what are med pts and surg pts?

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I haven't entered the nursing clinicals yet but I keep hearing about medical and surgical nursing. What is the difference and what are the difference in patients? I hear some hospitals have it all in one floor and others in two separate floors. Also what are the common pts you see there. Any info would be appreciated. thanks

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Specializes in Med Surg/Tele/ER.

Med pts are pneumonia,copd,flu,dementia,nausea/vomiting,pain,decubs. Surgical lap choles,appys,hips/knees,colonoscopy,teeth...that of course is not all enclusive just a few to show you the difference. We have two wings (same floor) where these type of pts are seperated. Hope that helps!

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While some units are "dedicated" to surgical care, you'll still find them to have "medical" patients as well. That is, sometimes you admit a patient who is expected to have surgery, but turns out that they won't, and will be treated in a different manner. So your "surgical" patient has just become a "medical" one.

I work on a med-surg unit that is supposed to be primarily surgical. And, well, it IS, except that there are frequently cases that turn out NOT to be surgical. And, sometimes they don't fit on the other med-surg units. For instance, someone is admitted because of respiratory issues, and are admitted to the respiratory-focused med-surg unit. But if there's no space there, and there IS space on the cardiac med-surg or the surgical med-surg, they're going there instead. Because the "med" part of med-surg is all the same. It's the focus of each unit that differentiates it from the others, but there is often overlap.

Did this help, or confuse you further? ;)

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Thank you for those that replied. So manily the surgical pts obviously come out of surgery. So I don't understand why someone with the flu is medical?? Can't they be home ?? thanks again

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I worked primarily medical floor out of school. Most of our patients were elderly and from nursing homes. They tended to have many chronic medical problems and a diagnosis such as the flu may put them in hospital. Medical approaches are more about managing problems-adjusting their medicines, antibiotics for the UTI or pneumonia.

Surgical patients can have a medical history too. Some are trauma patients with no past medical history at all.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
Thank you for those that replied. So manily the surgical pts obviously come out of surgery. So I don't understand why someone with the flu is medical?? Can't they be home ?? thanks again

The term "medical" is a general term referring to the care of people who are ill and require some kind of therapy for them to improve or be cured. Medical patients can also be further divided into more specific divisions depending upon how large and how many beds a facility has, i.e., cardiac (heart), respiratory (lung), renal (kidney), neurological (the brain and nerves), and oncology (cancer) are examples.

The term "surgical" is a general term referring to people whose illnesses are treated or corrected by surgery which involves the manual repair or alteration of the internal or external anatomy of the body. Surgical patients can also be further divided into more specific divisions depending upon how large and how many beds a facility has, i.e. neurosurgery (brain and spine), orthopedics (fractures), or GYN (female organ surgery).

Hospitals, in general, like to keep medical and surgical patients separated from each other. Surgical patients are considered to be at risk to pick up bacteria from other patients that could enter their body through their surgical incisions. So, it is felt they need to be in an area that is maintained in the strictest standards of what is called aspesis.

The reason a person is hospitalized, no matter what their disease is, has to do with the treatments that they are going to be given. No one is admitted to a hospital to just lie around in a bed all day and have nothing done for them or to them. Many of the treatments and special monitoring that is required and done in the hospital must be done by trained professionals and cannot be efficiently performed at home.

With influenza (the flu), a person will be hospitalized when it has become advanced to the point of causing respiratory complications that are interfering with the person's ability to breathe or a secondary infection has taken over. A bad case of the flu in a person in a weakened state of health can lead to pneumonia and/or a systemic blood infection. Both of these conditions can become extremely serious and a threat to life. Intravenous antibiotics and respiratory therapy need to be given around the clock. This cannot be done efficiently in the home when the patient is acutely ill. These complications of the flu can result in death. When you get into nursing school you will learn more about how complications of the various illnesses affect the care of patients.

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Med pts are pneumonia,copd,flu,dementia,nausea/vomiting,pain,decubs. Surgical lap choles,appys,hips/knees,colonoscopy,teeth...that of course is not all enclusive just a few to show you the difference. We have two wings (same floor) where these type of pts are seperated. Hope that helps!

And with medical patients, don't forget...

Urinary Tract Infections

Dehydration

GI Bleeds

And if your lucky, you get the 90 year old demented patient with dehydration, aspiration pneumonia, a UTI, decubs, and maybe also a GI bleed! Fun!

Oldiebutgoodie

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