General Medicine Unit

April, RN, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2008

General Medicine where I work is essentially the same as Med/Surg, except it's mostly patients who are being medically managed rather than surgically. These floors get everything from cardiac, GI, respiratory, cancer, substance abuse, psych... Many patients come from the ER or are transfers from ICU. It's not any less stressful than med/surg but it is a really good place for a new grad since you will see a very wide range of diagnoses, ages, medications, wounds/dressings, blood administration, etc. :nuke:

RNperdiem, RN · Mar 23, 2008

I worked on a medical floor as a new grad. If they are not surgically managed, they are medical patients. If you work in a large hospital, there will be floors specifically for renal patients, cardiac patients, oncology patients, etc. Medicine floors take patients that do not fit into the specific categories.

The majority of my patients were elderly, chronically ill and often from nursing homes. There are multiple medical problems to be managed, and I learned a lot that year.

oramar · Mar 23, 2008

I don't know if this happened to anyone else, but when I worked a general medical unit units we would get an occasional surgical patient. This was due to surgical unit being full. It was sorta nice to get the change in emphasis in care. Most of the medical patients were really medical train wrecks, confused and/or non verbal. Where as the occasional surgical patient would be younger, AAOx3 and in relatively good health. I really noticed the difference in the amount of pain meds that had to be given out when I was pulled to surgical unit. It would not be unusual for me to medicate 16 times with a surgical case load of 8 patients, on the medcal unit we would give pain meds on an average of 4 times a shift.

nyapa, RN · Mar 23, 2008

I have worked in medical floors, and surgical floors that are separate from one another. Medical can also be extremely fast. Mind you, our patients have multiple comorbidities. They never come in with just one condition, but usually 5 or 6 others...

And yeah, oramar, I'm with you on surg patients. On a medical ward they can be a nice change. The medical patients can stay forever, the surgical patients often don't stay for a week or more...

linzz · Mar 23, 2008

I have done about 6 - 9 months on a medical unit and 3 months on a surgical unit in school, and I prefer surgical. Medical units are not easier in that patients can change on a dime and usually have illnesses that are not well managed. Also many come in for palliative care and that can be tough on a new grad. JMHO.