med/surg

1 hi folks, i'm a nursing student ADN. My plan is to do RN-MSN bridge upon graduation and specialize in midwifery. however, before i do become a midwife i would like to work med/surg. It was my thought that one can gain a lot of experience on that floor from the different scenerios that arises. is this not so? and why are soooo many people not willing to work med/surg or quit after only a short time? now i am terrified to work med/surg can anyone with med/surg experience help me please? what is it about it that scares/turn people off. and/or what do you love about it?
Although I've never done it, nor been a nurse for that matter, the reason I wouldn't won't to work in that department is because the patient encounters last for too long. I'm not into "building close personal relationships" with patients.Let the attack ensue.

i am in an ADN program as well, and in my 2nd medsurg rotation. i truly understand how important a med/surg rotation is and this is where many pivotal clinical skills and time mangagement are mastered. i respect all those med/surg RNs out there, and want to give them a shoutout :-)that being said, i am not a fan of med surg primarily because of the patient population. from my experience i have seen the majority of pts are dealing with poorly managed, chronic health conditions. while i feel a duty to take care of them and help them, i find work with peds much more gratifying. there are only so many times you can see an obese person with CHF ,a diabetic with horrendous pressure ulcers/general skin integrity or someone who let a moderate condition grow to kidney failure. its so frustrating. i see a revolving door with this patient population. its despressing to administer 7-10 HTN Rx to one patient or find a type 2 diabetic having their family sneak food into their room.i see my peds & their families as truly grateful and who are (most importantly) open and involved in patient teaching. not every family unit is the same of course, and there are annoying parents and its very heartbreaking to see a ill child. i love love love peds!!!

My specialty is Med/Surge for over 20 years. you get a large variety of diagnosis, have to think on your feet, be fast, yet accurate and reprioritze constantly through out your shift. It can be hard work, but more often it is rewarding. I love M/S!!!!!

I graduated in 06 and originally did med/surg to gain experience to move onto a critical care unit- which was a dream of mine. I did that for a year and really loved it, but I moved to tele to continue on my goal. I did that for 3 months and I was miserable. On med-surg I would have 7 patients with different illnesses and surgeries, and on tele they all had the same problem- cardiac issues. Out of my 6 tele patients they only defining thing that separated the patients besides their names was their troponin level. It was troponin levels and monitors. Many of the tele patients were med-surg patients with monitors (at times) too. I was bored. I stayed for 6 months on tele thinking it would get better, but I wasnt challenged enough (this is my opinion). I moved back to med-surg and it is my heart now!It is so busy! I love caring for a diverse group of patients- it never gets boring. From a pneumonia to a pancreaticduodenectomy for cancer to a patient with a wound that is as deep as my forearm is long- it keeps your skills fresh, your mind racing and your heart open to helping so many.I have been able to use my critical care knowledge too.Honestly I am not sure why med-surg turns people off. I have heard a lot of people say it is more for less educated nurses, less experienced ones. I have never understood it. Even my family says "oh she dosent work ICU or ER so she might not know," which really makes me mad! I would be very interested to see how you feel after working med-surg. I think it is good to gain knowledge of the many varied illnesses that we encounter so you will have a well-rounded arsenal of tricks to bring to Midwifery. I wish you luck!

Quote from oliviajoliehi folks, i'm a nursing student ADN. My plan is to do RN-MSN bridge upon graduation and specialize in midwifery. however, before i do become a midwife i would like to work med/surg. It was my thought that one can gain a lot of experience on that floor from the different scenerios that arises. is this not so? and why are soooo many people not willing to work med/surg or quit after only a short time? now i am terrified to work med/surg can anyone with med/surg experience help me please? what is it about it that scares/turn people off. and/or what do you love about it?

I think most people's issues with Med Surg is the patient load. Six to eight patients can be rough. Some days you might have 6 "walkie talkies" where you pass meds, do your assessments and that about it. Other days you have 6 pts, one needing blood, 4 diabetics who all need their insulin before they eat, 3 with major dressing changes, one to prep for OR, etc. etc. It can be rough.You will learn a tremendous amount and learn alot about medications. When I was on med surg, I did sterile dressing changes, started IVs, put in foleys, put in NG Tubes, suctioned trachs, drew labs from PICCs and Ports, assisted with a Bone Marrow biopsy, removed staples and sutures, assisted with a cystoscopy at the bedside, and more. It is great experience but it can be grueling.

Vital to get M/S experience prior to going to L&D/Women's health IMO. The first year or so out of school, you're just finding yourself as a nurse. Taking that time to become competent with your assessment skills, developing strong "triage skills" and deeper understanding of multiple system pathophysiology is invaluable. Most of the time, L&D/Women & Children is *not* pathophysiology...it is a normal state of health. It helps to have that background in what's wrong so that, in the maternal-child dyad, you can "catch it before it happens". It's back breaking, no doubt. Heart breaking, from time to time. But there is no short cut to excellence. M/S is the path that gets you there, time and again.Then, go get some great L&D experience, *then* become a midwife. I know there are great CNMS/CPMs that have no nursing exp. I know that there are a million reasons why one might want to skip to the end, so to speak. But time and again I see Advance Practice Nurses with no experience and not a clue about how things look "in real life". I wouldn't want to be their patient, and I wouldn't want to be them, either, because I graduated an ADN program and went straight into ICU. I *know* what it's like to go into a specialty where much is on the line and true experience is needed. I wouldn't want to do it as a midlevel practitioner.

Quote from ImThatGuyAlthough I've never done it, nor been a nurse for that matter, the reason I wouldn't won't to work in that department is because the patient encounters last for too long. I'm not into "building close personal relationships" with patients.Let the attack ensue.

Quote from oliviajoliehi folks, i'm a nursing student ADN. My plan is to do RN-MSN bridge upon graduation and specialize in midwifery. however, before i do become a midwife i would like to work med/surg. It was my thought that one can gain a lot of experience on that floor from the different scenerios that arises. is this not so? and why are soooo many people not willing to work med/surg or quit after only a short time? now i am terrified to work med/surg can anyone with med/surg experience help me please? what is it about it that scares/turn people off. and/or what do you love about it?

Med-surg experience in most cases won't HURT you. You get the chance to learn and improve on a lot of your nursing skills.It's a diverse population as stated upthread..you have patients from 18-100+ that need different levels of care. The things I dislike about medical floor such as working short and having a heavy patient load would probably apply to any floor.

Agree. I want to go into the ER or OR for that reason. Just not my thing.

You can receive a great deal of time management skills by working in Med/Surg. Imagine for a moment, coming to clinicals and finding out that you, the nursing student, have 8 patients that you are responsible for, - for the entire shift from beginning to end - AND having to know what's important to include in the medical record - and know what the next shift RN needs to know in order to not crash and burn on their shift , and have to make the Dr. calls (and what's important and not important to call about), discharges (and what's important to chart and not chart), admits, family interventions (and what's important and not important to chart), out-of-whack lab notifications to the MD, as well of having a patient circling the drain and no-one believing you that they need to go to a higher level of care - so you spend most of your time keeping them alive while you go round and round with the doc trying to get them moved up to ICU. Yeah....it's a little overwhelming. As the RN - YOU are the patient's advocate. This literally means that you have a good enough working knowledge about what the Doc SHOULD be doing in order to act in the patient's best interest. If our patient's were educated enough about medicine, they wouldn't need a nurse, they could get by with CNA's to help with physical tasks. The doc ordered a med that the patient is allergic to? You better be aware of that! The Dr. ordered for the patient to start on 40 Meq's of K Dur QID when the patient is getting dialysis for end stage renal failure? You had better be calling that doc on his/her mistake. Med/Surg will open your eyes to many "laws of the land" where medicine is concerned.Soooo.....how do you know what to automatically as a Midwife when your L&D patient is circling the drain? What are the protocols that are universal to any hospital, anywhere? You gain experience working in your area of expertise first. Med/Surg gives you a good jumping off point to gain general skills in this area. If a patient is complaining of SOB, how do you know what the Doc is going to order, and then what comes next after that order is carried out? Med/Surg will give you a really good grounding regarding what to expect. It will also help you figure out what NOT to call about. In nursing school, you learn that a Hgb & Hct of 9.2 and 26.7 is really not good......However, in real practice, you learn that the Doc really isn't interested in transfusing until the H&H is lower. These things become instinctual, and become ingrained and second nature after working Med/Surg for awhile. .......Kinda like knowing when you need to leave for work/school early in your area because you know when the traffic is going to be bad or not. It just becomes second nature, like breathing. THIS is why you are informed by so many different nurses that you need to get your feet wet in Med/Surg before going elsewhere. It is to help you.