What to expect on Acute Medicine Floor!!?

Nurses General Nursing

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I have never even seen an Acute Medicine floor, but I have an interview soon and was wondering if anyone could share stories or advice on what to expect? I wanted to start in Med Surg for a general foundation, but I'm pretty sure that it would have been more competitive so I picked Acute Medicine. Not sure now if it was the right thing to do, but here goes nothing! Thanks in advance!

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In my hospital, instead of med/surg, we have separate medical and surgical floors. So on my acute med floor, we get everyone who isn't a surgical candidate, but doesn't need to go to step down or ICU. Meaning my pts might be in with a CAV/TIA, uncontrolled DM, renal failure, dehydration/nausea/vomiting, allergic reaction, uncontrolled HTN, chest pain, syncope, pneumonia, exacerbation COPD, etc, etc. I have pts on tele, dialysis (performed off unit but within the hospital), pts with wounds, and detoxers. Pretty much a little of everything. I love it. You will learn to prioritize and manage your time, you'll see a wide variety of conditions, and you will learn so much.

Good luck with your interview.

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BlueGrassRN, Thank you so much for your speedy response! Based on what you're saying, I think it will be a good fit for me!

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Everything.

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Specializes in LTC, med/surg, hospice.

My hospital is like BlueGrassRN described with separate medical and surgical floors. We get a lot of the nursing home patients and people with chronic problems as per the description. We don't do telemetry though.

You will see a lot!

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Medicine floor minus the surgical.

Expect a lot of frail elderly patients, chronic conditions.

You can give several things for past medical history in report.

For example: "Mr. X has a past medical history of CVA, CHF, DM type 2, chronic renal failure...".

You will get an excellent foundation in time management and in working with CNAs. I found that in acute medicine, you really depend heavily on CNAs to help with feeding patients, turning and assisting to the bathroom.

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