What is it about Med-Surg that you don't like?

mom23RN · Jan 25, 2006

I can't stand med-surg. I did it in my clinicals and hated it. I was always an adreneline junkie at heart. In our hospital it was really a lot of dressing changes, meds, and not much else.

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Jan 25, 2006

Poor staffing is what I hate. The patients are so sick and so many have limited mobility and ADL's and require tons of care. I don't mind doing the care at all, its just that its so hard to do when you have so many patients to care for! You have to prioritize. If someone is having chest pain or difficulty breathing, bleeding, etc. The 3 patients who have to go to the bathroom have to wait and then they get mad. Some then have accidents from waiting and now you have a bed to change, others attempt to get OOB on their own and fall. Patients complain and you get written up. What, was I suppossed to let Mr. Smith continue to struggle to breathe and Mrs. Jones suffer with chest pain to take someone to the bathroom? Management just doesn't get it. Med/Surg would be a nice place to work and learn if not for staffing problems.

cvryder · Jan 25, 2006

Horrible staffing patterns, too many patients too sick, not enough help, and another thing no one's mentioned yet...the things you need are NEVER where you need them when you need them, but somewhere in a "centralized" location down the hall. This goes for meds and supplies both. I most generally freak when I get pulled to med/surg.

live4today, RN · Jan 25, 2006

Poor staffing is what I hate. The patients are so sick and so many have limited mobility and ADL's and require tons of care. I don't mind doing the care at all, its just that its so hard to do when you have so many patients to care for! You have to prioritize. If someone is having chest pain or difficulty breathing, bleeding, etc. The 3 patients who have to go to the bathroom have to wait and then they get mad. Some then have accidents from waiting and now you have a bed to change, others attempt to get OOB on their own and fall. Patients complain and you get written up. What, was I suppossed to let Mr. Smith continue to struggle to breathe and Mrs. Jones suffer with chest pain to take someone to the bathroom? Management just doesn't get it. Med/Surg would be a nice place to work and learn if not for staffing problems.

cvryder said: Re: What is it about Med-Surg that you don't like?
Horrible staffing patterns, too many patients too sick, not enough help, and another thing no one's mentioned yet...the things you need are NEVER where you need them when you need them, but somewhere in a "centralized" location down the hall. This goes for meds and supplies both. I most generally freak when I get pulled to med/surg.

You both hit the nail on the head regarding med/surg. I used to love med/surg. When I returned to nursing in 2003, the shocker for me was I no longer recognized med/surg because every patient floor became a massive pool for diagnoses across the board...barring no patient unless they were critically ill......and I do mean CRITICALLY ill before they'd be moved to an icu. :uhoh3:

lesrn2005 · Jan 25, 2006

what I hate most is when you've discharged 2 pts. back to back, and 30 minutes later, you're getting 2 more, this along w/the other 4 you're taking care of.

belfry · Jan 25, 2006

Call me an oddball, but I love med-surg. I am a fairly new nurse (graduated in June) but I love that I can get such a wide variety of experience each day.

If I had to say anything I don't like, it is having a lot of (great big) frequently incontinent people and several feeders at the same time....no time to be a nurse because I spend all my time helping the overwhelmed CNA! And the back/neck pain that goes with the great big incontinent folks....THAT I dislike!

Beth

IloveSnoopy · Jan 25, 2006

I'm a "med/surg'er"...and have been have been for 6 years now. Gosh..I don't know...many days..I just want to leave it all together...but other days..I really do enjoy it. It does have it's problems.....like someone above said...the med/surg patients have progressively gotten sicker but yet the staffing ratios a lot of times don't reflect this. We are very lucky where I work...our managers understand that we need adequate staff on to care for these patients....when there isn't enough...they call someone in extra.

I enjoy the wide variety of diagnoses we get in this area...it makes the job fun. We do get a lot of "frequent flyers" though..and that gets very old...some of these people come to their doctors appt. with their suitcase already packed. Once they get to the floor....they assume they are the only patient on the floor or something. Their arms also become broken and they suddenly can't reach two inches for their own glass of water. I've been getting braver these days and i inform them nicely..that they do have the ability to do some things for themselves.

It can be stressful...like someone said...you have blood going on one patient, a fresh surgical, two little ladies that need to go to the bathroom constantly, a confused guy...crawling out of bed. You really do need to be organized and have the ability to prioritize and delegate...I learned all these things really fast!!! I do feel it's a great place for learning....you learn a lot about many different conditions, surgical procedures,etc. The skills...both technical and organizational(sp?).....that you walk away with are beyond compare.

As much as I complain about my job on here and in real life..lol...I do think it's a great job and overall...I like it. I have to learn that there isn't a perfect job and not everyday is going to be a wonderful one. I would suggest finding a med/surg unit with decent staffing ratios though.....that's made a big difference for me. I hear in a neighboring large city....the staffing ratios are horrible and nurses are becoming burnt out and walking off the job left and right. Good luck to you.....I wouldn't hesitate to give med/surg a try..for awhile at least.

hugs,

snoop

bella548 · Jan 26, 2006

I too had a love hate relationshipwith med/surg.Our patients were acutly ill.Most on respirators,many dressing changes and pills to pass as well as multipe i.v s.We NEVER had less than 8 patients apiece.Sometimes 9.Very hard situation with call bells going off and respirators alarming.And a day didnt go by that someone didnt code.But im now a Dr.s nurse and most of the time im bored stiff!I miss my days in the hospital and many many nurses didnt make it throught the short orientation thay offered.i hope to go back some day(if the staffing ratios dont get even worse) I always thought they should staff acording to pt acuity! NURSESHERI

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jan 26, 2006

I used to love my work in Med/Surg. It was the JOB that got to me.......the petty bureaucratic BS that came down at regular intervals whenever someone made a minor mistake or a patient/family complained that the coffee wasn't brought quickly enough; the poor staffing and high acuity; the constant harassment from management; the other tasks that got dumped on the nurses, like data entry, housekeeping, food service, and even billing, because other departments couldn't be bothered. There was ALWAYS too much to do, and much of it had nothing whatsoever to do with nursing.

That, and I found that older nurses like myself were often subtly discouraged from moving to other departments or seeking promotions. We often got the worst assignments, we were usually the last to be granted time for educational opportunities, and every single leadership position within the department was filled by nurses under 45 (most under 35). Then, there's the physical reality of med/surg nursing---if you're not young, trim, and fit, it's harder than hell on your body. Hospital administration doesn't make it any easier by requiring staff to work 12-hour shifts, push heavy beds over carpeted floors, and care for massively obese and/or immobilized patients without adequate staff and specialty equipment.

That said, I still think Med/Surg is a great way to start a career for most nurses........this is where you'll learn the majority of your skills, time management and prioritizing. And if you can make it there, believe me, you can make it just about anywhere!:)

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jan 26, 2006

I have read so many posts where nurses are complaining or expressing dissatisfaction with their jobs in the med-surg areas. What exactly is it that is so bad?
I'm asking this because I will graduate in May and everyone keeps telling me I should get a med-surg background before specializing in anything.

I completed nursing school 3 months ago and all of my instructors urged the students to land jobs in med-surg. However, I hated my med-surg clinical rotations with a passion. It seems like a bunch of busy work...

clee1 · Jan 26, 2006

I completed nursing school 3 months ago and all of my instructors urged the students to land jobs in med-surg. However, I hated my med-surg clinical rotations with a passion. It seems like a bunch of busy work...

My lead instructor is one of those "You MUST work 1-2 years on Med/Surg" types.

Not if I can help it....