Is med-surg like the nursing home?

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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.

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.

If this is what your LTC is like, then you'll probably fit right in with med-surg! I swear, there's a couple of nursing homes near my hospital that can't wait to admit a complicated patient with a "fever" every chance they get. Oh, and sometimes it's "dehydration"....as if it couldn't be handled on the nursing home. And then there's the holiday weekend admissions: the thursday or friday of a holiday weekend, the same "fever" and "dehydration" patients are in, and of course they can't be discharged until at least tuesday, after the md has been in to see them (after their holiday away)! It's always a joy to take on these patients along with the actual acute patients that are our norm.

Anyway, depending on what you want, you might prefer m/s. At least you could put that on your resume ;)

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