How much med/surg do you use in pediatrics or OB?

[worrywart]

I'm a nursing student in my med/surg semester and I had to withdraw from the class today. I feel like a failure and have been comtemplating changing my major for awhile now. I was never good at patho and I know med/surg is based strongly off of that. I was just wondering how much of med/surg do you use in the career if you aren't planning on working in a med/surg unit but instead looking to work in pediatrics or OB? I realize you use a little bit of everything, and med/surg is the basics, but if med/surg is not your strong area will you still make a good nurse? I feel like when I ask other nurses during my clinical questions they look at me like I should just know it. How much of med/surg do you use in pediatrics or OB?

[IrishIzCPNP, MSN, RN, APRN, NP]

Well pediatrics IS med/surg but on smaller and younger people. So you need med/surg just as much in pediatrics as you do for adults. In fact some people might say you need it more since there's a fine line with meds more then with adults. The same thing can apply to procedures.

So going peds isn't gonna get ya out of med/surg.

When it comes OB it's the same thing. You may encounter patients with a variety of disorders and diseases and you need to know how things work with other and how to deal with them. You may have a patient with a heart condition, gestational diabetes, kidney failure and so on. Now you probably won't see it as much but you need to be ready.

So if you absolutely can't do med/surg you are gonna have some real difficulties.

I can tell you I honest suck at anatomy. I know...crazy. I graduate in July and these things don't stick with me. That being said I do well in school. I know enough anatomy...I'm just not as good as I want to be.

When it comes to patho I'm actually better. Patho can be a hard concept in my opinion. It's hard to imagine how much organs have to do with each other. I'm sure most people would things it's crazy that the kidneys have a role in blood pressure. The average person would think there's no way...but it's true. Patho is very interesting once you can start piecing things together. I think patho is one of those places where you need to ask questions. It can be confusing and you might need a different explanation then others.

You might benefit from some of the books out there such as Patho Made Incredibly Easy. I know we have a student who bought a lot of the Incredibly Easy books and they really helped her. I have a few of them. My most recent one is NCLEX Made Incredibly Easy. It's great and really explains things I get wrong. I was told there a Q&A version (what I have) and a regular one that just tells you information (I plan to get it). I would look into these. They also have a magazine. It's a nice series. Heck some of my instructors have them.

[casi, ASN, RN]

The OB floor of the hospital I work takes all patients with female problems. So it's not all birthin' babies, but gyn surgeries as well.