Why is Med-Surg so hated?

Specialties Med-Surg

Updated:   Published

Whenever I have told a fellow newer grad that I want to work in a hospital, they ask 'where?' And I say 'probably Med-Surg' and then they crinkle their nose. I just want to get my start in acute care and heard that's a good place to start. One of this area's hospital groups seems to have such a hard time hanging on to RNs willing to work in Med-Surg, that they will pay *experienced* RNs several dollars more per hour than in more sought after specialties. Is Med -Surg really so terrible or different from other acute care floors?

Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.
tokmom said:
That is poor management. BTDT. We were offered no education and were treated like left over gum on the bottom of a shoe. The hospital I'm at now staffs in a fair manner and is an excellent place to work.

You hit it on the head. They don't care and it shows. This is my only experience with bedside nursing so I have nothing else to compare it to. However, I know I would prefer another specialty so I am trying to pursue that.

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1 Votes
Specializes in SICU.

I will speak for myself... Medsurg made me hate being a nurse.. I mean truly HATED being an RN. I think it was the combination of micromanaging by management, high acuity, high ratios, complete lack of respect from MD's to the point where you are activating Rapid response every day because the MD does not believe your assessment of a patient in crisis. (teaching hospital)--oh and the narcotic buffet that was the order of the day!

2 months in SICU, and i FINALLY feel that I am able to practice and utilize the full extent of my license. i FEEL like a respected member of the healthcare team and my input is valued and sought......

1 Votes

... nobody can fault you for having an opinion based on your own experience. If some think Med Surg is "tasky" and "dumbed down", I wanna know if they have ever worked in LTC or a SNF? I just oriented ANOTHER new grad BSN RN to my section in a LTC and had to emphasize how it's much different from school and that the focus is mostly on time management and tasks. Around here, new grads need not apply to acute care positions (1 yr. acute care exp. req.) except for the uber-competitive nurse residency program. If anyone here has worked LTC and MS -- I would love to hear your opinions on the two....

2 Votes
Specializes in Urology, ENT.

I love med/surg, and it was a position I wanted after graduation. I'm one of the weird people who had hard a time finding a med/surg position, but I think that has more to do with me sucking in interviews (then I found out one of the hospitals I interviewed at had some crappy hiring practices, but that's another story) or also that there were better candidates than what I had to offer.

I have told other people that maybe after a few years at my current workplace, I might look to another place and move to step-down or the ICU, but I like the floor I'm on right now, and move to another level of care really is in the very distant future. As previous posters have mentioned, it teaches you time management, and getting your charting done in a timely fashion (or at least the medications). Not that you can't do that in the ICU, but I've met experienced, MSN level nurses who only did ICU, and they've said, "Yeah I don't know how you floor nurses do your time management. I'd be here until 9am. When do you even look at the chart?"

I think a lot of people just don't have a good experience in med/surg (I don't think nursing school does it any justice) which is why they want to move to the ICU or ER, but that's just my thought on it.

2 Votes
Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.
Nola009 said:
... nobody can fault you for having an opinion based on your own experience. If some think Med Surg is "tasky" and "dumbed down", I wanna know if they have ever worked in LTC or a SNF? I just oriented ANOTHER new grad BSN RN to my section in a LTC and had to emphasize how it's much different from school and that the focus is mostly on time management and tasks. Around here, new grads need not apply to acute care positions (1 yr. acute care exp. req.) except for the uber-competitive nurse residency program. If anyone here has worked LTC and MS -- I would love to hear your opinions on the two....

Did both at the same time years ago. I worked part time at a SNF and a float nurse at a large hospital. ?

1 Votes
Specializes in Med-Surg, OR, ICU.
tokmom said:
No continuous pulse ox on your floor? Holy cow, that is dumbing down nurses. Heck, I have worked med/surg where I did conscious sedation, and injected epidurals.

That was my thoughts..I work in a critical access hospital where we do practically EVERYTHING on our med surg floor. We have PRN nurses that work ICU in other facilities and hate it because they can't handle the load and having a variety of patients from stable to going down the drain. Med surg nurses have to have strong critical thinking skills and be able to change their train of thought constantly. I feel no other floor uses the nursing process and maslow's more than a med surg.

2 Votes
Specializes in med-surg so far.
Karou said:
I didn't realized just how different "med surg" nursing is at different facilities. On my unit many patients are on continuous pulse oximeter monitoring. Anyone on a PCA should be (or IV narcotics in general), anyone with respiratory issues, receiving blood, GI bleed, DVT, ect... I really thought that was basic? Even if a med surg unit does not have cont pulse oximeter in all of the rooms (mine does) then can't they get one ordered, if needed? We do that sometimes if having issues with a machine.

Patients requiring non rebreather masks may stay on the unit. Depends on the whole patient picture. Same for BIPAP or high flow NC.

The more I read on allnurses, the better I feel about where I work. Night shift RN's have 5-6 patients max, Each tech has 10-12 patients. We staff based on acuity so the ratio may be even better at times. Charge nurse does not take patients. We have a good team and there is a lot of support.

Several months ago when my floor was fully staffed, it sounded a lot like yours (Nights with 5-6 pts per nurse, techs w/10-12 pts, charge RN w/even fewer pts to to LPN IVP meds & paperwork). Now, since we've been so understaffed, each Night shift nurse has 7-8 pts (including the charge RN!) w/1 tech for the entire 22 bed floor.

Med-Surg wasn't where I imagined I would be, but I found it wasn't that bad in the beginning when I 1st started. However, now because of always being understaffed, I dread going to work every night. :( I'm ready for something different...

1 Votes

I don't believe it sucks, but it is not a walk in the park. Fresh out of school, you absolutely need to be in Med Surg, in my opinion. This is where you really learn so much about being a nurse, and nursing. School can educate you about concepts and skills, and you can take psych and ethics for years, but you don't really know anything until you are fully immersed in the environment.

One senior nurse told me 'Just assume that you know nothing for the first two years'. Med-Surg is the fastest way to 'learn' nursing because of the more frequent exposure to a variety of disease, illness, surgical procedures, higher patient ratio, charting, etc.

No matter what, do what you love and you will always be happy. :-)

1 Votes
Specializes in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

I've seen this a lot, too and it especially gets touted by some of the nurses that float to the med-surg floors I've been on. I think there's a certain degree of "flash" and status that comes with being in a specialty but with Med-Surg, you have to be all things to all people. The time management, the total care pts (i.e. you are the sole caregiver -- no PCT, no CNA, no one to help you), the range of diseases/syndromes and everything else requires someone who has a broad knowledge base and excellent organization skills. I don't really get where this idea came from, though. I can see the excitement with higher acuity and maybe the more complex med admin and assessment but you really have to be on your toes in Med-Surg just as much. At the end of the day, anywhere is a good place to start. Experience is the most valuable thing.

1 Votes
ohioSICUrn said:
I will speak for myself... Medsurg made me hate being a nurse.. I mean truly HATED being an RN. I think it was the combination of micromanaging by management, high acuity, high ratios, complete lack of respect from MD's to the point where you are activating Rapid response every day because the MD does not believe your assessment of a patient in crisis. (teaching hospital)--oh and the narcotic buffet that was the order of the day!

2 months in SICU, and i FINALLY feel that I am able to practice and utilize the full extent of my license. i FEEL like a respected member of the healthcare team and my input is valued and sought......

Ditto. I hated my med-surg rotation in nursing school and I vowed to never return there. I have been working in OB my entire career. I'll admit there are serious disadvantages to never having worked med-surg. Every once in a while we get a pregnant patient with a trach or a PICC or some disease like MS or CF and I have no idea what to do with her. That happened to me just this week actually. But those are few and far between and overall doesn't make me regret never doing med-surg. If anything I just avoid those types of assignments. I maintain to this day that had I done med-surg straight out of school I would've quit nursing all together.

1 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care.

Because they have the highest patient ratios and some of the sickest and most difficult to deal with patients! They get all the altered mental status, confused, detoxing patients without adequate support staff and ratios that are just too high! Why would someone choose to work with the worst possible staffing ratios in the hospital? I wouldn't!

1 Votes
Specializes in Medical Surgical.

I think it definitely depends on where you work. I work med-surg as a tech and would like to work there as an RN when I finish school this December. Generally we work in teams with 5 patients per RN and tech. We see a large variety of patients with various disease processes. For the most part, everyone works hard as a team. I enjoy it.

1 Votes
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