What's the deal with med-surg?

[cmonkey]

Help me out here. I had a stay on the med-surg floor in December, on IV Dilaudid, so my memories are fuzzy.

I keep seeing post after post about the med-surg rotation and how awful it is. How come? At least from my end of the bed, it was regular vitals, med passes, a couple foleys (not painful at all, to my surprise). I was a pretty uncomplicated pt, I imagine, except for hitting the call button every time my alarm went off .

How afraid should I be? What is it about med-surg that sends everyone running for the hills?

[Boog'sCRRN246, RN]

Med-Surg clinicals aren't that bad. It's the Med-Surg class that a lot of people have trouble with. It's a huge amount of information to absorb such as disease processes, diagnostics, meds, treatments, etc. Much of what you learn later in nursing school builds off what you learn in Med-Surg so it can really make or break how you do.

[DayDreamin ER CRNP]

I'll try to answer but what I'm about to say only comes from what I hear & see at my hospital. I work as a tech on a med-surg floor if that matters any.

Med-surg floors are kind of known to serve a lot of drug seekers and is often known to be the 'dumping' ground for psych patients before they go to the unit or the elderly patient that comes from the nursing home with stage 4 pressure ulcers, etc.

The rumor I hear sometimes is that med-surg nurses are surly and often lazy. I do not find this to be true at all on my floor. Ok, maybe one or two, but you'll find that on any unit.

Not only do I work on this floor but I did my med-surg 1 clinical here and I will do my med-surg II clinical here this fall too. I'm not super excited about having the same unit twice but there are worse places I could be and I am pretty sure I'll get to float to the ER and other places too.

Is everyone scared of med-surg as a class or a clinical? I did very well in this class and clinical but I saw many of my classmates not do so well that are normally very good students. This class makes you put all the information learned together and apply those skills and knowledge to real patients and situations. Up to this point, everything you have learned is textbook and once your feet hit that floor anything can, and does, happen with your patients.

I enjoyed med-surg and I hope you have a great experience too.

meredith

[Lennonninja, MSN, APRN, NP]

It might be that it's not the workload (as a student) in MS clinicals that terrifies people, it's the whole teacher watching your every move that might be making people nervous. When it's just me and my patient, I'm fine, but when my teacher's there, I do tend to get a bit nervous, even about stuff that I know I can do well.

[emtoh17]

Were do I start, you will get soo tired of the same ol... diabetics, GI, pneumonia blah...blahh...blah... It wasen't hard, just BORING!! !maybe more repetitive than boring (but VERY busy) You just give soo much insulin, IVPB antibiotics. Just very repetitive. With all that said, this is probably were I will end up in March after graduation. O'well, will just be thankful to of graduated and be working..

[notmanydaysoff]

The amount of information that one has to absorb and be able to apply is mind boggling.

Dx tests, lab values, S/S, meds, nursing implications, diseases, etc...cardio, respiratory, blood/lymph, endocrine, musculoskeletal, urinary, sensory, nervous, M/F reproductive.

That and making sure that I don't make any med errors are the "the deal" for me! I also don't like to be asked questions by staff nurses and physicians and not be able to answer correctly or be able to figure it out.

Oh well, this too shall pass...

I am just finishing M/S I, and have a wopping comprehensive final next week.

[JBGC4]

I like med/surg. The tests are insane, but clinical is fun. It can get tense at times b/c sometimes you have to learn a new skill right on the spot. But I suspect that can happen as an RN when you expected to know it all, lol.