How much is the different between med & surg floors?

evolvingrn, BSN, RN · Mar 16, 2012

It really depends on your hospital and their structure. i think Medical floors tend to get thrown the ETOH pt's.. ect......but each floor where i work has their 'specialty" like our med-surg that is neuro, our med floor that is resp- on med floor that is cardiac -non surgical, Surgical floor that is ortho ect..... So i think I will depend on the particular dynamics of your floor. I don't think 3-5 weeks is a very long orientation. you might be fine? I would hope for more .

FutureRN_NP · Mar 16, 2012

What she said was that on the med floor the pace is much slower than the surgical. Much of it will be dealing with disease process such as renal failure. She suggested if you like fast pace than go for surgical otherwise med floor. I want to learn more about diseases because I am planning on becoming FNP in the future. This will help me tremendously. I hope I made the right decision to choose medical floor over surgical.

RNperdiem, RN · Mar 16, 2012

It depends on the hospital. If you work in a large hospital with very specialized floors, renal failure patients have their own floor, cardiac patients have their own department, and the patients who don't fit any medical speciality go to the general medicine floor.

My medical floor med surg patients were typically frail elderly, often disabled people. The admitting diagnoses often were pneumonia, UTI, infection and diabetic complications.

The intensity was different from surgical patients in that you didn't have as many pain control issues, drains or admits/discharges. Intensity here comes from the fact that there is always something to do and never enough time.

My medical patients had chronic problems that needed to be managed and the hospital stays were long. A lot of our people came from nursing homes and needed help for all ADLs.

A good crew of CNAs will make or break your day.

evolvingrn, BSN, RN · Mar 16, 2012

I agree.. Im on surgical but we get medical pts... Surgical come and go fast (our bigger surgeries stay a bit) but you learn and see a lot. Our medical pts are pretty boring medical wise but they keep you busy with adls because they tend to not be very independent with that. (where surgical tend to be be easier with adl's but busier with interventions ect...)

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Mar 16, 2012

Surgical patients usually get better and go home.Your interventions will be routine.

Medical patients have chronic conditions that require more intense observation and interventions, as they will have many issues going on... and can crash in a heartbeat!

evolvingrn, BSN, RN · Mar 16, 2012

I have had a different experience Than been there, done that. I Think things can go wrong with surgical pt's very quickly. people flip out of SR... start having chest pain, Develop a leak ect, Throw a PE..... With my medical pt's im usually just observing them, or they are on a protocol for alcohol withdrawl, or continuous bladder irrigation ect.......... I don't mind them as patients but i would say they are the less critical of the two in most cases. We have a respiratory medical floor so i don't get people for pneumonia ect..... I'm sure that affects my experience greatly

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Mar 16, 2012

surgical floors also have a good deal of coming and going-- to diagnostic imaging, back and forth to surgery, trauma coming in at odd hours, so you may find your well-planned, mostly orderly routine get a few hitches in it. not that you won't see that in a medical floor too, you certainly will, but it's a different kind of flow. you may or may not have more continuity of care in a medical unit, during which you will have the opportunity to learn more about your patient and the usual disease states (which often come several to a customer -- it's always possible to have more than one thing wrong with you.

anyone who thinks about being an advanced practice nurse should be thinking about what kind of np s/he wants to be, and tailor his/her couple of years of clinical experience accordingly. be aware that in your first three or four (yes) years of practice you might learn about something you don't know anything at all about now (maybe never even heard of when you started work) that really piques your interest, so keep your mind open.