Why do so many nurses seem to dislike working in Med/Surg

scooterRN52 · Mar 22, 2005

That's the type of unit I worked on right out of school, it was a great unit! Matter of fact, that unit was at the same hospital I work at now, though I have been all over the country between then and now.
I see you do not like your abilities/knowledge questioned, just to let you know, neither do I, sat for my boards in 1977 and although life has not allowed me the money to further my formal education, it does not mean that I could not give you a run for your money on the knowledge. Yet, I am an LPN and proud to be one!
I see humor in it, sorry you do not. I did not at any time say it was funny for the pt! I just think it is funny that despite our abilites, knowledge and intentions, the body can do some things all on its own. I see humor in that, sorry you don't.

Thankyou for your reply.

:)

jbrynn2002 · Mar 22, 2005

I've been reading this board for a while and Med/Surg seems to be the place that most people (no everyone) pay their dues and try to get out.
What's the deal?

I've heard this, too. I am going to work on a med/surg floor to get some much needed experience. Maybe after that I'll move to a specialty floor.

LPNer · Mar 22, 2005

I've heard this, too. I am going to work on a med/surg floor to get some much needed experience. Maybe after that I'll move to a specialty floor.

Specialty floors are often easier.

Not because of pt acuity or lack of things to do. But becasue, as I've noticed in my almost 30 years working a large variety of areas, specialty areas have better defined policy, procedure, direction, pt needs, just everything is better defined.

If you find yourself caring for an elderly gentleman in CVS for example, his diabetic issues are handled with a sliding scale, teaching will occur later, on a med/surg unit. His HTN can also be controlled with a well defined protocol. He can learn about management, later, on a med/surg unit. Renal insufficiency secondary to the other problems already listed? In the unit, there are defined protocols. Not to say this is not a good thing, it is! The defined proptocls for so many of the things makes care of the pt in any "unit" controlled (up to a point, things happen! that's why it's the "unit." But pt ratios make it so much easier to deal with.

On the med/surg unit, the staff is trying to deal with blood sugars that will not stablize, but not so far out that they are shipped to the unit, the HTN is all over the board, while that pt just can't understand why they have to change their diet to maintain the bl sugars and bl press. Not to mention the reinforcement of teaching needed before he clogs his cardiac arteries up again! And we haven't even addressed that u/o of only 150cc/shift for the past 16 hours! And that is not going on with just 1 or 2 pts, it's going on with 4 - 6! And the guy in the room next door has a bed check "going off" every 4 or 5 minutes and the family refuses to permit restraints, but at the same time they spend more time outside smoking than in the room with him like the agreed to be! When will you get the time to take care of that!?

Oh yea, med/surg is great, for nurses with huge hallos on their heads! My hallo is not so big thses days, thank God my regular floor is ortho (same problems but not nearly as bad, just like the unit, we have more defined protocol because they can always be shipped to rehab or med/surg to address the other issues on D/C from ortho.)

Please, nobody should take this to mean I am saying "unit" work or other specialty areas never address these subjects, we do and I am sure you do too. But, we'd be lieing to ourselves if we tried to claim we don't use rehad and med/surg as our cure all as often as possible.

Audreyfay · Mar 23, 2005

The instructor stood up and told them that the reason the ICU existed was to save the patients from the mistakes made by the floor nurses.

OMG! ! ! :eek: I can't believe that! I would have reported the instructor to the manager of ICU, as well as the education department head. Attitudes like that probably stimulated the negative attitudes of others!

I worked for years and years in Med/Surg. Both in hospitals, and with nursing agencies in a few different states. I do have to say this, I really liked it as it used so many areas of my nursing knowledge. It also made me a very organized, mutli-tasking expert nurse. However, I don't think I have ever worked as physically hard anywhere else. All in all, I would not give my experiences as a M/S nurse up for the world! Keep it up you Med/Surg nurses. You are angels among us!

Runman1914, MSN, RN · Mar 23, 2005

Med Surg is definitely the hardest nursing i've ever done.In med surg you take the flack for other depts in the hospital not doing their jobs. If the meal tray is wrong u are blamed, if resp is late u are blamed,if the dr doesnt come u are blamed, if physical therapy doesnt return to put the pt in bed its your fault,and i could give many more examples but in med surg you take alot blame for other dept and the families always come to you.I do er and icu now as a travel nurse and the stress is cut in half. Med surg is a great learning tool but i had to give it up. Not to mention med surg nurses are considered bottom of the food chain by other nurses . But i think every nurse should start there.

danu3 · Mar 23, 2005

... Not to mention med surg nurses are considered bottom of the food chain by other nurses . But i think every nurse should start there.

What? I thought psych nurses were? Or they are not consider nurses at all?

-Dan

LPNer · Mar 23, 2005

What? I thought psych nurses were? Or they are not consider nurses at all?
-Dan

Oh this is going to get me into trouble, but I just have to say it!

Never mind, I can't....

It's too mean for all of us to think it's funny and I just don't want to offend somebody that doesn't know how to handle off color humor.

mrs/mom/rn · Mar 24, 2005

I work on a straight medical floor. You get anything any time. Admissions come floor to keep open beds on specialty floors open and then if any other floor is full we still take their overflow (except Tele). Unfortuneatly staffing is based on numbers an hour before shift starts (even with full ED). There is so much to learn and since no-one knows everything, people seem to find it easier to admit thier shortcomings. Even though it is challenging and some days you just want to hang it up, there is always a fresh assignment to pick up on your next shift.

ps- the dh coming out the peg is funny after the fact,

Sheri257 · Mar 24, 2005

I notice that a lot of the Med Surg comments involve staffing.

If there were ratios of 5-1, like we have in California, do you think that would make a difference in a lot of the situations many of you have described?

:clown: :clown: :clown:

cjan · Mar 24, 2005

On our med surg floor we never have more than six pt. usually. This is still tough. With admissions, d/charges, total cares, alcohol withdrawal you never know what to expect, and it can fall apart quickly. Med pass can take forever some days. Organization and team work help. Med surg is the heart and soul of nursing, and if you can cut it there, you can make it anywhere. The main problem usually is family members who expect you to be mothers private duty nurse all day. They think mother is your only patient to care for, and that creates problems. Other areas of the hospital do not respect us like they should. Every nurse should spend at least a week on the med-surg floor, and see what it is like. cj

LPNer · Mar 24, 2005

I notice that a lot of the Med Surg comments involve staffing.
If there were ratios of 5-1, like we have in California, do you think that would make a difference in a lot of the situations many of you have described?
:clown:

We have anything from 4 - 6. 5 is the usual and 6 happens enough that it's not a stranger, but then so does 4. I did have 7 one day not long ago, but that is really an exception (I was pulled to med-surg).

Same goes for the med-surg and tele floors. The specialty and "units" have less. I understand the "units" having less, but I really don't understand why 1 surgeon can insist on, and get away with, 3:1 for his bariatric pts. After all, if they are not stable, they go to the unit. Oh well. :chuckle

mrs/mom/rn · Mar 24, 2005

on 7p-7, 7-11 we usually start with 4 or 5 , then we get an admission. at 11p we have 5 or 6 and may pick up an admission. 4 and 5 are okay unless one crashes especially if the ccu is low on beds and will not take a pt untill it is too late. (why do mds think you can 1:1 monitor) 6 and 7 are dangerous. I can not imagine the rural places that have 9 or 10. From 530-7am we have meds, capd, some charting,vs,fs, and turns. All the confused pts pick that time to try to get oob because woke them up for a protonix.All the patients wake up and want to go to brp,water,are hungry and any vs abberration will appear at this time. How can we accomplish this for 7 pts,not easily. The ratios would be great if they take admissions into account.