Am I crazy because I love med surg???

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I mean I really love working med surg, but I hear so many people say they hate it. I can't understand why? Could someone tell me why they don't like it or why they do? I would love to hear both perspectives.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, educator.

I love it too, been doing it for 7+ yrs. I have days where I hate some of the goings on, but still think it's the best area to work. Always something to do, even if you are running like a headless chicken!

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

Props to you for finding something you enjoy. Many people never get to experience that.

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Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, LTC.

I am glad you enjoy it so much! I do med/surg, but am not crazy about it... I like it enough to do it, but I am not crazy about it. I am thankful that I do not hate it.

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Many people do not like medsurg because they feel like they cannot do everything for each patient. It comes down to a personality thing...would you rather be doing fifteen things at once and not be able to give detail to each thing or would you rather be doing two things and give your full detail to each thing? There is no right answer, and both types are needed in nursing. Props to you for finding a field you love!

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I sill have one more semester of school but I love med/surg too. I just really like the hustle-and-bustle and that no two patients seem the same. An instructor I had for one of my pre-reqs is an RN who has worked in med/surg since her graduation about 18 years ago and says she'd never want to do anything else.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

Kudos to you for liking med-surg! It may be due to working with a great team of collagues as well as your passion for this service...who knows? But, it is great. As mentioned, many do not find it throughout their careers. And, those that may have developed a passion for this may be turned off if they work in a toxic enviornment with untrustworthy or unethical collagues.

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Love it away. Med/Surg was my first clinical love, albeit I couldn't practice it with the going ons now. But by GOD's grace, will still go back to it.

I have a calling for where I am now and I am thankful for it. All things always have a a beautiful way of working out just fine. You see, it has no choice but to:).

So glad for you and your med/surg. Pls keep on loving:)

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I love med/surg! I have been done it all: ICU, L&D, ER, Tele and I always come back to med/surg. Being able to find your niche and what you love early on is a wonderful blessing. Although I do have to disagree with the comment about not giving detail to each thing. We DO give detail. Our patients aren't in CCU so they don't have the need for the constant attention, but when we are in that room ~ our attention and skills are focuses solely on what that patient needs in order to meet the goal: to go home. :redpinkhe

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Please feel blessed beyond compare...I'm a new nurse so I may be wrong but

Sometimes I hate the job but I see it as a stepping stone to bigger & better things...

Generally stating, what I dislike about med-surg is that you are expected to do everything for everybody, be happy about it & chart qthing within a short amount of time.

1. Antagonizing Family Members (Pet peeve-if you are not genuinely concerned, &/or family is requesting qthing, complaining about small things that I can't do nothing about take your fill in the blank home)

2. Qthing falls on the nurse-pt didn't get scheduled respiratory treatment (get the nurse), lab tech failed to get blood specimen for labs (nurses fault), PT/OT didn't come to walk patient or unhooked patient from IvF but didn't hook them back up (Nurse needs to do it),

Calorie count initiated & patient didn't receive food tray (dont get dietary, get the nurse), tv remote chair broken (get the nurse),

Why didn't the Doctor order such & such? (As a nurse you should have known that the patient would need this or that. Shouldn't the person with the degree to practice medicine have known as well) It's crazy because we can't order anything..but we have to tell the doctor without actually telling the doctor to order something.

3. CHarting-do something, chart it. okay cool but now you need to chart the same thing on paper 2 different areas, on CPU in 2 different areas and follow all the preliminary worksheets & follow up work sheets. My place of employment has a 3 more worksheet limit. If I feel like 3 additional worksheets are added & it's a waste of time, I'm turning in my two week notice.

4. NO aides- (pet peeve) the least we should have is sufficient aide staffing on qshift. (ice pass, blankets, changing) I can't chart without being interrupted. 6 pts 1 pt with bowel prep, 1 with diarrhea & both are unable to use the toilet (total care), 1 getting blood, 1 who stays on the call light jus b/c he or she can't sleep, 1 whose a drug seeker (pain med due q3hr but calls q2hr "just bring me anything I can have-referring to phenergen,benadryl,etc) & the list goes on...

5. Fresh Admits- needing to get med reconcilation (Something deep within my soul tells me that this is the job of the physician) If they are the ones deciding what's going to be continued they need to come up here & figure out what medicines they are taking.

5.Admits from ER...why send me a patient with a foot ulcer possible osteomyelitis with no pain meds ordered. Aren't the doctors right there?...or start an IV that looks like it is good enough to last for a few hours?Pre-op check list! Who thought of this? Shouldn't the perioperative nurse handle this? Why am I having to stop qthing I'm doing to hurry up & get this sheet done when it can be done downstairs? (this is similar to #2, but if qthing falls on the nurses it even more so falls on the med-surg nurse.)

I hate when almost all of your patients need you around the same time. I know how to prioritize but it's still stressful. & I don't think press gainey scores take into account prioritization...

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Specializes in ICU, ER.

I admire all of you who love m/s. To me, it was the most stressful year I ever had. That is why I have done nothing but ICU and ER since then.

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I'll tell you you're not crazy for liking Med/Surg if you tell me I'm not crazy for liking Psych.

lol

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