Medical-Surgical Nurses Week 2017

The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses wants to recognize and identify the contributions of med-surg nurses all year round but especially this week. Med-surge nurses form the basis of almost all nursing care. It is the fundamental practice of nursing encompassing many different diagnoses and levels of care.

Even though med-surg nurses have existed for many years it wasn't until 1990 that the AMSN was formed with an objectives to:

• Improve the image of the medical-surgical nursing
• Develop standards for medical-surgical nursing practice
• Create a Core Curriculum for establishing the essence of the medical-surgical nursing practice

As med-surg nursing has grown, developed and become even more complex, the Academy works to keep up by developing position papers on patient literacy, certification, political awareness, staffing standards and practice environment.

Gone are the days of med-surg nurses just providing back rubs, routine bed baths, supervising patients' smoking, and giving the occasional medication. Nowadays, med-surg nurses are caring for central lines, stable inotrope drips, post-op patients with open wounds, patients with cardiac monitoring, and complex medication regimens.

Today, more than ever, patients are not hospitalized for long periods of time. Therefore, it is imperative that nurses from admission to discharge work to provide education to the patient and family members to decrease the chance of readmission. Medical-surgical nurses care for patients with a wide variety of diagnoses such as:

• Gastrointestinal hemorrhages
• COPD/Asthma
• Cellulitis
• Endocarditis
• Pnuemonia
• Other infections requiring hospitalization
• GYN disorders

Documentation is always paramount for all nurses. An article published in 2016 on AN focuses on documentation: Nurses Charting. Another popular article, A Push for the Return of Team Nursing explores staffing on med-surge units and the needs of an increasingly complex medical-surgical patient.

Many nurses have traditionally started in med-surg in order to get an introduction to the nursing workplace and also develop time management and critical thinking skills. Med-surg nurses are the generalists of nursing. They care for several patients with multiple medical and/or surgical needs.

Thank you to all the Med-Surg Nurses on AN. Here is your forum.