What does a registered nurse med/surg do?
The job of registered medical-surgical nurses is to care for patients with either surgical or non-surgical conditions. They are responsible for aiding patients to cope with their illness, prevent diseases, and promote good health. Entry-level registered nurses often rely on standardized care plans and medical procedures and make scientific-based nursing judgments. On the other hand, intermediate level nurses are more skilled in developing care plans that meet client needs. Requirements to become a medical-surgical nurse include a college degree in nursing, excellent assessment and observation skills, and patient education skills.
Registered nurse med/surg responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real registered nurse med/surg resumes:
- Manage respiratory ventilator, EKG equipment, intravenous and oral medication, intravenous pump machine, and blood products transfusion.
- Achieve telemetry and BLS certification.
- Interact with professionalism and compassion to consistently achieve confidence in care.
- Manage and care for medical-surgical ICU patients including neurology and plastic surgery patients.
- Manage patient pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention, monitor patient response and record care plans accordingly.
- Provide compassion to patients and family members ensuring optimal levels of comfort and privacy
- Assess patients who have undergone diverse surgical procedures and then develop, implement and evaluate nursing interventions.
- Serve as a member of interdisciplinary teams in providing excellent care to patients focuse on oncology patients.
- Collaborate with physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy to provide excellent patient care and rehabilitation.
- Measure heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, blood-oxygen level and electrocardiogram information using sophisticate equipment.
- Apply the nursing process to assess and care for adult medical/oncology hematology patients receiving medical therapy and/or supportive care.
- Collaborate and communicate with interdisciplinary team to provide holistic, evidence-base, and quality care for adult and oncology patients.
- Rotate among various clinical specialties including telemetry, medical-surgical, orthopedics, emergency room, geriatrics, rehabilitation, and psychiatry.
- Care of PEG/PEJ tubes, and NG tubes.
- Evaluate patients presenting with asthma, appendicitis and hernia.
Registered nurse med/surg skills and personality traits
We calculated that 27% of Registered Nurse Med/Surgs are proficient in Patients, BLS, and Acute Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Critical-thinking skills, Communication skills, and Compassion.
We break down the percentage of Registered Nurse Med/Surgs that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 27%
Provided care managers with required information to fulfill their utilization management functions and help determine patients' discharge needs.
- BLS, 16%
Achieved telemetry and BLS certification.
- Acute Care, 8%
Provided acute care for post-operative patients recovering from anesthesia, encompassing ambulatory surgical procedures, invasive and extensive surgeries and traumas.
- Acls, 6%
Certified in advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), and educated in other condition stabilizing interventions.
- Direct Patient Care, 3%
Provide and coordinate direct patient care with emphasis on meeting physical and emotional needs of patients while maintaining confidentiality.
- Discharge Planning, 2%
Evaluated effectiveness of intervention based on patient outcomes and completed discharge planning to ensure patient understanding once released utilizing ExitCare.
"patients," "bls," and "acute care" are among the most common skills that registered nurse med/surgs use at work. You can find even more registered nurse med/surg responsibilities below, including:
Critical-thinking skills. The most essential soft skill for a registered nurse med/surg to carry out their responsibilities is critical-thinking skills. This skill is important for the role because "registered nurses must assess changes in the health status of patients, such as determining when to take corrective action." Additionally, a registered nurse med/surg resume shows how their duties depend on critical-thinking skills: "provide safe and effective patient care using critical-thinking skills. "
Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling registered nurse med/surg duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "registered nurses must be able to communicate effectively with patients in order to understand their concerns and evaluate their health conditions." According to a registered nurse med/surg resume, here's how registered nurse med/surgs can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "coordinated patient care and proper delivery through proper and effective communication between physician team and interdisciplinary team while ensuring patient safety. "
Compassion. registered nurse med/surgs are also known for compassion, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to registered nurse med/surg responsibilities, because "registered nurses should be caring and empathetic when working with patients." A registered nurse med/surg resume example shows how compassion is used in the workplace: "provided excellent patient care with compassion and empathy to patients on a 48 bed inpatient telemetry unit. "
Detail oriented. registered nurse med/surg responsibilities often require "detail oriented." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "registered nurses must be precise because they must ensure that patients get the correct treatments and medicines at the right time." This resume example shows what registered nurse med/surgs do with detail oriented on a typical day: "instructed and oriented new nursing staff and nursing students on the floor, in hospital policies and procedures. "
Emotional stability. A commonly-found skill in registered nurse med/surg job descriptions, "emotional stability" is essential to what registered nurse med/surgs do. Registered nurse med/surg responsibilities rely on this skill because "registered nurses need emotional resilience and the ability to cope with human suffering, emergencies, and other stressors." You can also see how registered nurse med/surg duties rely on emotional stability in this resume example: "performed assessments for cardiac and vascular diseases and hemodynamic instability; conducted bedside telemetry and ekg monitoring. "
Organizational skills. While "organizational skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to registered nurse med/surg responsibilities. Much of what a registered nurse med/surg does relies on this skill, seeing as "nurses often work with multiple patients who have a variety of health needs." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of registered nurse med/surgs: "provided direct patient care using excellent organizational, computer, and time management skills. "
The three companies that hire the most registered nurse med/surgs are:
- Trusted Health Plans1,521 registered nurse med/surgs jobs
- Accountable Healthcare Holdings Corp.958 registered nurse med/surgs jobs
- Stability Healthcare958 registered nurse med/surgs jobs
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Compare different registered nurse med/surgs
Registered nurse med/surg vs. Medical surgical staff nurse
Staff nurses are registered nurses who are usually assigned to work in a care home, a company, or in a clinical setting. They advise the physical assessments of patients, employees, and residents. They also handle the checking of vital signs, providing basic medical procedures, giving first aid, and, if possible, providing over the counter medication. Staff nurses provide medical attention to the people in their place of assignment. They help pave the path to their patients' full recovery. Staff nurses are expected to be patient and have good interpersonal skills.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a registered nurse med/surg are more likely to require skills like "bls," "patient safety," "patient outcomes," and "compassion." On the other hand, a job as a medical surgical staff nurse requires skills like "cpr," "staff nurses," "medication administration," and "blood pressure." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Medical surgical staff nurses really shine in the health care industry with an average salary of $58,385. Comparatively, registered nurse med/surgs tend to make the most money in the health care industry with an average salary of $74,800.medical surgical staff nurses tend to reach similar levels of education than registered nurse med/surgs. In fact, medical surgical staff nurses are 0.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Registered nurse med/surg vs. Staff nurse
An emergency registered nurse is first in line for patients who need a response. These nurses are first to respond to emergency cases such as trauma, allergic reactions, and injuries. They assist doctors and other medical staff in emergency medical care. It is their responsibility to always provide high-quality standards for nursing. The skills they should possess include diligence, attention to detail, levelheadedness, and strong communication. They also need to be knowledgeable about emergency care.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that registered nurse med/surg responsibilities requires skills like "patient outcomes," "compassion," "quality patient care," and "home health." But a staff nurse might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "cpr," "surgery," "medication administration," and "triage."
Staff nurses may earn a lower salary than registered nurse med/surgs, but staff nurses earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $58,739. On the other hand, registered nurse med/surgs receive higher pay in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $74,800.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Staff nurses tend to reach similar levels of education than registered nurse med/surgs. In fact, they're 1.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for registered nurse med/surgs in the next 3-5 years?
Lisa Rebeschi Ph.D.
Associate Dean of the School of Nursing Professor of Nursing, Quinnipiac University
Registered nurse med/surg vs. Emergency department registered nurse
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a registered nurse med/surg is likely to be skilled in "bls," "telemetry," "oncology," and "medical-surgical nursing," while a typical emergency department registered nurse is skilled in "life support," "cpr," "triage," and "tncc."
Emergency department registered nurses earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $77,094. Registered nurse med/surgs earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $74,800.emergency department registered nurses typically earn similar educational levels compared to registered nurse med/surgs. Specifically, they're 3.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Registered nurse med/surg vs. Registered professional nurse
Types of registered nurse med/surg
Updated January 8, 2025
