21
Medical Surgical Specialist

Medical Surgical Nurses

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

This is dedicated to medical surgical nurses. I am a respiratory Therapist and these nurses do not get the proper recognition in my opinion.

Citation preview

Page 1: Medical Surgical Nurses

Medical Surgical SpecialistMedical Surgical Specialist

Page 2: Medical Surgical Nurses

The medical surgical floor has often been called a general hospital ward or a regular nursing floor.  Neither of these definitions acknowledges medical surgical nursing as being a specialty. 

Page 3: Medical Surgical Nurses

In fact, the suggestion is that nurses who work on the med-surg floor are generalists with no specific knowledge. 

The med surg floor is often used as a stepping stone, or a starting place, or proving ground for new nurses. 

Page 4: Medical Surgical Nurses

If you wanted to start a career in critical care, it was often recommended that you get a couple of years’ experience on the med-surg floor first. 

Page 5: Medical Surgical Nurses

The problem with all of these definitions is that they diminish the impact that the med-surg floor has on patient care and diminish the value of the nurses who work on that floor. 

Page 6: Medical Surgical Nurses

Medical surgical nursing is a specialty area. 

Page 7: Medical Surgical Nurses

Nurses who work on the med-surg floor have specialized knowledge in caring for patients with a wide variety of different conditions, in the same way that a general ICU nurse would have a large variety of different patients in their unit.

Page 8: Medical Surgical Nurses

In the document, Keeping Patients Safe, Transforming the Work Environment for Nurses, published by the Institute of Medicine in 2004, they documented improved patient outcomes being related to the nurse’s skill at monitoring patients and suggested that it is the nurse’s care that is an important defense against errors. 

Page 9: Medical Surgical Nurses

With the majority of inpatients cared for on the med surg floors, why is it that medical surgical nursing has gotten a reputation for being a starting place or a proving ground? 

Page 10: Medical Surgical Nurses

One of the reasons could be that until recently, no one had documented the specialized knowledge and skills that are required of med-surg nurses. 

Page 11: Medical Surgical Nurses

With the recent push to achieve magnet status, many hospitals are interested in having more nurses become certified in their specialty areas. 

Page 12: Medical Surgical Nurses

The American Nurse Credentialing Center and the Academy for Medical Surgical Nurses have developed curricula and criteria that define the scope and practice of medical surgical nursing. 

Page 13: Medical Surgical Nurses

This documentation has helped to define what medical surgical nursing really is. 

Page 14: Medical Surgical Nurses

Med-surg nurses may have to care for several patients at a time and need certain organizational skills in order to do so. 

Page 15: Medical Surgical Nurses

These are organizational skills that ICU nurses or OB nurses would not have. 

Med-surg nurses also need to have specialized assessment skills in order to be able to know a little bit about a large number of patients. 

Page 16: Medical Surgical Nurses

This differs from ICU practice where nurses must know a lot about a few patients.

Page 17: Medical Surgical Nurses

In addition, medical surgical nurses often have a wide variety of patients to care for with problems ranging from cancer to surgery and can even care for pediatric patients on their floors. 

Page 18: Medical Surgical Nurses

A wide range of knowledge and skill is necessary to care for this vast, diverse patient population. 

Page 19: Medical Surgical Nurses

Med-surg nurses account for the greatest number of specialty nurses in any hospital.  It is time we started giving credit where credit is due. 

Page 20: Medical Surgical Nurses

Medical surgical nursing is a specialty and med-surg nurses have specialized knowledge and skills in order to be able to practice in their environment. 

Page 21: Medical Surgical Nurses