Med-Surg Roll Call - Page 10

I've been a nurse for almost 12 years and I'm going to be starting my first hospital position in a med-surg unit in less than 2 weeks. I've done Dialysis and Home Health primarily. Dialysis almost killed me after 5 years of it and Home Care isn't paying the bills anymore where I live. So I feel like a brand new nurse all over again. I'm not so worried about my skills. We do it all in Home Care. Well almost all of it. I started thinking about some of the skills I had never done. The main one I could think of was inserting an NG tube. Never done it. I'm primarily concerned about managing my time. It's one on one in Home Care and I really never have to rush through anything. So any advice for an old nurse about to become the "new" nurse again????

I have worked ER and SICU for along time I started out on med-surg, anyways I have CCRN cert, CEN cert, TNCC cert, and med-surg cert from ANCC, But I was letting all you know Im going back to med-surg, Starting back as a float between med-surg and ortho, have always loved the ortho and surgical pts. I like doing all the procedures on them and besides all the older er nurses Ive always worked with are all transferring either to med-surg or ortho or an Icu Ive had my time in ER and cant wait to get back to my beginning roots in med-surg see Ive worked er in a big trauma center for along time and Ive still worked part time for a med/surg/ortho unit part time at a small hospital and Ive always liked it better cant wait to get started back in med-surg.:spin:

Hi Grinnurse, I see you have a year exp. in the med/surg field. Were you a LPN before or did you go straight for RN? I`m asking b/c I`m wondering how tough it will be for me. I`m going straight to RN I`m 35 years old and will be 40 when I graduate. I know a few girls thats going for LPN and later will go for RN but I want RN so why not go for RN? Is it easier?

Hi, Sar4tee, just wanted to put in my 2 cents worth; I continued towards my RN immediately after LPN graduation, I really doubt if I would have returned to school after working in the field. I graduated with my RN at 46 and would not have it any other way. I encourage all LPN's to get back in school ASAP, most argue that they can't afford it right away, but if you regard the pay differential between the two, I think you'll see that you can't afford NOT to! Not sure if that's the case for you. tho. Anyway, whatever you decide, the best of luck in your career!

Hi husker -nurse, well I thank you for your 2 cents, it is appreciated. You know I really have a concern for school. Were any of the courses hard to the point you were failing out or just passed by the hardest? I`ve been out of school so long but I believe I can get taught, I`m willing to learn..But I understand at the university I`ll be attending failing a course twice will fail out of the major..that worries me

I am day three of my med-surg unit orientation.

I was initially hired for the ER, but I opted out realizing that I needed to crawl before I could run.

I am nervous all the time, feel like I need to have a med surg book with me at all times, and I just didn't realize how unprepared I was for the real world........

I am excited about being a profossional person though and find that patients on this floor (mostly surgical) are truly gems

I am getting nervous about going to work tomorrow and I just left work 3 hours ago...

Hope I can get rid of this feeling.

M

Hey all you crazy Med-Surg Nurses!!!
I have been a Med-Surg nurse for 12 years now, and am probably something of an oddity, because all 12 years have been at one place!
I work every Fri, Sat and Sun...started that when the kids were little so no babysitters...and now it's a habit.
I'm also qweekend charge nurse..yippee..of our 48 bed unit.
I can't help it, I love my hospital! Sure it has had it's, lets say, "moments", but it's home to me!
Kinda makes you sick, right!

I plan on getting my M/S certification...sometime soon...not in any hurry...
So, to All The Wonderful Med-Surg Nurses Who Do A Wonderful Job Out There!!!

i started post passing the nursing board exam in the Philippines in the Med-Surg unit...we were usually rotated in all the departments there as part of the training of being a well-rounded nurse...but most oft the time, i was assigned at the Med-Surg dept...when i came to the US, i was also in the Med-Surg unit...then i went ED, to broaden my exposure...after a year and a half of vacation from the nursing field, i thought i'm still a fast ED nurse...alas, my docs said restart with Med-Surg.....yes, i'll follow them...i'll go back to Med-Surg where i learned the most to be a a person that gives TLC: a nurse

CONGRATULATIONS, NYNURSE07!!!!!!!you're on your 3rd day of orientation.......

me, i'll meet and talk to the Med-Surg director on Sept. 4, Tuesday. i was rehired in the ER but just like you, we (me, ED director, occ. health doc, neuro, PCP, psychologist) need to restart in the Med-Surg dept. and crawl back up to the ED again....i tell you, other Med-Surg nurses i know keep on discouraging me to go back there coz they said it's tougher...well, where can you find lighter load of patients? ....

I'm on my 2nd week post orientation, working on an oncology/medsurg floor. It's been wild. I've had a couple days where I didn't take lunch and still ended up punching out an hour overtime. I love the patients (well most of them) and the variety of conditions. Maintaining quality of care with 6 patients is tough for me. But I figure everyone else on the floor is in the same boat and I'm still learning. I'm sticking with medsurg for at least a year before contemplating anything else.

Cheers,
Dave