LTC nurse moving on to med surg

[BosLav, MSN]

I've been a nurse for 5 years, working mainly in longterm care and home health care. I recently took the plunge and decided to apply to the med surg unit at my hospital (the nursing home I work for is attached to the main hospital). I'm both excited, and really nervous!

I have a 2-3 month long orientation, so it's not like I'm being blindly thrown into a new realm of nursing. But I would greatly appreciate any tips or advice from other med surg nurses! What skills should I brush up on? How is handling 5-6 acute patients compared to handling 20-24 relatively stable LTC patients? How is time management utilized differently in med surg compared to LTC?

I've also thought about looking into either books or online learning material to brush up on some skills and knowledge that I haven't used since nursing school, or haven't dealt with as frequently in longterm care (I.e. acute disease processes, certain pharmaceuticals, emergency care/treatments, etc). Any recommendations?

Thank you kindly! ?

[RNperdiem, RN]

The numbers might be smaller, but just like LTC, you have to rely on and work well with your aides. Use your resources. Sometimes there is an IV team, transporters and phlebotomy to help you. If a patient takes a turn for the worse, call your charge nurse and the rapid response team.

[Guest757854]

Awesome for you! Getting out of LTC and expanding your nursing to a hospital setting! I wish you nothing but luck! Make sure to review policy and procedure.

[BosLav, MSN]

16 minutes ago, RNperdiem said:

The numbers might be smaller, but just like LTC, you have to rely on and work well with your aides. Use your resources. Sometimes there is an IV team, transporters and phlebotomy to help you. If a patient takes a turn for the worse, call your charge nurse and the rapid response team.

Thank you so much for the advice! I'll be working night shift (7p-7a - I have always worked nights as a nurse, willingly so!), and I know that after 11pm, we have less available resources within the hospital. Our staffing at night generally consists of three nurses and one aide (I work for a VERY small, rural hospital).