Is med-surg like the nursing home?

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Aug 15, 2007

Med/surg is about as much like a nursing home as tigers are like housecats---they're in the same family, but there are HUGE differences in size and disposition! :lol2:

Just an aside: I have to admit I'm concerned......if I recall correctly, you have several children plus a new baby, and the last I heard was when you thought you were pregnant again. Med/surg is very, very physically demanding, and even if you were experienced in the field I wouldn't recommend it for someone in less than optimal health.

A med/surg floor of today is much like the ICU of 5-10 years ago, only with less staff. On any given day shift, a nurse is apt to have 5 or more very sick patients with multiple pathologies and complicated medication regimes; some are on four or five different IVs that may even include insulin drips, while others are demented, in ETOH/drug withdrawal, or recovering from major surgeries. And that's before you start discharging patients and admitting new ones! I've had as much as 100% patient turnover during the course of an 8-hour shift, and one particularly memorable shift saw me discharge 5 patients and admit 7.:angryfire

Which is why I went back to long-term care.

DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN · Aug 15, 2007

I have heard it is, and I'd like to know for sure because I am wanting to try doing some agency work. They have many med surg openings and while I've never worked in a hospital I've worked in the nursing homes so much I can walk in a new one and feel comfortable with little to no orientation.

Totally different. What Marla says is right on.

Jo Dirt · Aug 16, 2007

Then it sounds like I need to stay away from that scene. Now, I'm not just 80 pounds overweight, ugly, pregnant, tired and used up, I'm snaggle-toothed to boot. Had to go have one of my upper teeth pulled, it looks revolting--Snag the Hag. I rarely smile anyway but I'm sure it won't look too good to go apply for a job working out in the public around humans. Maybe I can stick a Chicklet in the gap for the job interview, that is, if I could land an interview...

Back to square one. Wait, I never made it out of square one...

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Aug 17, 2007

oh my gosh, Marla, did you write that post or did I?!?

LOL, you described my world :)

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Aug 17, 2007

oh my gosh, Marla, did you write that post or did I?!?
LOL, you described my world :)

That's why I got the heck outta Dodge while I still had my license AND some of my sanity. I'm a strong person, but three years on a med/surg floor---the last eighteen months of which were under an assistant manager who hated my guts---almost wiped me out, both physically and emotionally.

Med/surg is a hard job under the BEST of circumstances; but when you work for someone who belittles you, takes every opportunity to criticize you (and will create one if there is none), makes sure you get the hardest assignments and then comes down on you with both feet when you can't handle it.........well, it's like being nibbled to death by ducks.

I did the best I could to put up with things, because I loved my patients and liked the other nurses I worked with. I also enjoyed the pay and benefits I received and the opportunities to work in other areas of the hospital. But I spent that entire last year in and out of doctor's offices, ER, and the hospital with one illness after another, never figuring out it was all stress-related until the morning I got called in to the office for yet another chewing-out. It was then that a very quiet, but very sure voice whispered in my ear, "You HAVE to get the *#%@ out of here. Now."

I never worked another shift in that facility. I went into therapy, used a combination of what little earned leave I had left and FMLA for my two weeks' notice, and even drew unemployment for a couple of months while I recovered and regrouped.

Fortunately, not all hospitals work this way or treat their nurses (especially older ones) in this fashion. But again, Med/Surg is one of the toughest jobs there is in nursing, and I wouldn't advise the OP to consider working in this area unless she is fit and healthy, and even then one should really love it, otherwise a nurse will not succeed.

lesrn2005 · Aug 19, 2007

O.K.-with all of the above said, what do think of oncology floor in hospital? Is it as busy as med-surg, worse or better? Give it to me straight-going for an interview tomorrow a.m., (did med-surg for 8 mos. and it kicked my a--!).

General E. Speaking, RN, RN · Aug 21, 2007

Med Surg is hard (period). I have 13+ years experience in MS- I have been with my current MS position for > 7 yrs. I can tell you that once I get out of school for RN, I'm gonna leave skid marks from that floor. Hats off to those who do it.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Aug 21, 2007

That's why I got the heck outta Dodge while I still had my license AND some of my sanity. I'm a strong person, but three years on a med/surg floor---the last eighteen months of which were under an assistant manager who hated my guts---almost wiped me out, both physically and emotionally.
Med/surg is a hard job under the BEST of circumstances; but when you work for someone who belittles you, takes every opportunity to criticize you (and will create one if there is none), makes sure you get the hardest assignments and then comes down on you with both feet when you can't handle it.........well, it's like being nibbled to death by ducks.
I did the best I could to put up with things, because I loved my patients and liked the other nurses I worked with. I also enjoyed the pay and benefits I received and the opportunities to work in other areas of the hospital. But I spent that entire last year in and out of doctor's offices, ER, and the hospital with one illness after another, never figuring out it was all stress-related until the morning I got called in to the office for yet another chewing-out. It was then that a very quiet, but very sure voice whispered in my ear, "You HAVE to get the *#%@ out of here. Now."
I never worked another shift in that facility. I went into therapy, used a combination of what little earned leave I had left and FMLA for my two weeks' notice, and even drew unemployment for a couple of months while I recovered and regrouped.
Fortunately, not all hospitals work this way or treat their nurses (especially older ones) in this fashion. But again, Med/Surg is one of the toughest jobs there is in nursing, and I wouldn't advise the OP to consider working in this area unless she is fit and healthy, and even then one should really love it, otherwise a nurse will not succeed.

Yikes, sounds like you survived a war, not just a job! I can totally understand where you're coming from; our unit has a high turnover of new grads. Not a particularly high turnover of nurses with experience; they do tend to stay around for quite awhile. Still, the job can be brutal, the patient load too heavy, the acuity too high, and you're still being told "you're up for the next admission, they're on the phone to give report now"!

I DO love my job, but honestly I've been at it only a year and I tend to focus on the positive moreso than most of my coworkers. In another few, I don't know if I'll feel the same way! I hope I do, because the need for experienced nurses in m/s is huge.

crossbow · Aug 21, 2007

Yikes, sounds like you survived a war, not just a job! I can totally understand where you're coming from; our unit has a high turnover of new grads. Not a particularly high turnover of nurses with experience; they do tend to stay around for quite awhile. Still, the job can be brutal, the patient load too heavy, the acuity too high, and you're still being told "you're up for the next admission, they're on the phone to give report now"!
I DO love my job, but honestly I've been at it only a year and I tend to focus on the positive moreso than most of my coworkers. In another few, I don't know if I'll feel the same way! I hope I do, because the need for experienced nurses in m/s is huge.

Wait till you go past the 5 years on the floor, 8 admissions a shift, ETOH patient in withdrawals - Librium like MMs, three transfusions at the same time - two on demented elderly patients, 7-8 patients per nurse(you started with 6 at the beginning of the shift) and oh by the way, you're also charge RN.

yeah its a hard job. You get calloused deep down inside as you get older. Here's a tip. Say a prayer before you leave your car. It always is a big help.

bethem · Aug 21, 2007

I am a new grad currently on a medical ward. I did five months on an oncology ward and I was keeping my head above water there. I got to this medical ward and it is seriously kicking my butt. Five or six patients at all times, frequently at least one of those is confused and wandering...the other night one of my five decided he was a bit tired of breathing and kept trying to stop (ended up transferred to ICU and on BiPAP), another was a wanderer, a third was withdrawing from ETOH and a fourth was confused and kept trying to walk away from his bed (with a PICC attached to an IV line and pump, but he kept forgetting about that and would be found at the end of the bed, stretching the line out to its limits) :uhoh3: .

I LOVE floating to CCU because it's a nice break - on Sunday I only had two patients in CCU!

I am relieved to hear it's not just me who finds it hard. I must say, though, that I will definitely be one of the new grads who runs from medical nursing without a backward glance. I can't do it now, at 24, how will I be in 20 years? I too admire all of you who choose, and love, med/surg.

CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2007

I was kinda thinking of giving med surg a try. Couldn't be any worse than my LTC at the present. Out of the 26 patients, at least 10 would qualify for med surg. Most of them are short term on my unit, I'm hanging blood (don't do it that often...just think of the logistics of it all it is crazy), triple iv antibiotics, TPN, complex wounds, blood draws, tube feedings, etc. All of this while caring for (ha, ha) the other 16 or so typical nursing home patients, families and nursing home staff issues. Oh..yeah...lack of adequate supplies too and no..this place is not concidered subacute.

Sooo, I'm thinking about giving it a try. At least it would be official.