'Just a med/surg nurse'

26 Ok, I never thought I would make med/surg my home, but after so many years, and still not moving to L&D, I have decided to embrace my status.

No, I don't want to be an ICU nurse. I'm not into the adrenaline rush. ICU nurses are a special breed, just like Med/surg nurses. It's not that a med/surg nurse isn't smart enough, it's just that some of us have no interest in that particular field.
It's the same with ED. Not my thing. I don't like the idea of various nutcases hidden behind curtain 1,2, or 3. If I wanted to play Let's Make a Deal, I would go on the show. Kudo's to the ED nurses that choose to be surprised at any given moment.

Med/surg nurses need to be proud of where they work. If we didn't exist, ED and ICU would have no place to put patients.

Hospital departments should embrace and support each other. United we stand, divided we fall.

That's the end of my speech. I heard two nurses use the word "just" today. Very sad and a culture that needs to be changed. Last edit by tokmom on May 16, '11
embrace away, med surg nurses rock

Hey, somebody has to do it and it ain't for me, so I'm glad you want it!

To add on this.. I hate when I hear people say "I'm 'just' a nurse." If you're a nurse then I know that you poured your heart, soul, and body into at least 2 extremely demanding, infuriating, and painstaking years of your life, and for that, you should be commended. No matter what your department or specialty is, we need to embrace the fact that what we do really, truly, matters and our career is essentially "life or death." Rock on, nurses.

I'm a med-surg nurse too. The thing about MS nurses is that they need to be skilled in patient care and management. And even though we only utilize basic nursing procedures most of the time, we are, in a way, very good nurse managers (if we really do perform well). Health teachings, relaying of results, referring to physicians, and many more. Every shift comes with new lessons about patient care and many different cases, so medical-surgical is INDEED a good area of specialty for new nurses, preceptors, and the like.

The word "just" needs to be removed from all nurses vocabularies. My idea of a good time is a trauma code patient(s) with multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. Wanna see me cry, wet my pants, and run away? Give me a job in LTC! Health-care is a system, like a chain is a system. No 1 part is expendable. No one part is more or less important than another. Nobody is "just a nurse." Every nurse becomes an expert in the area that they work, and any nurse who looks down on another should try taking his or her place.Police are crime fighters, firemen firefighters, nurses are death fighters. All nurses are entitled to hold their head high because while crime and fires can be stopped, we fight the ultimate enemy, making life better and longer despite knowing in the end we always lose. But life is the most precious thing in the universe, and if we give a patient one more day of life, we've done nearly God like miracles.

Holy crap! Did I say all that? I'm gonna write it all down and read it the next time I start to say I'm "just a nurse!"

I'm always in awe of med-surg nurses. It's not a specialty I'd prefer. I worked it awhile and it wasn't for me at all. In that time, though, I saw other med-surg nurses being completely amazing. I can't say enough good things about them.Be PROUD of being a med-surg nurse! You are a person who makes a huge difference...

That's what makes nursing so great because we all are different with different skills and can do different things. I don't do children, I'm not rubbing fundus-- but I'm glad that I have friends that are OB and peds nurses. I call myself a '"tele nurse" but I can skillfully navigate through Med/Surg, telemetry, step down, and ICU (not CVICU). But I teach med surg full time. So I have many hats. But NO ED for me, doesn't make me less experienced than the ED nurses, we all have different talents. Nursing is "of multi layers"I love nursing

Quote from dthfytrHoly crap! Did I say all that? I'm gonna write it all down and read it the next time I start to say I'm "just a nurse!"

I just copied it, I hope you don't mind, and will put it in the break room at work!! Wonderfully said!

Quote from dthfytrThe word "just" needs to be removed from all nurses vocabularies. My idea of a good time is a trauma code patient(s) with multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. Wanna see me cry, wet my pants, and run away? Give me a job in LTC! Health-care is a system, like a chain is a system. No 1 part is expendable. No one part is more or less important than another. Nobody is "just a nurse." Every nurse becomes an expert in the area that they work, and any nurse who looks down on another should try taking his or her place.Police are crime fighters, firemen firefighters, nurses are death fighters. All nurses are entitled to hold their head high because while crime and fires can be stopped, we fight the ultimate enemy, making life better and longer despite knowing in the end we always lose. But life is the most precious thing in the universe, and if we give a patient one more day of life, we've done nearly God like miracles.

Hey, my hats are off to med/surge nurses. I did med surge float for 4 months out of school. I hated it. Went to ICU, I loved, I am one who needs that adrenaline rush.I would never want to go back to med/surge and I am so greatfull to the nurses who run their butts off with 8 or 9 patients. I don't think I could go back to doing it. it's hard work.So I commend you and there is no such thing as "just" any kind of nurse.