Med-Surg Roll Call

Hi, I work on a Medical Unit (surg is separate at our hospital). It is in total a 70 bed unit with telemetry. I have been working there for 10 years in total (6 as an RPN and 4 as an RN). I loved it and can't imagine working anywhere else.
I'm in Canada and am not sure what certifications you are talking about. We don't get certified here to work med/surg.

I have had a varied experience, I worked med/surg telemetry for two years--36 patients, 3 nurses (one an LPN) and 1 assistant--I was brand new and did not know any better. I then went to home health, then to the outpatient heart cath unit.

I am back to med surg and I love it! I am certified through AMSN and am proud that I have declared my specialty and have proven I know what I am doing. I have explained it to nurses and physicians (who have questioned my new intials) that is the difference between a general practioner and a specialist. This has earned me additional respect from my co-workers and from the physicans that I work closely with.

I work on a 36 bed medical unit that does have telemetry on approx 75-80% of the patients. Day shift has six nurses, Evening shift has five to six, and Night shift has five. Of course, the day and evening shift staff is subject to cencus. Our second and third shift work seven days on and seven days off. We work seven days and get paid for nine days. This is the incentive for working this schedule. However, new hires are not getting this option.

The nursing shortage has made a tremendous difference in the number of nurses that we have. Day shift only has FOUR FULL TIME RN'S. We are located between two large cities, where commuting will pay you an additional $5 to $10 dollars an hour. I am working an extra day on my off week to help out. Our hospital has recently started a flexi-pool to handle these situations, but my experience is that their work is substandard. One nurse did not sign off/ or do the tasks on three pages of orders.
Unfortunately, this was not caught until third shift.

Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated. Of course, commiseration is a good thing too! Good luck out there, Veronica RN, CMSRN

our charge nurse role is different. we take turns doing charge.(RN's with experience to do so) the charge nurse is there to help with sticky situations especially those that are time consuming. the nurses call the md on behalf of their patients which is a good thing coz the primary nurse knows more about the pt than the charge nurse does. i would not want anyone making calls for me, i think this takes away the ability of the nurse to make decisive actions concerning their pts. there are times when i feel nervous about calling certain mds and i wish somene else could do it for me, but this is a fundamental role of the nurse which builds confidence in your practice. sure we all make blunders but it's the best way to learn.

ITA with everything you said! Our unit is setup the same way on 11-7 in that we take turns being charge and the rn's call the docs on their own primaries/covers. When we're calling a doc we'll ask around to see if anyone else needs to talk to them as well.

I've been working as an RN since 6/04 on a primarily surgical floor. I was told I needed to start being charge last October and by December the other nurses had me doing it a couple times a week. Now I do it at least 3 times a week I think. I don't mind doing the bed assignments and shift assignments, but I am uncomfortable being the "go-to" person. But when there's nurses working who are more senior than myself, I send questions to them. What's really scary is... I've worked multiple shifts in which I was the most senior RN and everyone, LPN's included, had had their license a shorter period of time or just a little bit longer than me. On nights like that, I've found that more senior RN's on other floors are willing to lend wisdom.

I just graduated from nursing school this past May '05 & am an RN & have my BSN. I have been working as a med/surg/tele nurse for 3 months now (this is my second career-have a Master's in biology & previously worked in Biological Research) & like it a lot. I plan on working in med/surg for a couple of years before I start taking classes part-time to become an acute care adult NP. For now, I'm enjoying learning about taking care of all the many different types of patients we see on our unit. I also joined the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses. I love reading the journal I get every month. I don't know if I'll get certified or not. I think going to grad school will be the next thing on my plate.
-Christine

hello all,
I often find myself on medical surgical/telemetry units. Not too terribly crazy about the telemetry; but, definitely enjoy the med-surg. I enjoy the surgical side and don't mind the frequent flyers--as long as they are not belligerent or violent. I do not hold a certification at this point in time, but do have the intention of obtaining this in 2 or 3 years. (Family first .)

gentle

I am currently a Med/Surg RN x almost 2 years. I was just looking in to certifying. I truely love it. I hurt my back right before Thanksgiving and may have to leave M&S for a while but hope to return. I love the diversity of the patients.

I currently work on a medical floor and have worked their for 18 months as an aide and 13 months as an RN. I am constantly busy and always learning new things, I truly enjoy it. I don't plan on being on the medical floor forever. I currently am working towards my BSN and then I want to get my Masters to teach nursing. This has always been my dream. Who knows, maybe I'll end up teaching med-surg!

Hello!
I also work medsurg all my nursing life. I'd prefer all surgical pts if it's up to me but for 20 yrs or so it's been a mixed population of nursing