med-surg...medical unit or surgical unit?

Hairstylingnurse · Jun 10, 2005

hello there!!! just had an interview earlier, im just wondering which unit in med-surg is best suited for a new grad nurse. which unit is more buzy...medical unit or the post surgical unit?
thanks for the info!!! :)

:rotfl: Hi hunny, are u a real hunny????:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Just joking I just had to ask. Depending on the hospital you go to work at I guess. I worked on the post surgical med surg right out of school, and loved it even though it aged me about 10 years:p . I learned sooooo much. But I also floated to med surg sometimes after my orientation was over, and it was equally busy. Obviously post surgical kept me running with vitals q 15 min. checking drains, and all the other jazz. But then you have seriously ill pts. on medsurg, I remember alot of my medsurg pts having what seemed like 50 different i.v. bags and piggy backs hanging. I would have 8 and sometimes 10 pts on both floors. On post op we would have alot more admits and discharges:uhoh3: . Both floors were absolutely exhausting and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Best of luck, you can't go wrong either way. And you too may be sent to float to another floor after orientation.

live4today, RN · Jun 11, 2005

I have worked mostly medical and surgical units throughout most of my nursing career, and have always preferred surgical patients over medical patients. Today's patients seem much much sicker with a complexity of medical problems -- today's surgical patients are the same. It's rare to admit a surgical patient who comes in for one thing and discharged a few days later. Many of today's patients -- medical or surgical -- are sick, sick, sick and stay for days on end, and it is no longer the senior citizen and geriatric population staying longer, but many young adults as well.

Still...........surgical would still be my choice. Medical patients are diabetics, COPDers, Pneumonia, AIDES, CHF, TB, other respiratory ailments, patients in chronic pain whose pain cannot be resolved, cancer patients, etc. Surgical patients can have the same medical ailments, so you are still dealing with the "medical side of the house" on surgical units.

Honey......there is noooooooooooo easy nursing unit these days. Buy some comfy scrubs, comfy shoes, eat your cheerios for breakfast, and get as much sleep as possible before you go to work and be prepared to run your buns off, sweat, work under a lot of stress, and rarely be appreciated or respected. If you can deal with this part of nursing, the "happy moments" that may come your way on the job will be all the more welcomed. :)

rnmi2004 · Jun 11, 2005

As an intern, I have been able to spend a month in both the medical and the surgical unit of my hospital. In my experience, the surgical unit is the busier one. The main reason is that it is the largest unit in my hospital. When the medical unit is full, we get med pts on the surgical unit. If the surg floor is full, pts are held in PACU until a bed opens, but never, ever sent to the medical unit. The only type of "med-surg" pt the surg floor never sees is the chemo pt, who only is admitted to the med floor.

I chose the surgical unit because I really enjoy true med-surg nursing, and I wouldn't have this variety on the med floor.

So in my case, the surg floor offers the greater challenge. As was said earlier, it depends on the hospital. When you interview, ask a lot of questions and you should get an idea of what it is like at that particular hospital. Hope this helps!

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jun 11, 2005

I love the surgical part of Med/Surg.......it's crazy when you have three or four post-ops with frequent VS, pain issues, crashing BPs and Narcan, but I vastly prefer surgical patients to medical. Our medical pts. are usually nursing-home residents, drug/ETOH abusers, COPD'ers who continue to smoke, and noncompliant diabetics........it gets kind of old after a while. But the majority of our surgery patients, even those with medical issues, generally get better and go home, and it's much more gratifying to care for them, as a rule, than to watch the same people with the same old problems use the hospital as a revolving door. :stone

However........as someone much wiser than I once said: if it weren't for alcohol, drugs, tobacco, and stupidity, we'd all have to go out and get REAL jobs. :chuckle