Med-surg or tele floor?

Up2nogood RN, RN · Dec 14, 2009

If you're looking to go into critical care in the future I would go with telemetry, if you're unsure you can't go wrong with med surg.

CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN · Dec 14, 2009

If you like and are comfortable with the increased stress of patient's who appear perfectly normal and then die the next second go to tele.

Don't get me wrong, patients die on medsurge floors too, but not as often and as suddenly as on a tele floor. I don't miss the constant fear and stress of keeping my patients alive as on a tele floor.

smoke over fire · Dec 14, 2009

Bradycardia versus rigor mortis.

But seriously... The majority of tele patients are ill because they smoked too much, ate too much didn't exercise enough, and other reasons to feel "shame". We humans really abuse ourselves. So there are many opportunities to develop a sense of how to live with chronic illness. I find it fascinating and love the challenge of helping people to find ways to trully live the best life they can with their disease process.

Med-surg is always great for a new grad because of the variety and workload. You will learn how to time manage, also you are more likely to be team nursing and will learn how to delegate to LPN, (or get delegation if you are an LPN) etc.

Not to say you won't also learn these things on tele, it's just usually less patients per nurse, but more interventions & meds. on tele.

Perpetual Student · Dec 14, 2009

The one you get offered is the best! Personally, I'd prefer the tele job based on the limited info you offer. It's more relevant to my interests and long-term goals.

That said, you should consider numerous factors in selecting a position. Location, staffing, pay, schedule compatibility, environment of the unit (e.g. are coworkers helpful), orientation quality and length, etc. should all weigh heavily into your decision making process.

Good luck!

ohgoodnessgracious · Dec 14, 2009

I say go with tele. You may get sicker patients who require frequent monitoring and are close ICU-candidates but you learn a lot and can apply more critical thinking skills than on a regular med-surg floor, imo. I think it's a plus to have a patient on a tele monitor because God forbid they DO have something like bradycardia episode, you'll know about it right away and can do something about it rather than finding out some odd minutes to hours later. Our hospital requires patients to be put on tele monitoring if they need continous pulse ox monitoring as well. All the critical care classes taken at nursing school are still fresh so might as well put it to good use!

nlhnurse1982 · Dec 14, 2009

Well it sounds like you are put in the same dilemma that I had when I graduated. I went with med-surg at the smaller hospital instead of the stepdown unit at the large level 1 teaching hospital. Now although I learned alot working in med-surg my true passion is for critical care and now that I feel stagnant in med-surg and I want to go work in the larger hospital I can't get in because of the economy, they either want a brand new grad that they can mold into what they want or a nurse with CCU experience for the limited positions that they have left. So choose the place that fits your future goals. Good luck with your choice!

LPN_2005/RN_10 · Dec 14, 2009

Tele Unit! You will be taking care of cardiac pts as well as med-surg. Also, the cardiac and tele experience will impress future employers whenever you want to move on. It will be a bright spot on your resume!

MedSurgeMess · Dec 14, 2009

wait and see what you get offered. That might make your decision for you. Good luck on those interviews.

Spacklehead, MSN, NP · Dec 14, 2009

Experience wise, I think that the telemetry floor would be great, since you would learn to interpret heart rhythms, and would need to eventually take ACLS. You might even have to take a critical care course (all of which should be paid for by the hospital) which would only benefit you and make you more marketable should you choose to move on. I started on a tele unit as a new grad years ago and it was like the "gateway" floor to get you into other units such as ICU, CCU, ER, etc. We were floated often to the those units since we had the certifications (ACLS, critical care course), so it made us good candidates if we chose to move on to one of them in the future.

However, you have to consider if you need a full-time position for the benefits. In this day and age, it can be difficult to find a full-time job with benefits, so you might not want to pass that chance up if you really need it.

Best wishes with your decision!

RNKPCE · Dec 14, 2009

If you consider yourself a strong new grad go for the tele. It is a good stepping stone for critical care, ER etc.

I have seen some people have trouble on tele and transfer to med-surg and do fine. Both will challenge you and at times there isn't that much difference in their care.

Often patients are put on tele and we wonder why they are in with pneumonia and the doctor wants them on tele because they are tachycardic with heart rate of 110.

Most patient's on tele don't drop like flies. Personally I like the added information tele gives me. It gives me a warning that things are going south, instead of walking into someone who arrested 10 minutes ago on non-tele floor(not that that happens that often either).

RNperdiem, RN · Dec 14, 2009

Tele patients are med-surg patients on monitoring.

Both floors will give you experience in care of diabetes, pulmonary issues, giving of lots of medications and the organizational skills needed to manage the needs of several patients.