anglophile80

I do! I had 2 years of med-surg experience before switching to LTACH. Med surg was much too busy for me. I'd have 6 patients with 2 to 3 discharges and admissions a day which meant I was doing and charting 10 assessments every shift! Not to mention all the paperwork. On medsurg I had to be my own secretary too answering all calls about my patients from family to doctors to PT, OR, endo, lab ...my phone never stopped ringing! Which impacted pt care. At my LTACH I usually have 4 patients with maybe one admit or discharge a week. I get to know the patients better because most are there for 1 to 2 months. Its neat to see them get better and go home or to rehab. You will also get hospice type experience because we regularly have patients on comfort care. Yes the patients are more acute but there is closer monitoring at LTACHs and during the day there is always an MD or NP there if a patient starts to go south. Which means we usually catch it in time before a pt codes. Most of my pts have PEGs and trachs or large wounds. I regularly draw my own labs, hang blood, check blood sugars, take vitals, and do a LOT of dressing changes. I also have to take patients to and from tests and procedures at the host hospital. There are lots of PT, OT, ST and RT which allows me to just focus on providing nursing interventions. It seems like a lot of LTACHs have paper charting which is a pain but not so bad once you get used to it. I'm grateful for my med surg experience because I learned a lot of skills that I don't use anymore like starting IVs, monitoring chest tubes, CBI, NGs. Unlike some other nurses I'm ok loosing my skills if it means a better work environment. I'll never go back to med surg. You are also eligible to get your CCRN certification which is a specialty and specialty=more money. Good luck!