med-surg..the "trailer trash" area of nursing??

Specialties Med-Surg

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Hi. This is a wierd philisophical question. Tonight, after a particularly crazy night on med-surg tele; the kind of night where you feel as if you are just tasking all night, putting out fires, admininstering pain meds q 2, and don't get to charting until 0400.......a tech who is a nursing student said something very thought provoking to me. "You are really smart. Why in the $%*& would you work in a med surg unit if you have the smarts to work in the ICU? ". I think he was referring also to the fact that he was completely flustered all night as well......not even a moment for him to find out why many of his charges were even there!

Usually, especially with the nursing student techs, I try and take time out to quiz and question them regarding issues and body systems and clinical judgement so that they can sort of get some learning while they are doing the endless tasks. But tonight, there was absolutely no time for that except once. I understand the frustration from him. But his comment got me thinking. WHY AM I just content to work in Med-Surg? Yes, I have higher aspirations and am starting my BA....dreaming of holistic nursing if I can get my masters before I'm dead...( I am almost 50 and didin't start nursing till I was 45). I haven't been moving on much since then because I've been raising my son who is now almost 18...I was thrilled that I could just start working nights as I've always wanted since my boy is now very self sufficient! That alone was a big boon for me!

I guess my question is.....how come med-surg is so much less respected than the other specialties in nursing? It seems to me that it is equally important, and if the job is done right; demands a great amount of critical thinking, organization/prioritization, and really the highest degree of nursing process utilization because you are managing 6 patients at the same time. I tried to explain this to the tech, but he still felt that med-surg is the "trailer trash" area of nursing. I am even thinking of getting certified in Med Surg Tele while working through my BSN because it seems to me that everywhere needs med-surg nurses!

Hope my question is clear. What do you all think???

Allied health. Your question is probably a new thread. We are speaking of the general nursing unit which cares for the medical patients and the post surgical patients. The techs there are CNAs or PCTs....certified, not licsensed. They take care of more ADL , input/output monitoring and documenting, vital documenting....turning patients, cleaning the soils, feeding patients, etc. Although....lets be realistic....the RN does all that stuff too! Especially when there are the techs who like to move...let's say......at their own little pace. They do not assess, they record and report. The RN assesses. So, I think you are thinking more OR. Operating Room.

Specializes in medical surgical.

You can get your degree if you want. I didn't start nursing until 45 either. I also work on a medsurg unit. I did the BSN and now I am enrolled in a masters. I have literally been in school since I was 45. You sound like my twin!!!!!

I'm sorry. It does say in the description the OR. I was just wondering if anyone had any idea what the heck they do. I wanted to hear from someone who works in a hospital. I think that the description may be a little "jazzed up" to seem more than what it is.

Specializes in Pediatrics.

Start a new post on that, or use the search feature at the top of the homepage. That isn't the topic of this thread.

I'm sorry for the following post... I am new to the "field of Nursing". I am currently a pre nursing student and while im waiting I was looking into taking a continuing ed classes. I would like to know what is the big diff. between Surg tech/ aide and a central serv tech? I was thinking surg tech/aide hand out tools during surg and the other comes in before and after serg to sterilize the equiptment and the room.

if you click the Specialty tab on top of this page, then click nursing specialties, you will find a forum for operating nurses.

i think you'd fare much better there.

leslie

Without them patients croak. Not good for satisfaction scores either :)

why isn't it good if the pts have 'croaked'?

at least they can't fill out the surveys.

but i could.:devil:

leslie;)

Specializes in Chemo.

The med-surge , tele floors are one toughest floor one has to work in. It is also depends on how the hospital classify, post op ortho, post cath patients, med surge and so on. Plus whatever patient ratio they decide to use. In my hospital they had no classifying of patients except med-surge. However on the tele unit we had everything. We use to do team nursing had eight patients one LVN and maybe a CNA. Still we had a 4 to 1, if there was no team. So that was eight patients to assess and be responsible for and chart on. The quality of the LVN and CNA (unsung heroes) made a big different in one's night. The team nursing changed to 6 to 1 and finally went away. I think many of the nurses were glad that there was to be no more team nursing. In the mist of all this the administration decided to take all the safe guards away so the nurses could not refuse patients for the ER ( unstable ) . We still found ways to work around that problem. One out refused a patient one night because the patient was not stable enough for the floor. When why she refused, she stated it is my Nursing License on the line. The med surge tele nurse has to be resourceful, think on his or her feet and has to be able put up with a lot of BS from patients, family and our bosses. This is not to say one departments pain is any different than any other department, we all have a difficult job to do, however this floor is a great for tuning ones skills.

Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

I don't particularly enjoy medical. U usually get all the dementia patients who come in thru ED there, as no-one else in the hospital wants them. We get a lot on our cardiac stepdown unit - and they're not supposed to be there. One RN I worked with said they should just re-name the CSSU to medical, as the dementia patients were not supposed to be there at all. I get bored on medical units, though surgical is better. I don't think much of medical - I don't think there is much critical thinking involved, and even though it is busy, I would tell any new grad who had done their mandatory year there to try for another specialty.

All the med/surg units I worked on had about 99% old people on them, and as I don't like nursing home work, this is all it seemed to be to me. It was the same, boring, repetitive routine every shift. Nothing new ever came up, and it annoyed me when the physios expect nurses - who obviously have nothing better to do - to get dementia/older patients up to ambulate who for the life of me did NOT want to walk, again, ever! As if we have time with two RNs to stand there and hold up an old person or a dementia to assess them. Most other health care prof's think med/surg is the end of the road ward - you go there, then you go into a nursing home and die.

Just do what makes you happy, but yes, med/surg (medical in particular) is seen as a nowhere field by the people I know, and IMO it is.

Specializes in cardiac, ICU, education.

I did med-surg, ICU, cardiac, post-part, community/school nursing, and owned my own business.

If you can do med-surg well, you can do anything.

Going to ICU/cardiac is med-surg with more drips and more criticality.

All the other specialties just have more training in their own area.

But if I go to any floor as a patient, I am hoping my nurse had at least 2 years of med-surg experience. They always seem to think outside the box and have a well-rounded and extensive foundation.

Well guess what? You now have to have experience to get into a med-surg position. I am considered a "stale" new grad because I still have not been able to find a job. I have applied to countless med-surg positions and they all want experience. Apparently it is no longer the training ground for new nurses. I graduated May 2010 and still trying to find that first job. Very frustrating because I hear all the time to try this or that and med-surg was one of them and yet we are locked out of there too. Working on my BSN since that seems to be the golden ticket with some employers. Time will tell and we will see.

Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.
Well guess what? You now have to have experience to get into a med-surg position. I am considered a "stale" new grad because I still have not been able to find a job. I have applied to countless med-surg positions and they all want experience. Apparently it is no longer the training ground for new nurses. I graduated May 2010 and still trying to find that first job. Very frustrating because I hear all the time to try this or that and med-surg was one of them and yet we are locked out of there too. Working on my BSN since that seems to be the golden ticket with some employers. Time will tell and we will see.

Princess, have you tried nursing agencies? Some employers will take you on to train you up for their facility. I was fortunate enough to have a hospital take me for this.

Just a thought.

Med-surg is the APEX from which everything else flows. Solid experience with a broad base is the crux of the best of the best. I am thankful for every shift I ever did on med-surg units, not one minute of that time was wasted in any sense.

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