Seven Reasons Why Nurses Choose Med Surg & Telemetry Units
And Why You Should Too!
Featuring: Kayla R, Director - Nursing
Location: Ochsner Medical Center - Baton Rouge
In healthcare, medical surgical (med surg) nurses need dedication, skills and compassion to care for patients. Ochsner Health med surg nurses manage a range of medical conditions. But what does it take to become a med surg nursing leader, and what does their career path look like? We ask Director of Nursing Kayla R. questions about her career journey through med surg.
Meet Kayla
Kayla Rogers is the Director of Nursing overseeing telemetry, med surg, oncology, and the in-house float pool at Ochsner Medical Center – Baton Rouge. She has been with Ochsner for 14 years, beginning her career as a summer nurse tech in June 2009. At the conclusion of the program, she transitioned into a certified nursing assistant (CNA) role in the same med surg department she now leads.
Throughout her tenure, Kayla has been afforded numerous opportunities to learn and grow, progressing from CNA to RN, from preceptor to relief charge nurse and from operational coordinator to director over her departments, including med surg. The med surg unit in Baton Rouge offers an exceptionally broad scope of practice, enabling new graduate nurses to learn, adapt and refine their performance while building a strong foundation for long-term success in their nursing careers.
Q&A with Kayla
Q: What can med surg teach nurses about patient care?
One of the best things I have learned on med surg is how to treat the whole patient. We do not just treat symptoms; we compassionately treat the entire patient, mind and body, when providing care for the patient.
Q: What type of patients end up in med surg?
There are a wide range of conditions treated in med surg. Almost every patient who needs to stay in the hospital spends time in our med surg unit in Baton Rouge with a med surg and telemetry nurse. As a nurse, you learn to care for and communicate with a truly varied patient population. Including but certainly not limited to congestive heart failure, diabetes, stroke, oncology and various surgical patients.
Q: How will med-surg support nurses in their future careers?
Going into a specialty, too early is not the best choice for a new nurse, in my opinion. The broad experience that med surg and telemetry offers will help nurses develop a wide knowledge foundation for the rest of their career. In addition to expanding knowledge on disease processes, you learn valuable skills like time management and communication with patients and peers. Experiencing a wide variety of skills and disease processes early in their careers will expose new nurses to ideas and options for potential specialties to pursue later in their career. They might not get the exposure to other specialties without working in med surg.
Q: What kind of soft skills do nurses develop?
Med surg also helps nurses grow their soft skills, such as communication, time management and critical thinking skills. Our nurses learn how to speak to varied patients and many other healthcare team members. Working together as a team with effective communication provides better care for patients. Plus, a med surg nurse quickly becomes a master of time-management while learning to meet the needs of your patients and the family members. We also work to continue to build the foundation of critical thinking through real life situations and didactic education and peer review sessions in our year-long nurse residency program for new graduates.
Q: What kind of technology does a med surg nurse utilize?
Med surg nurses use very sophisticated technology. Ochsner med-surg and telemetry units utilize advanced systems such as telesitter, telemetry monitoring, telepsych, dynamaps integrated with our charting system and telestroke. Advanced behind-the-scenes technology allows med surg nurses to take care of advancing acute conditions and effectively manage their time with patients. Technology also assists in monitoring any decline in patients so nurses can be notified and intervene sooner rather than later.
Sophisticated technology helps patients stay with nurses they are familiar with, which reduces stress. We do not need patients to be sectioned off and shuffled around to other departments. In med surg, we spend a longer time with our patients. It’s amazing what we can accomplish with the technology resources available to us.
Q: How often does med surg work with other departments?
Med surg is not sectioned off from other departments like other specialties. A med surg unit is a perfect place to meet a wide range of healthcare professionals from other departments as our patients daily are having to go for various procedures, treatments or studies with other departments.
Q: Why do med surg nurses choose to stay in med surg units?
I am extremely fortunate to have many of the same nurses that trained me or that I have trained still on the unit today, some still at the bedside and some now leadership. When asked why they choose to stay many times they reference the team that we have been able to build, we have been very blessed to build a strong cohesive team that can support each member's strengths and build on each other’s opportunities. Med surg has huge potential for career growth, and nurses don’t need to leave med surg and telemetry to grow in their careers. I started as a med surg CNA, and now I am the nursing director of med surg and oncology.
Med surg nurses thrive while managing the complexities of individual patient needs. Many people call med surg nurses the “swiss-army-knives of nursing.” They are compassionate healers who make a difference every single day. A med surg and telemetry nurses’ career is a remarkable journey of lifelong learning, adaptability, and dedication to patient care.
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If you are a med surg and telemetry nurse or a nurse interested in starting a career in med surg and telemetry, explore opportunities and incentives at Ochsner Health.
Explore nursing opportunities at careers.ochsner.org/nursing.