What Is Medical-Surgical Nursing and how to get a job

Medical-Surgical Nursing job is about taking care of the patients who have undergone or will get surgery soon; med-Surg nurses are expert handling these patient

The medical industry is a huge industry with many job opportunities, especially for the nurse. In medical facilities, They need different category nurses in each area. Today, we’re going to discuss one of the best categories and most desired nursing professions in the medical industry, medical-surgical nursing.

This position also pays well among other nursing jobs; you can expect to earn a median that ranges between $70,000 to $78,000 yearly! 

Are you already a registered nurse? Or willing to become a nurse to specialize in the medical-surgical field? There are a few things that you should know before embarking on the medical-surgical nursing career, such as medical-surgical nursing and the required qualification to get a job. 

What Is Medical-Surgical Nursing?

Medical-surgical nurses are also registered nurses, but they are skilled at taking care of pre and post-surgery patients. Because surgical patients aren’t similar to normal patients, they(surgical patients) need special care as they’re more vulnerable to infections. 

What Does A Medical-Surgical Nurse Do?

A medical-surgical nurse does a variety of things during their working hours, from assisting the patient in getting admission to the medical facilities to helping the patient by educating them on preventative disease measures.  

So, what does a medical-surgical nurse do? Let’s see the daily responsibilities of Med-Surg nurses. 

•  Assessment

There are different types of assessments that medical-surgical nurses do, like pre and post-surgery assessments. In pre-surgery assessment, the medical-surgical nurse will perform several tests on the patient’s body to check whether they’re in good shape to undergo surgery or not. 

And post health assessment means constantly checking their health condition after their surgery.

•  Conducting And Helping To Perform Medical Tests

As a medical-surgical nurse, you’ll also need to carry out simple medical tests such as X-rays and collect blood samples. As well as help other medical workers during the execution of medical tests.

• Keep The Doctor Updated

This is one of the most critical responsibilities of medical-surgical nurses; They need to provide the health status of the patients to the designated doctor to avoid any issues. Even the smallest changes in the patients’ bodies are reported to the doctor by the medical-surgical nurses.  

• Documentation

Medical-surgical nurses record all treatments given by doctors so that every patient’s health condition can be easily tracked. This helps the doctor and nurse better understand whether the state of the patient is improving or declining.  

• Usage Of Medical Equipment

Surgical nurses are required to use different types of medical equipment like Defibrillators, Sterilizers, catheters, and Intravenous therapy. 

• Admission And Discharge

You’ll also be in charge of doing all kinds of paperwork and assisting patients and their family members during the admission and discharge process.

• Advocating The Family Members

Before discharge, the medical-surgical nurse advocates for the patients’ family members and educates them on how they can take care of the patient at home.

These are the everyday duties of a medical-surgical nurse. However, based on the work setting, responsibilities may vary. 

Required Qualification To Work As Medical-Surgical Nurse

In order to become a medical-surgical nurse, you have to have the appropriate educational qualification, certification, and license. Check the qualifications you’ll need to become a med-Surg nurse. 

Education: The first and vital qualification is education; you’ll need to study nursing after graduating from college. You’ll have two options for studying nursing; you can either enroll for an Associate’s Degree or Bachelor’s Degree in nursing. 

What’s the difference between these two? As the duration of the Associate nursing degree is only 18months, you’ll get to learn only the core clinical skills and concepts and land a nursing job as quickly as possible. 

Whereas a Bachelor’s Degree takes almost four years to complete, and you’ll get extensive knowledge about the nursing industry, where you learn the core concept, skill development, leadership, and many more. Getting a Master’s degree in nursing is also possible if you want to be in a higher position, but that’s not always necessary.

NCLEX-RN Exam: Once you’re done with education, then you’ve to prove that you’re qualified to work as a nurse. This exam will be based on what you’ve learned so far in your Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree and will cost around $200. 

License: In many states, nurses need to become licensed; otherwise, they won’t be able to land a job. And some states don’t require a nurse’s license to work; you can check the information on the local government website.

Also, with Nursing Licensure Compact (NLC), you can work in several states without getting or applying for a new license.  

Get Medical-Surgical Nursing license: To begin your journey as a medical-surgical nurse, you must have to become a licensed medical-surgical nurse. Where to get the license from? Visit the Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board website to know further information. 

Necessary Skills Of Medical-Surgical Nurse

Before landing a medical-surgical nursing job, try to develop some of the important skills that’ll help you perform better as a medical-surgical nurse. What are those skills? 

• Multitasking

You should be able to do various tasks at once because nurses are typically engaged with many tasks while on duty. 

• Technical Literacy

You’ll need basic technical literacy to keep medical records and other purposes. Knowing how to use the office suite and other medical interfaces is enough. 

• Prioritizing Work 

The duties of a medical-surgical nurse vary; some responsibilities need the utmost priority and need to be done within a certain time. You can only do so when you know how to prioritize your work. 

• Communication

Your communication skills have to be the best among other skills, as you’ll require frequently talking with doctors, patients and other co-workers. 

How Much Do Medical-Surgical Nurses Make?

As a medical-surgical nurse, you’ll make more than other registered nurses just because of your responsibilities. It can take years to prepare you to become a medical-surgical nurse.

In the fresh years, medical-surgical nurses make between $47,000 to $55,000 a year due to low experience and skill. And the yearly average salary stays between $70,000 to $78,000. 

But, experienced and senior medical-surgical nurses can easily make SIX figures a year! That’s more than $50 per hour.

Don’t waste any more time! Search and apply for medical-surgical nursing jobs with the Royal Recruiter today.