So...does anyone like it?

Nurses General Nursing

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MQ Edna

1 Article; 1,741 Posts

I work med/surg, have for the last 10 months or so since I've graduated and I love what I do. But I probably won't stay there forever, simply because it IS the dumping ground of the hospital. Just the other day an ICU nurse came out and told us first thing in the morning "wow, you guys are lucky X came in to work extra, because if she hadn't, Y would definitely have gone back to the unit." Mind you, we were already working short, and that would have put us in a real bind. But it WOULD have happened. And never did it occur to the nurse from ICU to wonder how pulling one of our nurses would affect us. We get calls from the ENTIRE hospital to come help when they are short, and we have to do it. I have ONE TIME seen an ICU nurse come and do an admission for us when we were busy, never anyone from any other dept. We are also required to staff the doctor's offices that our under contract with the hospital. Guess which unit does it when one of the office nurses is out. Med/surg. At night, the ER calls our unit to go to pharmacy for them. Why?? Because they can't POSSIBLY spare any nurses, even for 15 minutes, because they are too busy. ALWAYS. No one ever stops to think that maybe we are busy as well. And woe to anyone who doesn't jump up and run to the pharmacy RIGHT THAT SECOND.

That being said, I do love what I do, love my patients and am glad (usually) to go to work. I have gotten great experience on the med/surg floor and wouldn't have traded my time for anything. But, I doubt I will be there forever.

Laura

grandma rn38

31 Posts

hello

where i work, we have the er, and the med-surg floor, that is it. i love the med-surg floor we have every thing from MI, to children, so we never know what is coming to the floor, and when the er needs help we go there to. i have worked in the big hospital and hated the same old thing q day, i love what i do now. have learn a lot.

Hooligan

470 Posts

Thank you all for your replies!! I appreciate your honesty and candor! Med/Surg is the only place in the hospital I have ever really had experience with...and that's only from a patient's point of view!!

I remember during my 1st year of college when I was 18 and a little lost...I didn't really know what I wanted to do for a career. I knew I was going to college...but for what? Anyway, I had surgery for dermoid tumors on my ovaries and during my recovery, I was impressed by the nurses and for the 1st time considered nursing as a carreer. Unfortunately I guess I asked the wrong nurse at the wrong time 'cause she told me never to do it! That she hated her job and that she wished she had never done it! Needless to say...I took her advice (coupled with the "what are you crazy comments from my father) and went on to get a BA in English and get a job in a University as a Unit/Center Manager.

After the first year of working, I hated my job and kept searching for something...some career path...somewhere and I kept going back to nursing but her voice (and my father's) kept buzzing in the back of my head..."don't do it...I hate it"( "don't do it, you'll hate it".) Well...I was lementing my career woes over a cup of joe with a girlfriend of mine who's a pharmacist and we started talking about nursing and it was at that point that I decided that I would finally throw caution to the wind and go for nursing. I finally decided that I'd rather go into nursing and find out that it's not all it's cracked up to be than alway wonder "what if?". I guess I'm betting on the fact that I'm going to like it .

Now what, you ask, is the point of this story? I dont' really know...I guess when I think of nursing I think of Med/sug floors first...and I was planning on perhaps starting out on the Med/Surg for a while...and then figure out exactly where I want to be... Anyway, thanks for you replies...sorry I go off on these little tangents!!! :D

~Bean

mattsmom81

4,516 Posts

I hate to say this but it seems new grads have a 'triall by fire' welcome out there in medsurg these days. Medsurg is a tough place to work, a specialty of its own. It's cliche but true that a good medsurg nurse is worth his/her weight in gold...

As an ICU charge nurse I could supervise a strong medsurg float nurse in a pinch MUCH easier than a new grad RN. My best critical care coworkers came from a solid medsurg background. The worst, including those who couldn't take the internship, came on as new grads or from a 'specialty' area where their experience was limited. They just couldn't deal with all the variety of diagnoses and the advanced skills and concepts because they weren't solid in the BASICS.

I never regretted my medsurg background. It gave me a solid foundation to move on to critical care; provided me with skills in prioritizing, organizing, and a flexible mindset. Nursing school concepts revolve around medsurg care, so it's wise to solidify the knowledge base there...for a time. Some say this is an old fashioned idea, but IME, still is a good idea in general. :)

Many disagree with me and that's OK. :)

micro, RN

1,173 Posts

a good strong medsurg background, knowledge and experience of prioritizing and reprioritizing through the chaos.............

essential...........

some stay and love it,

some come to learn.....

agree with Matt's mom

petiteflower

230 Posts

I worked as an LPN on a medsurg floor, during my second year of nursing school. Quickly after graduation I moved into ICU. Now that I am working in a smaller hospital, where most of our patients are medsurg, I found at first that I was an excellent critical care nurse, but needed a lot of help with routine things--we do a lot of urology---a TURP with CBI????? I had no clue--we just didn't get those patients in the unit. Med surg nurses have to know about a lot of things--from pediatrics to pneumonia to surgical, and many times deal with many more doctors prima donna attitudes than just the specialists.

i work med/surg and love it!!! i have to agree with what thisnurse and RN-PA said.....couldn't have worded it better! :wink2:

RNinICU

235 Posts

Med-surg is a good place to start out. You learn a lot, and get to know what kind of patients you like to work with. I enjoyed med-surg, and still float to the floors. Some people love it and don't think about leaving. At some hospitals you need 1-2 years of med surg before you can enter a specialty area.

LasVegasRN

835 Posts

I have to agree with Mattsmom - MedSurg is the training ground where nurses need to start out. It encompasses the core of where we start out and grow from.

I didn't stay in med-surg for the same reasons others stated above, and ended up in ICU loving the 20 drips and trust of the doctors. But, having "paid my dues" after all of that, I got out of bedside nursing altogether. BUT don't think for a minute I didn't appreciate my med-surg years, and GOD BLESS the med-surg nurses today!!

Hooligan

470 Posts

I just wanted to thank everyone again for all the input! Makes me feel better to know that there are those out there who like med/surg. So...Thanks!!

bellehill, RN

566 Posts

Specializes in Neuro Critical Care.

Hey Everyone!

I have worked med-surg for 5 months and I love it. At my hospital the pt load is 5-6 pts. It is a teaching hospital so I can interact with the residents before they get a primadonna attitude and I can really learn alot. I love med-surg for the variety. I started out in Women's Health and got so bored caring for the same pts. In the past 5 mos I have taken care of every kind of pt imaginable. Wouldn't trade this experience for anything!:wink2:

live4today, RN

5,099 Posts

Specializes in Community Health Nurse.
Originally posted by bean 76

I've noticed that a lot of people complain about Med/Surg floors...they're either already placed on one and bucking to get off or their trying like crazy to avoid being placed on one after graduation. Why is that? I know I'm probably showing my naivete here but humor me please! Does anyone like the Med/Surg floor? What is it specifically that you like/dislike about that floor? Thanks in advance for your replies!!!

~Bean

Hello Bean! :)

I absolutely loved working med/surg when I worked in nursing, and wouldn't object to returning to med/surg next year when I return to nursing if it weren't for the weight limitations on my right arm.

I learned more on med/surg than I ever learned on any other unit that totally prepared me for the years I worked as a Traveling Nurse. If it hadn't been for my med/surg experiences prior to becoming a Traveling Nurse, I don't think I would have faired as well as I did from one hospital location to another.

In my humble opinion, med/surg grounds a nurse, gives her/him the solid foundation of nursing, prepares one with skills and critical thinking abilities that will long stay with you. Med/surg is like the old saying that says "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." Med/Surg prepares a nurse for occasions such as that when you can't find work on any other specialty unit, or perhaps you've always worked on a specialty unit and you lose that job and can't find another one in that area, well...there's always med/surg to fall back on. It's like obtaining your Basic Degree in Nursing...working with patients of all ailments, treatments modalities, etc. Once you learn med/surg, you never forget it. It's in you to stay.

I've gone to other units after my med/surg experiences, such as: Newborn Nursery, Pediatrics, SICU, Neuro/Ortho, Surgical Nursing and so forth, and nothing prepared me better for the groundwork on those other units as med/surg did.

Med/Surg IS a Specialty in Nursing. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING general in nature about it. It prepares you to be a multi-tasks/multi-thinking kind of a nurse. You learn a lot more drugs and drug side effects on med/surg units. You learn a lot about the post-op surgical care of patients, how to prepare them pre-operatively, and you learn a lot of patient/family teaching skills on Med/Surg. This is just a touch of what I have gained from working Med/Surg. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything else in nursing because it was my Med/Surg experience that made me the nurse I am today. :)

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