med/surg placement

hbncns35 · Feb 19, 2006

Hi Michelle,

I'm a senior getting ready to graduate in May...I've had three Med surg clinicals and all I can say is to ask alot of questions and look up what you don't know...bring your medsurg book with you. Pay close attention to what your instructors tell you. Be courteous to the nurses and stay out of there way unless you are specifically speaking to them. Look up your drugs before you go to clinical and know the 5 rights of drug administration. Learn as much as you can about your patient and offer help whenever and wherever you can. Practice your VS and study the charts. Find out what is going on with your patient and learn, learn, learn. You'll do great!!!!! Good Luck... :nurse: Heather

StudentC · Feb 19, 2006

I'm in the middle of my second med-surg rotation, and despite being terrified before I started, I found I really enjoy it. There's something especially gratifying about working on post op pts and pulling tubes and sending them home. A couple of things:

1) I don't know what kind of cases you'll be getting, but I've been mainly in ortho. If you end up with an ortho pt - pay attention to the movement precautions! There are all kinds of things PT will teach the pt about getting up from bed, laying down, standing up, sitting down, etc. If you have the chance, go to PT with your pt and learn how to move them.

2) This holds true for all things: Never attempt a lift or transfer on your own if you have even the smallest doubt about being able to do it. Get help. I'm short and I don't have the leverage or upper body strength necessary, especially for taller or heavier pts. I hesitated once or twice to get the help I needed, and ended up asking someone anyway.

3) Some docs can be really picky about what kind of drsg's their pts should have on ie tape, netting, telfa, etc. Find out what your pts doc wants and make sure you do it their way. I had to cover for a nurse one week who used a foul word in front of the pt when she realized there was tape where there shouldn't have been. I also breathed a sigh of relief at using the correct materials when my instructor and I were finishing up a difficult drsg change and the doc walked in!

4) Watch your I&O's! Don't forget to factor in IV's. If there's a solution going in when you arrive, write down how much is in it, especially if you're going to pause the IV to hang an antibiotic or something.

5) I've found that there are a lot of fun and interesting procedures to do on pts post op. Try to get as much experience as possible. If you know the doc is planning on DC'ing a drain or an IV, make sure to ask the nurses to let you do it. Sometimes they'll pull something like a half hour before you get there and you don't get the experience. Also ask if there are other procedures going on on the floor and if you could be allowed to do them even if they're not your pt. I got quite a bit of experience hanging IV's, DC'ing IV's, and changing drsgs on other pts.

6) ASK QUESTIONS! Don't bug the nurses too much, but ask. Being a nursing student is the greatest excuse for asking questions, and most of the time, I've found the nurses are happy to help in the learning process.

Hope you enjoy your clinicals. I can't say I'm the greatest source of information, but if you ever have q's, need to vent, or wanna tell someone about something new and exciting you did that day - feel free to PM me.

-C

carrie13 · Feb 20, 2006

Hi Michelle,

My first rotation was on med/surg also...actually all my rotations so far have been on med/surg except for pedi :). I don't know how it will be with your instructor and your program but my first rotation focused mostly on getting used to being on the floor, developing confidence and mastering the basics like vital signs, I&O, etc. The students were responsible for most of the aide duties - for the first couple months we didn't do much in terms of nursing duties. I think a lot of that had to do with our instructor being nervous about what we were capable of. By the end of our first rotation each student had given PO, and IV meds. Some gave injections others didn't get a chance to.

The next rotation offered a lot more opportunities to work with dressing changes, hanging IVs, foleys, more meds, etc.

The best advice I can give you is to be positive about the experience and look for opportunities to learn. You might have a great instructor or floor nurse that will pull you into different learning opportunities - but I've found in my experience that you need to go after those opportunities yourself. Obviously do what is needed for your patient - but if you are having a quiet shift let your nurse (and aide) know that you are available to help out - or ask if there is anything interesting going on with other patients that you might observe or help with.