Want to leave M/S/T, Suggestions Please?

brownbook · Dec 7, 2017

I don't know what M/S/T is? I kind of assume it is a medical/surgical unit? Are you working in an acute care hospital or a skilled nursing facility? I it is best to not use to many abbreviations in your posts. They are not universally understood.

JKL33 · Dec 8, 2017

Come on down to the ED... :)

Guest716906 · Dec 8, 2017

Mst= med surg tele

nursemike, ASN, RN · Dec 8, 2017

Hello,
So I have been a mst nurse for 3 years now, and I'm 100% burnt out. Time to switch specialties! Any advice on what is better specialize in?
I love - performing skills. I don't mind running around, I love being with patients and assessing them. I love knowing all I can about them/what's going on with them.
I hate - The insane amounts of charting in mst. The customer service of mst/ having to act like I have time to get ice water/ new blankets.. I want to be able to be honest and be able to truly prioritize. (My CNA doesn't answer call lights ever only me.) I don't mind being stretched thin and running all over, but don't expect me to do loads of charting and get turns done q2h, reassess pain right in the time frame, be a waitress and pretend I have time.

I really like neuro, but it doesn't sound like your problem is so much with your specialty as with your workplace. My facilitiy doesn't have a tele unit, per se, but from things I've read here and seen as a patient, it sounds like a really bad idea. We do have regular acuity (floor status) patients who may have telemetry, and stepdown patients who are always on tele. It sure looks to me like a "tele unit" is pretty much a way to assign 5 or 6 (or more!) stepdown patients to one nurse. My ratio is 3:1, and a lot of times that can feel like a stretch.

Your statement, "I love knowing all I can about them/what's going on with them," reminds me of my time as an ICU patient. Prior to that, I never thought I'd want to work in an ICU. I guess I had a prejudice that all my patients would be intubated and immobilized. What I found out was that ICU nurses have the opportunity to do a meaningful report and actually understand their orders before getting started. They also seemed more able to handle ADLs on their own--the nursing assistants were more assistants and less independent caregivers with their own particular tasks. Personally, I still prefer stepdown, but I'm trying to approach it with more of an ICU sensibility, these days.