The Medical Surgical Nurse

Medical-Surgical Nursing or Med-Surg. Nursing is a field of nursing where the practitioners

work in hospital settings, home care units, acute care facilities, and long term care
institutions. They primarily provide care to adult patients before and after surgery. They
also cater to patients who are being pharmaceutically treated for various illnesses. Medical
Surgical nurses have the option of becoming Advance Practice Nurses (APNs). Medical
Surgical APNs may be called to fill educator and researcher roles. Medical Nursing
subspecialties also exists, they include Pediatric Med-Surg. Nursing and Geriatric Med-Surg.
Nursing.


ROLES OF A MEDICAL SURGICAL NURSE


The Med-Surg. Nurse has many roles to fill. Foremost among them is the role of direct
caregiver. The men and women in this nursing field will be one of the very last people to
interact with patients before they go in for surgery. They will also be one of the very first to
receive the past post-op.


Medical Surgical nurses may also have to take on the role of a medicating nurse for both
surgical and non surgical patients. These nurses also function as counselors, patient
advocates and as health educators. Some med-surg. nurses also have to stand as witnesses
in a patients consent form when necessary.


Most Med-Surg. Nurses are found in a hospitals surgical wing. Medical Surgical Nurses who
care for pre-op patients have a different role compared to nurses who take care of post-op
patients. The basic roles such as Vital Signs monitoring may be the same, but a few
important things differ. It is also important to remember that most medical surgical nurses
take care of both pre and post surgical patients.


Pre Op
Nurses taking care of patients who are about to go into surgery have to do a few things to
ensure that the operation goes on without a hitch. Some of their roles are as follows:


Prep The Patient For Surgery The Medical Surgical Nurse must ensure that the
patient is fully prepped for surgery. Surgery prep could include shaving the patient
and administering enemas. The nurse may delegate these tasks to aides, but it is the
medical surgical nurses responsibility to make sure that the procedures were done
right.
Pre-op medication- The nurse is in charge of making sure that the patient has taken
the prescribed pre-op meds like minor sedatives.
Vital Signs The medical Surgical Nurse must take the patients Vital Signs before
the patient leaves for the Operating Room. This will serve as baseline data for the
surgeon and the anesthesiologist.
Consent It is the med-surg. nurses responsibility to make sure that the patient
signed the appropriate consent form for the procedure. If it is found that the patient
is having doubts or do not understand the risk of surgery, the nurse must then
inform the physician of such so that he/she can educate the patient properly.


Post Op


Nurses who receive patient from the Operating room must be equally careful and meticulous
about the patients condition. Some roles of the post-op medical surgical nurses are:


Vital Signs Taking a post-op patients Vitals is the very first thing that a nurse
should do. Initially the nurse must assess the patients pulse, cardiac rate and
respiration. The nurse should also take the patients Blood Pressure and
Temperature. It is important to note that a post-op patients vitals may be lower
than normal.
Medication Most surgeons order post-op meds that have to be given as soon as the
patient get settled in their room. It is the nurses role to see what these orders are
and to implement them according. The medical surgical nurse also has to pay
attention to the type of IV fluid supplied to the patient. The pre-op IV line fluid may
no longer be the same as the post op one.
Dressing Condition The Med-Surg. nurse must make sure that the patients dressing
is dry and intact. Otherwise, the nurse will have to change it to fresh ones unless
specifically ordered by the doctor or attending physician. The nurse also has to check
the integrity of any drainage mechanisms coming from the patients wounds.


No matter what role a Medical Surgical Nurse or any nurse takes, the most important thing
to remember is DOCUMENTATION. You need to be able to document all the important
events, procedures and medication given to the patient.


DIAGNOSES


As mentioned Medical Surgical nurses are not limited to caring for surgical patients. They
also care for patients admitted to the hospital for pharmaceutical and palliative therapy. The
number and type of diagnoses encountered by a Med-Surg. nurse depends on the hospital.
Nurses in smaller hospitals may have to deal with everything from Cancer cases to Dengue
patients. However, if the nurse is employed in a bigger hospital, he/she would rarely see
those cases because they would be delegated to oncology and infectious disease nurses.

WORK OPPORTUNITIES FOR MED-SURG. NURSES


Medical Surgical Nurses are one of the most sought after nurses in the medical field. Nurses
in this field have the chance to find employments in almost any hospitals. Philippine Nurses
who want to go abroad, should seriously consider working in a Medical Surgical setting
because most foreign hospitals and employers are looking for RNs who have experience in
the Medical Surgical field. Other Nursing field s of interest include Critical Care Nursing,
Operating Room Nursing, Pediatric Nursing and so on.