Med-Surg Ortho Interview!!

[purplezen]

I am a new graduate nurse interviewing for a Med-Surg Ortho floor!!

I am super nervous and really want this job, I've been going over common interview questions and I feel okay but I'm afraid I will forget everything once the pressure is on!!

Any advice!?

What about if they ask "Why do you want to work on a Med Surg Floor"

Thank you!

[nursecait]

Be honest, be yourself, and congratulations!!!!

[renardeau, BSN, RN]

Here's my 2 cents:

I have always wanted to work in ICU. I like fast-paced, I like a lot more of the technical stuff you get to work with, I like not having a million patients. However, I'm starting in an intermediate care/step-down unit, which was my top choice starting out over ICU. Why is this?

Well, one thing I've noticed is that ICU nurses have a lot of machines (that take a lot of skill to work and understand admittedly) constantly telling them values on their patient. Yes, it's a lot of information to be given and to understand how to interpret and that in itself is admirable. But I also have so much respect for med-surg nurses, because without running a million labs and having the pt hooked up to a million machines, they have this really cool sixth sense of how their patient is doing that I was amazed to see in nursing school. A med-surg nurse has the ability to look at a patient and say "Hm... something just doesn't seem right about him/her." (Not to say that ICU nurses don't have this ability, but I feel like in med-surg, you really get to practice a different type of assessment skill than in ICU.)

Also, med-surg nurses are a miracle of organization in terms of juggling multiple patients. By the end of my practicum on a transplant/IMC floor where some days I had more floor patients than IMC patients, I really admired how the nurses on my floor could keep their patients straight. Without my cheat sheet, more than 3 patients was hard as nursing student. It was difficult to remember if patient A had a left or right incision, staples or sutures, etc. Did patient B have a left fistula and patient C have a right one? Or the other way around? Or did they both have right fistulas?? And coordinating prompt care for everyone throughout the shift while getting all that documentation in... I'm told it gets easier to practice, but that's why I want the practice. People always talk about a solid med-surg base before going to any other field and after my practicum, I think I'm of the same opinion.