditions.

Why teach an overly idealistic version of nursing, though? You can teach the ideals along with the realities. It's an ideal to view the patient holistically and to address psychological as well as physical needs. The reality is that nurses have several competing demands, limited time and energy, and will have to prioritize. That often means not being able to be as holistic or to have to let another issue wait while addressing a more immediate need. I think schools could do a better job of preparing nurses for the realities.