What is Med/Surge?

[Despareux]

I'm assuming that all future classes will build off of Fundamentals, but is there something more specific with med/surge?

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

No, I mean what's the difference? What material do LPNs cover (or not cover) that differentiates them from RNs or vice versa.

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

I think it's would be things not covered. I don't think they cover anything extra that RN's don't. All classes in our 2nd year wouldn't be covered in the LPN classes that our school has. In second year we do Psych, advanced pharm, 2 advanced med/surg classes and a leadership management type class. We also do IV push drugs and starting IV's. So school wise those would be the difference.

Honestly I didn't notice a big change in my Second Semester Med/Surg class and my Advanced med/surg class. We went a little deeper into the same subjects but the questions on exams were a lot harder and more challenging than they were previously.

The scope of practice differences vary area to area and state to state.

Like I know here LPNs are not allowed to do any IV Push meds. Hang blood, and I can't remember the other stuff. They can start IV's if they have had an IV certification course and got certified.

[guavaturtle]

I think the reason no body wants to work in that area is it's really demanding work. You have all kinds of patients, with all kinds of things going on and it's not consistent if that makes sense. At one of the hospitals I was at we had Medical floor which was big and Med/Surg floor which was smaller and than Surgical wing. Med/surg wing would basically have medical and surgical overflow. Anyway, I really enjoyed my time on the medical floor. Everyone in my class right off the bat really wanted the specialized areas, don't get me wrong, I have a strong desire to go to the ED especially after getting to go there in clinicals a couple times, but having a strong foundation will be a big part of your nursing career I feel and also give you the ability to branch out in other directions if you later want to. Whereas if you start in something specialized, it might be harder to go to another area. In both my Med/Surg clnical semesters so far I have put Medical or Med/Surg as my number one choice to start for clinicals.

Hey thanks for the clarification! I see, most people don't want to do it because...it can be a really scary box of chocolates =) Most of the people I've talked to already have said that they want to specialize in certain areas, which is very interesting to me in the fact that they're completely new to the medical field (like myself) however they already made all these choices and from what I can determine, they don't know a thing about the specialization. They tell me, " oh, it's easy" "oh, it's interesting." I'm like " Shut the front door, really?" So thank you for giving me a nice explanation of Med / Surg. It is definitely advantageous to get your foundations down. You gotta pay your dues, you know ?

[Music in My Heart]

The more science the better. The more nursing process the.....

You sound like me. I was stunned at the relative lack of hard science in nursing school. It was much more like a liberal arts program - psychology, sociology, and philosophy -- with just a smattering of science and mathematics.

Have they bombarded you yet with nursing theory?

Keep your head down, your mouth shut, and let the BS flow from your fingers for every paper. This, too, shall pass.

[guavaturtle]

I have a feeling that I'll be leaning towards this direction as well. I have bachleor degrees in both Biology and Psychology, (chinese too but who cares) however I feel like I'm still more interested in the biology and science aspects. So I'll take your advice to keep my mouth shut with a smile and trudge on through it!

[Music in My Heart]

very interesting. I'm totally a newbie when it comes to nursing, lol I just got into a program by the skin of my teeth. I was always wondering what med/surg was, and why so many people do not like to pursue it, and why it was sort of a "entry level nursing job for new grads." I love patho and problem solving. Now I'm really looking forward to it when we get there!

I have a love/hate relationship with med-surg.

Where the "hate" comes in is that we're something of a dumping ground and sometimes end up with patients that we're not really equipped to deal with (for example, the grossly obese who won't participate in their own care, the borderline psych patients who are noncompliant and volatile, the sensory-deprived Alzheimer's patient whose medical issue keeps them out of the Alzheimer's units, the veteran drug seekers, the marginally stable person that really belongs in a higher-acuity setting, the doc who won't answer their phone when my patient is crumping, etc).

The "love" comes from the patients who appropriately belong on our floor, who are grateful for what we do for them, who are trying to get better... or who are handling their disintegration with grace and dignity.

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

You sound like me. I was stunned at the relative lack of hard science in nursing school. It was much more like a liberal arts program - psychology, sociology, and philosophy -- with just a smattering of science and mathematics.

Have they bombarded you yet with nursing theory?

Keep your head down, your mouth shut, and let the BS flow from your fingers for every paper. This, too, shall pass.

Yeah, they did. Foundations is now over and done with. I thought it was more of a social studies course myself. Fortunately, even though it's a BSN program, no papers were required so I've yet had to mirror the B.S. That'll be next semester in research methods. Oh, well, one semester down, three more to go.

For the other science fan on here, yeah my B.S. was in general science. Why that instead of biology? I got to graduate earlier, lol.

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

I think it's would be things not covered. I don't think they cover anything extra that RN's don't. All classes in our 2nd year wouldn't be covered in the LPN classes that our school has. In second year we do Psych, advanced pharm, 2 advanced med/surg classes and a leadership management type class. We also do IV push drugs and starting IV's. So school wise those would be the difference.

Honestly I didn't notice a big change in my Second Semester Med/Surg class and my Advanced med/surg class. We went a little deeper into the same subjects but the questions on exams were a lot harder and more challenging than they were previously.

The scope of practice differences vary area to area and state to state.

Like I know here LPNs are not allowed to do any IV Push meds. Hang blood, and I can't remember the other stuff. They can start IV's if they have had an IV certification course and got certified.

Well, I know they don't get anything extra. It's a lesser license. I just wondered what they did. I'm assuming it's not just foundations and med/surg because I see them working around OB, etc.

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

Well, I know they don't get anything extra. It's a lesser license. I just wondered what they did. I'm assuming it's not just foundations and med/surg because I see them working around OB, etc.

Well with my program first year consists of, Fundamentals, A dosage calc class, pharm, med/surg and Peds and OB and clinicals to accompany all of that. After that you can sit for your boards after completing I think 90 more hrs of clinicals in the community. I believe all our students that did it this summer were placed in Hospice, Long Term care facilities for those clinicals. They had a very short transition class, I am not sure what that consisted of but I know it was literally like 3 days of classes and than the clinicals. After that they took the NCLEX PN

[guavaturtle]

For the other science fan on here, yeah my B.S. was in general science. Why that instead of biology? I got to graduate earlier, lol.

Haha true story. My biology was taking FOREVER (classes and labs were ALWAYS full) so I picked up two more majors while getting my bio done, lol.