Medical-surgical (med-surg) units are the bread and butter of hospitals in the nursing departments, and they have some of the toughest staff problems in the specialty. Although, health systems have worked hard to increase uptake in recruitment and nurse turnover after the pandemic, many challenges persist in staffing these units. Med-surg nursing has long been burdened by stigma, resulting in perceptions that it is a stepping stone rather than a sought-after specialty. Nonetheless, hospitals have cranked up efforts to alter this scenario and deal with the shortage in personnel significantly.
Understanding the Med-Surg Staffing Problem
Surgical floors are often the mainstay of a hospital and are most commonly med-surg floors that contain and accommodate many different medical conditions. Such a plethora of tasks helps nurses acquire a lot of information and skills to address several patients at once. Intensive care unit nurses usually take care of one or two patients in a given shift. Med Surg nurses, on the other hand, are usually responsible for caring for up to five to seven patients. The workload and skillset required to make med-surg nursing both demanding and essential.
Due to the above difficulties, more nursing faculty members discourage students from taking up med-surg careers. As it goes with med-surg positions, some students report that they feel discouraged from such a choice because of the reputations accompanying abusive patient-nurse ratios and unyielding pressures. This advice reinforces the stereotype, discouraging new nurses from exploring this field.
Hospitals Shifting the Narrative Around Med-Surg Nursing
Healthcare leaders are working diligently to change perceptions about med-surg nursing by fostering partnerships with academic institutions. As a result of this, hospitals are pressuring nursing schools to offer realistic information with regard to med-surg positions. These units are valuable, and by presenting them as lucrative professions, institutions want to draw more nurses into the specialty.
To increase support for med-surg nurses, hospitals focus on targets that will decrease their job loads and improve satisfaction levels. One solution includes staffing patient care assistants who will perform non-nurses duties to make time for registered nurses to work with the patients. Moreover, emerging technologies, including virtual nursing systems and automated documentation systems, seek to relieve the nurses of monotonous work.
Leveraging Technology to Support Med-Surg Nurses
The med-surg work setting is gradually becoming relevant to the application of technology for enhancement. For instance, BJC HealthCare, based in St. Louis, Missouri, is working on advancing the use of robots and smart devices in connection with the monitoring equipment for vital signs to improve documentation. These tools eliminate routine paperwork where nurses have to record vital signs or any other repetitive information.
“If nurses no longer have to double-document IV drips and vital signs, it greatly reduces the steps they have to take,” explained Dr. Tommye Austin, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, and Chief Nursing Executive at BJC Healthcare. Through technology, hospitals seek to have a less chaotic work environment to make it attractive to med-surg nurses.
Financial Strategies to Address Staffing Issues
Hospitals are also reassessing their financial strategies to improve med-surg staffing. For example, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is trying to determine whether agency nurse funds can be used to hire more internal workers. Agency nurses are usually expensive, and their costs could be equivalent to hiring 1.5 to 2 full-time nurses. Such rationalization of resources would allow hospitals to maintain stable employment and reduce the use of agencies.
Some hospitals are also inclining towards talent marketplaces like SkillGigs where they can find the best talent without the extra cost. Some hospitals are even experimenting with different staffing models. One approach involves lowering patient-to-nurse ratios by hiring additional full-time staff, which could help alleviate burnout and improve job satisfaction among med-surg nurses.
The Path Forward
To overcome the med-surg staffing crisis, hospitals must continue to innovate and adapt. From partnering with academic institutions to enhancing support systems and investing in technology, these measures collectively aim to transform med-surg nursing into a more appealing and sustainable career path. Thus, healthcare management is capable of targeting the stigma and structural problems at the same time, which will help in maintaining the sufficient staffing and the high quality of work in necessary units.
