Bad Rep for Med Surg

[kellyskitties]

Any med surg nurses out there have any ideas or input about why med surg has such a bad reputation and what could possibly be done about it? We see so many new nurses and experienced come and go (before completing orientation). We see new nurses doing everything possible to avoid that "year of med surg." I know there's short staffing woes, but that can only be fixed if we get some good nurses to stay. I know there's the eat your young thing - but isn't the buffet open on all units in some way? Why are we so bad? I love it. I try to show why and what I love about it, but nobody works with me hardly unless they are eagerly watching for the chance to jump ship to another dept! We hear on our floor that we need to learn to work as a team better - I said, that would be easier if the players didn't change so fast.

How do we make med surg less of a nightmare and help nurses choose this field?

[newrn05]

I have worked many different places and I think one important factor can affect the success of a med/surg floor. TEAMWORK The place I am at now has fairly good ratios but our acuity is fairly high. The thing that makes our floor a success is our teamwork. We are constantly helping eachother to make sure everyone is doing ok. This has helped us keep our newbies lovign their job. I have worked places that don't have a teamwork approach and I don't last at all. I hate to see one nurse struggling with high acuity or one really bad patient and eveyone else sitting at the desk talking. Just my two cents

[Ruffles 1]

I think you are all correct in your thinking that the workload and patient acuity is so overwhelming to new nurses. I was talking to an ER nurse and she said she doesn't understand how we can function without telemetry or constant monitors watching our patients. Med/Surg nurses have to react quickly and know what is wrong with a patient without all the equipment. The patient ratio to one nurse is usually 5 or more, which means you run all day. I would love for management to follow me one day and see that I do not take a break or get a chance to go to the bathroom. Who in the world would want to have this job, yet many of us are very dedicated to our patients.

[Jean1313]

I have to admit, I haven't read all 8 pages of this, so if this was already said, sorry. I am relatively new to med-surg, and I am planning on leaving for pretty much every reason posters have mentioned. The OP mentioned how too many RNs leave, leading to increased pt load/burnout for the other RNs on the floor. But I think that floors really operate r/t the "grid". So even if your unit is staffed, it's up to management to go with the grid resulting in the same ratio regardless. That's what happened on our floor. We have the RNs, but we get "downsized" to fit the grid. Oh, and I should mention that this grid was from before our floor changed to more acute pts. But they won't change the grid still.

I've said it before, my hat's off to med-surg nurses. It is an intense job, with minimal peeing and eating and frustration that we can't do it all for the pt (as was mentioned already). A lot of my coworkers are great people, but many of us are doing our "year" or waiting for another position.

Good luck to everyone!