Med/Surg Geriatrics Unit

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Specializes in Adult Psychiatry, Correctional/Forensic Psychiatry.

Good evening nurses!

I am a senior nursing student in a BSN program who was fortunate enough to be offered a position in the Med/Surg geriatrics unit 3 months prior to graduation! :up:

I have always had a passion for working with the elderly through some of their toughest times. I feel as if it is something that I will enjoy, honestly.

Is there anyone who works in geriatrics med/surg floor that can give me some tips, common diagnoses, how much do you enjoy your position, how is the work load? Any advice would be perfect!

Thank you! I appreciate it.

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Specializes in Med surg/tele.

I work med surg. I have a background as a medical assistant and LPN in family practice prior to transitioning.

It's not concidered a geriatric unit however, the majority of my patients are 65+. I've been on this unit a year and a half. It's busy. Med surg requires a lot of tasks and time management. My department is medical more than surgical. I see a variety. Diagnoses include cvs/tia, chest

pain, heart failure, pneumonia, GI bleed, acute kidney injury, encephalopathy, bowel obstruction and many others.

I love my job, but it's challenging. I have some patients on telemetry others aren't. I typically have 5-6 patients and work dayshift 7-330.

if you have other questions let me know!

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Specializes in Adult M/S.

I too am not on a dedicated geri m/s unit but it sure feels that way most of the time! We have a large retirement population where I live so the majority of pts are 65+ with numerous pts in their 90s and a few 100+. We see a lot of UTIs, "failure to thrive", hip fxs, aspiration pneumonia, pneumonia, falls, a fib, CHF, COPD, etc. Lots of dementia. Some tips, for pts with dementia, don't ask a lot of questions. Be more directive. "I am going to check your blood pressure now" instead of "May I check your blood pressure?" If the demented pt thinks they are at a hotel don't waste your time trying to convince them they are in the hospital. Gently remind them that they are in the hospital and move on. When you move to discharge the 90+ pt don't be surprised when their 70 something sone or daughter shows up to take them home! You may also be surprised to find the 90+ pt who is sharp as a tack and totally with it. Some days I like my job but when we have 4 pts each and 1 CNA for 24 pts and every one is trying to get out of bed and bed alarms are constantly going off I would rather be just about anywhere else.

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Specializes in Hospice.

Part of the Med/Surg unit I work on is dedicated to acute care for geriatric patients. Common diagnosis are CHF, COPD, UTIs, adult failure to thrive, and renal issues. In my opinion, the work load on this part of our unit can be higher than the rest of the unit. Most of the patients are total care patients, and even if I have a good tech, (And all of our techs are good ones.. ) I know that I am going to be doing a lot more with these people than with the younger patients. We also place a high priority on mobility on this part of the unit, and try to get the patients up in a chair, or even walking at least 3-4 times a shift.

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Specializes in Adult Psychiatry, Correctional/Forensic Psychiatry.
I work med surg. I have a background as a medical assistant and LPN in family practice prior to transitioning.

It's not concidered a geriatric unit however, the majority of my patients are 65+. I've been on this unit a year and a half. It's busy. Med surg requires a lot of tasks and time management. My department is medical more than surgical. I see a variety. Diagnoses include cvs/tia, chest

pain, heart failure, pneumonia, GI bleed, acute kidney injury, encephalopathy, bowel obstruction and many others.

I love my job, but it's challenging. I have some patients on telemetry others aren't. I typically have 5-6 patients and work dayshift 7-330.

if you have other questions let me know!

How long did it take you to get the hang of everything? I know it must be pretty stressful working with the elderly, but very rewarding!

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Specializes in Med surg/tele.
How long did it take you to get the hang of everything? I know it must be pretty stressful working with the elderly, but very rewarding!

I had 3 months almost of orientation. I felt fairly comfortable after about 6 months on my own. I have awesome coworkers and we work together well and bounce things off each other. It averages 7-8 nurses with 3-4 aides on a 43 bed unit

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Specializes in Adult Psychiatry, Correctional/Forensic Psychiatry.
Part of the Med/Surg unit I work on is dedicated to acute care for geriatric patients. Common diagnosis are CHF, COPD, UTIs, adult failure to thrive, and renal issues. In my opinion, the work load on this part of our unit can be higher than the rest of the unit. Most of the patients are total care patients, and even if I have a good tech, (And all of our techs are good ones.. ) I know that I am going to be doing a lot more with these people than with the younger patients. We also place a high priority on mobility on this part of the unit, and try to get the patients up in a chair, or even walking at least 3-4 times a shift.

How long have you been working in this unit? How long did it take you to get comfortable? Would you say there is a big difference in caring for the adult client vs. the geriatric client other than the mobility aspect? Would you say you enjoy working with the geriatric population?

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Specializes in Adult Psychiatry, Correctional/Forensic Psychiatry.
I had 3 months almost of orientation. I felt fairly comfortable after about 6 months on my own. I have awesome coworkers and we work together well and bounce things off each other. It averages 7-8 nurses with 3-4 aides on a 43 bed unit
Do you feel with the patient load you get, it is very overwhelming? Or is 5-6 patients fair working with the population you work with?
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Specializes in Med surg/tele.
Do you feel with the patient load you get, it is very overwhelming? Or is 5-6 patients fair working with the population you work with?

Honestly it depends. My unit goes by numbers only. They don't care about acuity. There's 40 patients, 8 nurses, everyone gets five patients based on the rooms.

6 is a lot, which has been consists for a while now. If I have 6 low acuity, few meds, not ringing tons I'm ok, its doable. High acuity, lot of meds, on the call bell it's rough but I handle stress really well.

My hospital encourages we take our lunch 30 minutes and we all take it aside from an unusually crazy day. Sometimes clock out 30 minutes to an hour late but usually under 30 minutes.

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Congrats on getting your foot in the door at a hospital pre graduation! Thats big step right there, get some hospital exp you can go anywhere.

I actually started off on Geri med surg unit about 3 years ago when i graduated. Our floor was 48ish bed unit with 7 RNs, and 4 aides. Each nurse had 6 patients. It was remote telemetry unit ( This means a certified tele tech was watching all the cardiac monitors as there sole job, the RNs on this unit where not trained to watch cardiac monitors, in case of cardiac event we where told by tech what happened and passed message to MD)

As New grad i had 3 months of orientation for the overnight shift. I felt completely overwhelmed. One of biggest things you do on med surg floor is administer medications! Tons of medications, piles of them. Remember every medication you administer you better no what is does and why the patient is getting it. As new grad i didn't no a lot of the common medications patient get off top of my head so i had to look up each med. This added a lot more time to med passes. My advice on this is to write down list of common mediations and take time to memorize them at home.

Once i got on my own it took another 3 months for me to feel more comfortable. By month 9 i was bored silly and looking for change( no offense to other med surg RNs!!!). The Work load starts off overwhelming as new grad but once you do find yourself you will be able to manage 6 patients on most nights. (tho some nights might feel worse then others depending on patient personality + dx).

Some of most common Dx i cared for: UTI (Very common, also remember this can cause confusion in elderly pt, confused pts love to try and get up) PNA, COPD, and CHF. If you are in US some common comorbidities people have but aren't necessarily admitted for are HTN, DM, Obesity.

Some advise that helped me was:

-Don't be afraid to ask stupid questions, just don't do stupid. (People tend to forget if u ask stupid question by next shift they don't forget you harming a pt)

-The doctors are not gods gift to the world (despite what some will tell you), they are human and make mistakes, don't be afraid to correct them.

-The MD is not your friend, and will through you under the bus if push comes to shove, (your license vs theres) so stay in your scope of practice and follow hospital policy.

- Have postive attiutued / Ask for help / try help others when you can / Don't talk badly about co workers no matter what (esp since u are new guy wont go well for you)

I personally found Med-Surg very boring and to predictable (i hate routine). I thought it was great way to get my feet wet and learn the basics. I would recommend it to any new grad, it will def help you find your niche in nursing world.

I ended up moving to a busy level 1 ETD after my year was up. I enjoy the acuity more.

Good luck on your career as a nurse!

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