Can someone explain the different units of nursing?

Hi nurses,

I was just wondering if someone could explain the different units of nursing in the hospital. Ex. What do you do on the med/ surg floor? What the difference between L&D, postpartum, nursery and neonatal? Apart from the obvious it seems to get very confusing.

Thanks for the help

I am a nursing student and I work on a Med-Surg floor and we have patient who have just had surgery and are recovering some get sent to our unit after being in ICU for several days kind of like a step down unit. We might get some with medical conditions like CHF that get put in the hospital because of fliud build up. So we help them get it off. I hope this is been helpfull.

Med surg is a mix of all types of patients...anything from knee replacements to diabetic coma to renal failure to bowel obstruction....it is typically where you will do most of your training, as you will see a little bit of everything. L&D is for the patient in active labor through delivery of the baby. After delivery, mom may go to a postpartum floor, and baby may go to the nursery if he/she needs phototherapy, etc (related to jaundice). Neonatal is typically where the premies go. Hope this helps...good luck!

The names of the nursing units reflects the major patient population they serve. You can expect on the Ortho unit to see mostly people who have had joint injuries and/or joint trauma (hip replacements, broken legs, etc.). Med-surg is a catch-all for patients who don't fit in a speciality unit (like ortho, neuro, cardiac, pediatrics and nursery). The idea is to get speciality equipment and nurses used to caring for that speciality all in one place to better serve the patient.