Med Surge classes

[AliciaRNstudent]

Hi everyone. I start my nursing clinicals in the Spring. I was suppose to start this past Spring but became pregnant and could not start. I have a friend who failed Med Surge. I am reading on here that a lot of people have problems with it. Can someone tell me exactly what it is and why it is so hard. Im guessing it is a lot of Math. Math is a good subject for me, should I be worried.

Also, is there anyone who can give advise on how to manage school, two small children, and a husband. I am getting worried now.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[zembalina]

Where are you in school?

[jesa]

med surg doesn't have any math, that's more pharm. for me med surg is just a lot of information, you are basically putting together pathophysiology, nursing process, interventions, and pharmacology...so lots of stuff tied together.

I wouldn't worry about any class, you are a mom and know what hard work is, so as long as you manage your time you will be fine. different people have different strengths and different weaknesses, even if med surg is hard for you, something else will be easy (med surg was hard for me, but mostly because it isn't my bag, I'm a mom and L&D and peds were second nature, and I love psych, so I worked harder in med surg and had to force myself to study)

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

med/surg is learning about patients who have

• medical diseases
  • usually gi and respiratory diseases are a focus, but other body systems might also be as well
    
  • for each specific disease or condition you will need to learn
    • the pathophysiology
      
    • signs/symptoms
      
    • usual tests ordered to diagnose and monitor the disease
      
    • the usual medical treatment for the medical disease or condition
      
    • medical procedures that are likely to be performed on the patient
      
    • expected consequences/complications during the healing phase

    [*]for each disease or condition you will need to learn the nursing interventions--the nursing interventions often are based or related to the medical:

    • pathophysiology
      
    • signs/symptoms
      
    • tests ordered to diagnose and monitor the disease
      
    • medical procedures that are performed
      
    • complications of the disease or procedures

    [*]you learn specific abnormal assessment of these patients

    [*]you'll probably write care plans - they help you to learn all of the above for a specific disease

  [*]surgery and the surgical experience

  • specific preparation must be done for people who are going to have surgery
    
  • there are complications of anesthesia that you must learn to monitor for and prevent
    
  • you will learn about wound care and sterile techniques
    
  • in clinicals you will probably do some observation of surgeries in the or

the critical thinking flow sheet for nursing students attached to the end of my post was designed to help nursing students understand the study of diseases. please feel free to open the file and copy or download and use this form to help you. part of nursing school is not just learning nursing care. you also have to learn about diseases, how a disease runs its course and ravages a body, how a doctor discovers and diagnoses it, and then how the doctors treat it. although you will learn what nurses can do independently, much of what we do as hospital nurses depends on what we do collaboratively with the doctors--that means we better know what the doctor is likely to do so we're not standing there like a dumbbell.

math only enters the picture when it comes to giving medications. giving medications is important, yes, but it is a technical skill and something that you will eventually master with practice. more importantly, however, as an rn you are being trained, and willed be hired and paid, to be a problem solver. to be able to do that you have to have knowledge and know how to apply it to situations. that's why you need to know about diseases, pathophysiology, signs and symptoms and treatments. it takes brainpower to think critically and rationally to become a problem solver, pass the nclex exam and work a math problem.

this sticky has links to drug calculation web sites including one really good online tutorial that you want to check out:

• https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/nursing-math-thread-264395.html - the nursing math thread - see post #3