Surgical floor nurse.

Published

Help!!

I just got hired at a Chicago hospital on a surgical floor. I graduated nursing school in oct 2010. Im really nervous because I havent worked in a hospital yet and have not done any skills since I graduated. Any advice on how I should prepare myself or specific thigns i can do to brush up especially for a surgical floor? anything would help!!

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Specializes in Pediatric Cardiology.

Congrats on the new job! I love working on a surgical floor. I work one day and they are in a ton of pain, can't move, want to die - I come back the next and they are feeling 100% better and can't wait to leave. Medical patients tend to come in sick and leave sick.

I would review the different drains and tubes you may see. I have a great Powerpoint if you want to PM your e-mail address. Also, will you see a certain type of surgery? My floor is mostly neurosurgery so I did some research on common procedures.

During your orientation, see and do as much as possible. Good luck! :)

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Specializes in MED/SURG.

I work on a medical floor but do see some pt's with drains, chest tubes,and wounds that have been surgically debrided.My advice would be similar to the comment above.However, I would add that you should be familiar with pain and nausea meds because you will give a tone via IV push.

Also, Review how much bleeding is normal bleeding for certian drains after a sugical procedure.

Equally important is to genuinly care.I had surgery recently and even as a nurse I was scared, anxious,had urinary retention, and did not know what end was up being on pain meds.My body felt like a distorted mess.One nurse I had was cold and had no quidance to help me through my anxiety.As a result I left that hospital in disarray and ended up having to go to the ER for problems not properly addressed by the nurse.

I mention this because even though you will be busy and barley have time to breath, if you just take a second to ackowledge a pt's feelings and come up with a plan of care to address a pt's concerns, you will find your pt to be less anxious and they will trust that you are doing your best to help them.

Congratulations on your first job! The fact that you are trying to prepare is great and very contientious of you!

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Thank you so much for your advice! I have started looking at general med-surg stuff and im focusing on pain right now. I will definitely read up on what you guys mentioned. And PediLove2147 I would appreciate taking a look at that powerpoint if you dont mind ;). Thanks again and if anyone thinks of anything else, let me know!

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Thanks again!

I have a little problem...I cant send PMs because I am new on the site so it requires me to have at least 15 "quality" topics before I can send messages. I would really like to check out that powerpoint you mentioned, any ideas?

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