ER to medsurg

[tech1000]

I've worked for the last 5 years in the ER and did an 8 month stint of teching on a med surg floor. I want to stay in the ER primarily, but I definitely want to be more well rounded. We occasionally have pts come in that need basic type of floor care and because we so rarely see it, we don't know how to do it (myself and other new nurses in the ER). But when I read some of the things on here, I feel like I'd have no idea what I was doing! I typically give insulin via drips, not as a regular med. I don't have to worry about things like their coumadin management. I'm fine with titrating cardiac drips and giving TPA ands things like that, but I have never done a tube feeding (well, since nursing school)! Has anybody else switched from another specialty to med surg and how was it? I feel like I'm drowning at times with 4 ER patients but was bored to death with 2 in an ICU rotation previously. Just curious on your experiences!

[DavidDudley]

I'm in a similar situation where I want to pick up medsurg in addition to my primary ER job. I love ER to death but like you I would like to be more well rounded since there's so many things in the ER we don't do. I think what's probably giving me cold feet right now is all the paperwork involved in medsurg since I'm so used to a very minimal amount of paperwork.