ER vs. MED SURG TELE?

[Guest716906]

Hello,

I was just wondering what you guys think of ER vs. Med surg /tele. I have worked med surg tele for 3 years and I am truly burnt out. It's barely possible to get all the tasks done in one shift and if one thing goes wrong/people refuse things it's as if you didn't get enough done. It feeling impossible anymore! I'm thinking about switching to ER.. I know it's crazy busy too but I have the idea that it's more stabilize the patient and send them up is the priority. Not mountains of small and large orders to accomplish on 4 or 5 patients + all the charting in 1 12 hour shift. Advice??

[evastone, BSN, RN]

I worked for about two years on med-surge tele before I started to feel the burn. The pressures you described was something I was experiencing as well but in the end, it was the departure of a couple of my mentors that caused me to leave. I switched to ER and never looked back.

The ER is not easier than Med-surge tele and vise versa. Sometimes you will have a high nurse to patient ratio and it's pretty fast paced. However, I like the fact that I'm doing more hands on work and the charting is easier where I work at than it was on the floor. Also, if my patient is going south the doctor is right there unlike in med-surge where you have to page the doctor.

It could just be my hospital is different from some of the others but I am happy I made the switch. Good luck with whatever you decide.