What is YOUR surgical floor like?

Specialties Med-Surg

Published

Specializes in Psych, substance abuse, MR-DD.

How many beds do you have? What is your ratio? Do you have telemetry? What types of post-ops do you get? What is the average length of stay?

What are your patients like? Are they obese, continent, walkie-talkie, oriented etc etc? And anything else I am probably forgetting!

Just wondering because just talking to nurses from the 3 surgical floors here it seems like there are a lot of differences, but also a lot of similarities. I'm starting on a general surgical floor soon so I'll give my input after I'm up there for a little while.

:monkeydance: Thanks

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I work on a Med-Surg/Ortho floor. Days ratio is 5 patients then admits/surgicals , Evenings is 5-6 then admits/surgicals, Nights is 7-8-9 then admits. We get everything, we are the dumping grounds of the hospital. Nursing home patients, ventilator patients, lots of trachs, very obese patients (we do weight loss surgery), choles, appi, hysts, colon resections, GSW, knees, hips, backs, shoulders, any fracture, pancreatitis, we get cancer patients, sickle cellers, frequent flyers from er with the normal N/V, we detox a lot, people for nursing home placement. It seems everyone stays at least a week

I might be forgetting a lot, too!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych, substance abuse, MR-DD.
We get everything, we are the dumping grounds of the hospital.

I guess so! Thanks for your input!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Home Health.

How many beds do you have? 35

What is your ratio? 7:1 or less

Do you have telemetry? yes

What types of post-ops do you get? ALL surgeries including ortho, except female stuff like TAH and the like.

What is the average length of stay? prob 7 days

What are your patients like? Are they obese, continent, walkie-talkie, oriented etc etc? YES, lol all of the above.

And anything else I am probably forgetting! We also have a "swing bed" program on our floor.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Home Health.
I work on a Med-Surg/Ortho floor. Days ratio is 5 patients then admits/surgicals , Evenings is 5-6 then admits/surgicals, Nights is 7-8-9 then admits. We get everything, we are the dumping grounds of the hospital. Nursing home patients, ventilator patients, lots of trachs, very obese patients (we do weight loss surgery), choles, appi, hysts, colon resections, GSW, knees, hips, backs, shoulders, any fracture, pancreatitis, we get cancer patients, sickle cellers, frequent flyers from er with the normal N/V, we detox a lot, people for nursing home placement. It seems everyone stays at least a week

I might be forgetting a lot, too!!

Do you work at my hospital? ;)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Use to work on strictly ortho surg floor.

Beds = 36

Nurses = 6, days and nights

Ratio = No more than 1:6, most of the time 1:5 including the adm

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in med-surg, ER.

I work at a ward with 20+1 beds, with the +1 being a bed which shouldn't be occupied since it is reserved for "open return" patients (terminally ill cancer patients) who may check in straight to the ward from the home if they get worse without having to pass the ER first.

During the summer we are three RN's and three CNA's during day time and just two nurses during nights. So patient to nurse ratio can be anything from 2:1 up to 10:1 depending on how many pts are admitted at the time being.

Patients are a mix of surgical and urological patients. Colorectal cancer, cholecystectomies, TUR-P's, etc. A few beds are usually occupied by palliative patients. During the summer they have closed the SACU which means we also get the appendectomies and pancreatitis pts too.

Just started and it is hectic like nothing else I've done in my life. The days go by really fast and I learn new stuff everyday! So far I really like it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych, substance abuse, MR-DD.

Scout Leader-

What is a "swing bed" program?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg, Ortho, & Tele all on one ward!.

Med/Surg-Tele floor. Ortho: We get knees, necks, backs, shoulders, simple ortho stuff like I&Ds all the way to replacements and fusions. Medical: Everything you could have under the "internal medicine" department and not need to be in ICU- DKAs, cellulitis, pancreatitis, CVAs...this list could go on forever. Cardiac: R/O ACS to actual MI. Surgery: Everything. No, really. Total thyroid/adenoid, chole, speen, appy, iliostomy, colostomy (and reversals), gastric bypass. OB/GYN: TVH, TAH, post-op c-sections, post delivery moms (we are overflow and for moms that give their babies up for adoption), fetal demise pts, oophrectomy....this list could go on forever. We literally do everything except L&D pts. I love it!

Ratio: My hospital is wonderful. 1-5 ratio on days, 1-6 on nights. When I am charge nurse I normally never have to take pts on days and only a couple at night. Support from the nursing supervisors is great too...they back us up when we need to refuse pts from ED (or just need a little bit of time to get things settled down before accepting a new pt).

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych, substance abuse, MR-DD.

So this is what I have gathered so far-

How many beds do you have? 40

What is your ratio? days 1:4-5, evenings 1:5-6, nights 1:6-9

Do you have telemetry? remote tele

What types of post-ops do you get? A lot of GI and gyn, also gsw's, bariatric, and no ortho!

What is the average length of stay? I'd say 4-7 days, but I've seen pts with complications there for over 3 weeks.

What are your patients like? Are they obese, continent, walkie-talkie, oriented etc etc? Most are oriented, continent and can ambulate with assist, many obese.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Maternal newborn.

My unit is a 26 bed med surg unit. I live in California so the ratio is 1:5 day shift and night shift. We have tele monitoring. No ortho patinets or critically ill patients. We get everything from peds to the elderly to the obese to the occasional psych patient. the length of stay varies. Sometimes patients are htere for a month waiting for a nursing home or snf placement. We do lavh, chole, pancreatitis, n/v abd pain, d&c, r/o mi but no mi patients, cellulitis, lots of mrsa infected pt, pneumonia, chf, uncontrolled dm, snf placement, r/o tb, hemodialysis and capd pt.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

My Med/Surg Unit

40 beds

Ratio 6:1, free charge on days

Telemetry

We are the catch-all for the whole hospital. Whatever doesn't fit somewhere else gets dumped on us. Bariatrics, ortho-spine surg, COPD, CHF, Pneumonia, AIDS, Sickle-cell, lap choles, drug and etoh detox, post-cath obs, post Pacemakers, uncontrolled diabetes, wounds, hypertensive emergencies, GI bleeds, gyn surgery, you name it, I have cared for it. And, all our nurses float everywhere, including ICU (which I disagree with).

Average length of stay is 4.3 days.

Most of ours are ambulatory because the high number of drug detoxers and bariatric pts. Which really sucks because then they can walk up to the nurses station to b!tch instead of just staying on the call light. I almost prefer more total care pts because they complain less. Nothing is worse than a drug detoxer that is so sick they are constantly vomiting up their anti-psychotic meds!!!!!!!!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment