Health Care Proffesionals! Definition of Med/Surge & C-Diff?

I am a nursing student and would like to know your definition of Med/Surge and the responsibilities that are entailed. Also, if you would please define C-Diff, I would appreciate it.

Health Care Proffesionals! Definition of Med/Surge %26amp; C-Diff?
Med/Surg is basically a general medical area, not specializing in anything specific. Any medical or surgical type problems. Common in small hospitals to have a med/surg floor instead of many speciality floors.





C-Diff or CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE


Clostridium (klo-STRID-e-um) difficile (DIF-ih-sil) is a type of bacteria (bak-TEER-e-uh) (germ) that may cause illness in people and animals. Clostridium difficile is also called C. diff. C. diff may live for long periods of time on many surfaces. It may live for months to years without dying, even when those surfaces are cleaned. It also lives in soil and water. C. diff grows and spreads quickly in hospitals, long term care centers, and day care centers. It is unknown how long you may have C. diff in your body before getting sick. Most of the time, you will not get sick from C. diff because your body will protect you from the bacteria. Older adults, babies, and people who have other medical conditions may get very sick from C. diff.





Hope this all clears things up for you!
Reply:you should not expect Yahoo Answer to substitute hard work and real library search.





I would not like to be your patient someday in a hopsital ....
Reply:Dear Steve,





You're lucky I am in a good mood. Normally I would tell you to look up the answer like a good little nursing student would. Fortunately, I am feeling generous. So I am going to tell you the answer. Hehehe.





First, Medical / Surgical Nursing is a broad specialty. It includes caring for the adult patient with any medical issue or any adult surgical patient. It varies greatly. Most med-surg units include adults from age 18 to 100 something. They typically do not exclude the Geriatric population although Geriatrics is a Nursing Speciality on its own. Medical issues can range from Cellulitis, to Diabetic Ketoacidosis, to Diverticulitis, to Sepsis, to Liver Cirrhosis, to Congestive Heart Failure.... and much much more. Surgical patients can include those who have had elective plastic surgery such as Abdominoplasty, to ORIF (open reduction and internal fixation) of a Hip Fracture, to a CABG (coronary artery bypass graft).... and much much more....





2) C-Diff is the shortened named for Clostridium difficile. C Diff is a bacterial infection, usually of the GI tract. It is mostly thought to be a nosocomial infection ( or "hospital bug" ). It presents as loose, watery, frequent diarrhea with a very foul smell. The patient may also exhibit fever, chills, and weakness and occasionally nausea/vomiting and decreased appetite. It is sometimes spread through the fecal-oral route. Commonly spread from patient to patient through the hands of health care workers. Patients who test positive for the C diff organism should be isolated from other patients as soon as possible, but they may be cohorted with others who tested positive. Each insititution may have a different policy as to when to isolate a suspected case of C diff. Some may require the nurse to wait for positive lab results. Others may allow it immediately. In the event that total isolation is not possible, and there is no other with Cdiff to cohort... the nurse should avoid cohorting with Surgical patients or those who are immunocompromised, such as those on Chemotherapy for Cancer, or the extreme Elderly. Careful and thorough handwashing must be practiced to limit the transmission of the bug. The nurse should instruct the support staff on the importance of isolating the patient and careful handwashing. Also the nurse should teach the patient basic hand hygeine, and explain why they are in a private room. Visitors also need to be instructed as to avoid touching items in the room and avoid touching any body fluids.





Good Luck,





Angie R.N.