Med/Surg vs Fundamentals

ICUchick · Jan 24, 2013

Hi Everyone! I just started Med/Surg semester and was wondering.... did you find Med/Surg harder or easier than Fundamentals? Why?

I think Med/Surg is easier, but I suspect this is very different for everyone. I think that the entire semester that you start Fundamentals/assessments is so different from the previous ones, and for us it was the one that we started clinicals in, that everyone was pretty freaked out. Everything was stressful and much of what we learned was new territory to us. Now, in med-surg we know what to expect in clinicals and we are just building and building on information we have already been exposed to. It may not be easier -- ask me that at the end of the semester but its definately less stressful, for me!

Good luck :-)

Skips, MSN, RN · Jan 24, 2013

I think Med/Surg has been harder. It's not necessarily difficult. Fundamentals helped prepare us for answering the NCLEX style questions and thinking in terms of the nursing process. Other than that, it was different from Med/Surg. In Fundamentals, we were only taught what was normal and abnormal during an assessment. In Med/Surg, we learned why the assessment was abnormal. While there are plenty of new things to learn, it's not hard if you do your reading and keep up on assignments. We don't need to know the stuff doctors know. (: It doesn't get super deep.

I'm in Med/Surg 2 now, and taking Med/Surg 1 has made it easier since you're building off of previous knowledge. It's more fun, in my opinion.