My curiosity is begging me to ask these 2 questions:
1) Is there anyone out there who actually loves working on Med/Surg, hasn't worked anywhere else, &/or can't picture themselves doing so?
Personally, I've worked on Med/Surg for almost 4 years and love it. I've also worked on other specialized units, such as Ortho/Neuro, GI, Cardiac, Medical(straight medical patients), Rehab, & Psych, and have a developed a strong dislike for all of them. In fact, I'd rather have a crazy & busy day on Med/Surg versus having to work anytime on one of these units.
2)Including specific reasons to support your answer, explain why so many people with no experience in Med/Surg, are completely turned off or scared to death by it.
I've read many posts where this exact sentiment is expressed. And the majority of people who buy into it are: those with NO experience ANYWHERE in nursing or healthcare; pre-nursing students who have unrealistic expectations & ideas of nursing and what nurses do; current nursing students who get a really crappy/complex patient assignment during clinicals, thus causing them to swear off Med/Surg forever because no other area of nursing could be as bad; and new graduate nurses that want to jump right-in to their dream job/area(examples are OB & NICU). The odd thing is that these are the people who could benefit the most from working on Med/Surg!!
Specializes in Med-Surg, HH, Tele, Geriatrics, Psych.
I have worked LTC in a nursing home and hospital setting. I have also worked Tele, and Med-Surg-Resp in the hospital. When I started to burn out, I left and worked in Home Health for 15 months. I am now working in a very small hospital where we do Med-Surg, pre and post op Ortho, S/P OB-Gyn surgeries, CVA's, COPD/CHF, GI issues, MVA's, and PEDs. You name it. Unless they are a bad OD or in labor, we get 'em. We are going to start remote Tele in about 4 weeks. We have a small OB dept. and a small ICU, as well as an ER. If they are too critical, they are shipped up north to the big hospitals. I have to say, I have aquired more knowledge, more skills, and more confidence in the last 6 months than I have in all my years on just a typical Med-Surg floor. Med-Surg is a good place to learn the basics of nursing, but it is typically lower staffed and can be overwhelming at times. You must have good time management skills, and sometimes that is not enough to keep you from feeling like you are losing your mind. I have learned to prioritize what needs to be done, and to keep moving!
You get to see all different types of patients...You definitely learn tons!
Exactly!!! This is one of the (many) reasons why I love Med/Surg too!!
It puzzles me how those with no experience in Med/Surg, let alone anywhere else in healthcare, can say that they've slammed the door shut on it &/or will never never consider it based on the negative reputation and rumors hanging over Med/Surg-land.
And I'm not talking about people who have tried Med/Surg, only to realize it wasn't there cup-of-tea or that they found another area they liked better. I'm referring to the ones who go by what they hear vs what they see &/or experience first-hand.
Specializes in Assisted Living, Med-Surg/CVA specialty.
I'm a new LPN (as of 01/07) but I will finish RN school next month and can probably sit for boards by Jan or Feb...
Ive only worked in ALF and havent had any hospital experience other than what I've gotten in nursing school. I've been to 4 or 5 local hospitals and on every one of their med surg floors it's been unbearable. I don't know it's maybe it's just b/c I am a nursing student and we tend to get dumped on (e.g. There's 6-8 NS on the floor and the CNAs just sit there and do nothing all day), but I've endured mistreatment from staff on Med Surgs floors... They don't tend to get along, very little teamwork and this is at a lot more than one or two hospitals. This is on top of their heavy caseload, pts in DTs, total care pts, etc.
I just don't see the staff helping each other out as I have in ED and ICU, etc.
I am working on getting my nursing degree...when I decided to be a nurse years ago, I already knew that I want to go into the ICU...I'm not closing the door on med/surg, as I may decide I like it when I go through clinicals...but as of now, I'm simply not interested and I don't see anything wrong with not being interested
Exactly!!! This is one of the (many) reasons why I love Med/Surg too!!
It puzzles me how those with no experience in Med/Surg, let alone anywhere else in healthcare, can say that they've slammed the door shut on it &/or will never never consider it based on the negative reputation and rumors hanging over Med/Surg-land.
And I'm not talking about people who have tried Med/Surg, only to realize it wasn't there cup-of-tea or that they found another area they liked better. I'm referring to the ones who go by what they hear vs what they see &/or experience first-hand.
I have worked med/surg for the past 13 months. I hate it. I cant pinpoint exactly why but I love my coworkers so thats pretty much why I stay. I know no matter what happens someone will help me. This was my first job as an RN. I do love the fact that I have gained much experience and that just this week I am finally feeling a little more comfortable. I think it may be the fact that we usually have 5-6 pts, we are very busy and get discharges and admissions like crazy. Its nothing to have to chart on 8 or 9 pts in a shift. I just feel its been too hectic to really learn the things I feel I need to know to be comfortable. I am hanging in there though and hoping it will get better my second year.
I work in a med/surg unit. I never worked in any other unit other than psych so I really could not tell you what I really like!!
But as of now, I am not very fond of med/surg. We get everything on a med/surg floor, mostly geiatric. We also get all the confused patients and all the isolations!!
This is what my friends at work have to say about our med/surg floor.....When the doctors in ER see a patient waiving his/her arms up and calling everyone all the name calling that you can possibliy think of or hitting and punching or has MRSA or VRE....right the way they tell the bed placement....ok thats it, send that patient to 4w (our floor)..!!!
I just feel that after a while med/surg gets boring....I do the same thing every single day( ie wash, feed take care of the pt, give meds, empty foley, empty bedside commode so on)...after taking care of 5-7 patients I feel like some one beat me up with a stick...
However I am still working there its because I like my 12 hrs day position and I also like my co workers, we all try to help each other out and we are like a small family:)
The beauty of nursing is there is a place for everyone. I know a lot of nurses who like med/surg and don't want to work anywhere else.
For me it's the ER.
And for me it's the OR..nothing against med/surg, I just have a "surgical personality"- I think surgery is the coolest. Plus, no nasty families. Here and there, you get a nasty surgeon, but most of mine are nice.
I think med/surg is fine, just not for me. I also have the utmost respect for those who work the floors. In many places, you guys get way too much crap, and not enough respect and support.
I've often posted that I love med-surge, and totally agree that far too many students who have never had the opportunity to work in med-surg have already decided against it! Strange, when there's so much to learn, and m-s is such a great opportunity to not only hone skills, but learn many new ones. I have to completely disagree with the poster who said that he/she is bored with doing the same things every day....amazing to me, actually. I practically never do the same things every day, our patient loads are always changing, treatment techniques are incredibly varied, and surgical procedures always evolving. Even on the SAME patients, I see changes every day or every week in their care and treatments. Boring??
I suppose much depends on the facility one works in, and how one's unit is viewed by the hospital's physicians and administration. What kind of autonomy the staff have, etc. It so happens that my surgical med-surg unit is the best-staffed unit in the hospital, outside of OB; when we have openings, they don't stay open for long! It seems ALOT tougher to keep staffing interested and happy on several of the other units, such as cardiac, neuro or respiratory. Turnovers in ICU and several other areas are high, but not in my "boring" surgical unit! :)
I love med surg and consider it my specialty but would like it a lot better if my unit was staffed. I usually have 13 + patients. I get upset because we are too overwhelmed to provide decent care and the patients and their families often come into hospital expecting one to one care and get very abusive towards the nursing staff. They don't understand the how ill the patients are and how difficult it is to be the only nurse for that many patients. They just think that the nurses don't care and cannot be bothered and they are not afraid to let us know that. It's hard to bear the complaints and the abuse for things you cannot control when you are working so hard and so committed to doing a good job. By the way I have 13 patients on a GOOD day. Usually it is 20 or 30 that I am the primary for and we also take high dependency.
The ward I work on is also very unorganized. The recruitment freeze in this country means that there is no where else to go. I am going back to the USA as soon as my house is sold. The hospital I am going to there is well known to have great ratios.
ohmeowzer RN, RN
2,306 Posts
i am a RN , i don't like med/surg the job, but i love the people i work with and that makes the job alot easier.