Trauma/Acute Care Surgery vs. General Surgery

[SN2011]

I am interested in working on a surgical ward after graduation and I was wondering what the difference is (if any) between a Trauma/Acute Care Surgery ward vs. a general surgical ward. Is there any difference in the day-to-day duties or skills required, nurse:patient ratio, experience required etc. Any comments or helpful tips for success would be greatly appreciated.

[MikeyBSN]

Generally, the Trauma/acute care post-surgical patient will eventually end up on a regular med/surg floor. Trauma patients and acutely ill surgical patients (ie. AAA rupture) usually end up in the ED. The ratio for a trauma patient or medical patient requiring emergency surgery should be 1:1 From there, they go to the OR. Most OR nurses have training in critical care and Trauma. The nurse-to-pt ratio in OR is 1:1. From the OR, the patient will go to PACU, where most nurses are trained in critical care and trauma. From there they go to the ICU, again where nurses need the highest level of acute care training. The nurse/patient ratio in the ICU for major post-op trauma or medical cases should be 1:1, sometimes 1:2. Once the patient is stable, they will be downgraded to the med/surg floor. In most hospitals, the "acute care surgical ward" is both the PACU, and the ICU. Both units usually require some prior experience, but there are hosiptals out there willing to train new grads.