The Ins and Outs of Being a Certified Medical-Surgical Nurse

Thinking about the next step in your career? The nursing profession is a robust field, with certifications running the gamut of clinical, managerial, and educational specialties. But which is the best choice for you? Here, we’ll take a deep dive into what it means to be a certified medical-surgical nurse.

What Does Being a Medical-Surgical Nurse Mean?

Chances are that if you ask friends about their image of a nurse, they’ll think of a nurse in a hospital caring for a patient at the bedside—carefully monitoring the patient, dispensing medications, providing patient education, and informing and comforting family members. They’re thinking, of course, of a medical-surgical (med-surg) nurse.

Medical-surgical nursing is the single largest nursing specialty in the United States, according to the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN), whose affiliated certifying board offers one of the two credentials in med/surg nursing. Of 3.1 million practicing RNs, at least 650,000 (21%) are medical-surgical nurses. A hospital patient is going to spend more time with a med-surg nurse than any other clinician.

What Does a Med-Surg Nurse Do?

Med-surg nurses take care of patients admitted to the hospital with nonsurgical (medical) and surgical conditions. Their focus includes illness management, disease prevention, and health promotion; but most importantly, they advocate for and educate their patients. Med-surg nurses often have many responsibilities, caring for several patients on a shift while coordinating with the interprofessional healthcare team.

What Type of Person Is a Med-Surg Nurse?

Critical thinking skills, a vast knowledge of diseases and body systems, management abilities, and the capacity to stay calm under pressure are key traits of a competent med-surg nurse. In a busy hospital you could be managing up to 5 patients on a shift, which means you need to be able to multitask and prioritize patient care appropriately. The core skills you’ll need include:

• Assessing patients and observing their progress


• Documenting symptoms, reactions, and progress


• Performing various nursing procedures, including starting IVs, inserting and removing catheters, changing dressings, and administering medications


• Identifying emergencies and managing them competently


• Communicating with and educating patients and their families about their care along with discharge instructions

How Do I Become a Med-Surg Nurse?

While certification is not necessary to work on a med-surg unit, it can help you find work more easily, and even perhaps command better pay. At the very least, you’ll need to earn an associate degree in nursing or bachelor of science in nursing. And, of course, you’ll need to pass the NCLEX-RN to be licensed.

How do I Become Certified in Med/Surg Nursing?

Those who wish to become certified in medical-surgical nursing can choose from two certification programs. One is from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and the other from the Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNBC). The ANCC awards the Registered Nurse-Board Certified (RN-BC) credential; the MSNBC awards the Certified Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse (CMSRN) credential. You need to pass a certification exam to earn either credential.

There are a few other requirements as well. In order to sit for the exam, you’ll need to have completed at least 2,000 hours of practice for either credential and have been a practicing RN for at least 2 years. Also, for the RN-BC credential, you’ll need to have completed 30 hours of contact hours over the last 3 years. Each credential is valid for five years.

Backbone of Hospital Care

Med-surg nurses represent the core of nursing. The backbone of hospitals, they are always present, managing patients at the bedside. Without med-surg nurses, hospitals simply could not deliver competent patient care.

Resources

AMSN. Question: What is the suggested nurse/patient ratio and the suggested CNA/patient ratio for a medical-surgical floor? Retrieved from https://www.amsn.org/practice-resources/care-term-reference/staffing/question-what-suggested-nursepatient-ratio-and

AMSN. What Is Medical-Surgical Nursing? Retrieved from
https://www.amsn.org/practice-resources/what-medical-surgical-nursing

Daily Nurse. Medical-Surgical Nurse. Retrieved from https://dailynurse.com/medical-surgical-nurse/

MSNCB. Certification comparison. Retrieved from https://www.msncb.org/medical-surgical/get-certified/exam/certification-comparison