What to expect on the medsurg unit?

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Hi all,

I just graduated and got an offer on the medsurg floor at St. Anne Hospital (WA). On the application it said medsurg, but it’s also RN Residency Medical Unit, so I’m unsure about my patient population. I did my clinical medsurg on the oncology floor so it’s alittle different than a general medsurg floor.

Can anyone give me the patient population/illness/disease that I’d see on the general medsurg floor, so I can prepare myself. 
 

any tips for new grads on the medsurg floor would be nice as well! ?

 

also, if anyone work at St. Anne Hospital (formerly known as highline medical center) could tell me whether this is a Covid floor or not? I have little kiddos and I’m trying to avoid the Covid unit for their safety. 
 

thank you!

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I hope you find this helpful! 

https://www.freshrn.com/med-surg-nursing-top-tips-for-new-grads/

Kati Kleber of FreshRN also has a whole medsurg course, tons of blogs, and even an online self-paced med-surg residency course she offers on her website. I've learned a lot from her.

I start my residency in a little over a month and I'm not sure if I'll get placed on a specialty floor like I asked to be (neuro) or if I'll get med-surg. Either way, I know I'll use her stuff to help prepare me. I also have a nursing.com subscription that I've found pretty invaluable. 

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Specializes in ICU.

That's a tiny community hospital (120 beds or so), so I'm sure the med/surg floor takes COVID patients. It's probably not entirely COVID, but I can almost guarantee with the state of COVID and hospitalizations right now in the Olympia/Tacoma/Seattle area, that you will have COVID patients, it's just the nature of healthcare now. Smaller hospitals also tend to have less specialized units and floors, so I'd venture to say you'd see a wide variety of things. I don't have personal experience with that hospital but I live in the greater Seattle area. 

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These are so helpful! Thank you so much!

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Specializes in Neuro/Stroke, Staff Development.

Med/Surg units tend to be a melting pot of different patients. They are the best places to "cut your teeth" as a new nurse. You will probably care for more medical than surgical patients in such a small hospital, and probably a fair amount of geriatric patients.

Brush up on respiratory assessments for pneumonia/COVID/flu patients at this time of year!

GI/GU issues are also frequent on med/surg floors such as UTI and GI Bleeds, so always remember to check bowel sounds and ask about urinary patterns.

Use this experience to find out if there is a particular patient population that you enjoy! The skills you develop on a med/surg floor will give you a solid foundation for any specialty you may want to pursue.

Good Luck, Welcome Aboard!

Amy Cooney, RN, BSN, SCRN

 

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