CHPPC Module 8, Section 1: The Med-Surg Patient
MODULE 8: MASTERING SPECIALTY POPULATIONS

Section 1: The Medical-Surgical (Med-Surg) Patient

This is the foundation of inpatient care. Here, you will discover that the expertise you’ve built managing chronic disease in the community is the exact skill set required to excel on the hospital’s busiest and most diverse clinical units.

Welcome to Your New Home Base

Applying your core pharmacology knowledge to acute patient care.

The Medical-Surgical (Med-Surg) unit is the hospital’s central hub. It is where patients recover from surgery, receive treatment for acute illnesses like pneumonia and cellulitis, and manage exacerbations of their chronic conditions. The patients on these floors are the same individuals you serve every single day in your retail pharmacy. They have hypertension, diabetes, COPD, and atrial fibrillation. They are on the same medications you dispense daily. The only difference is that they are here now because their stable, chronic condition has become an acute, unstable problem.

This is fantastic news for you. It means your deep well of therapeutic knowledge is not just relevant—it is essential. You are not starting from scratch. You are simply learning to apply your expertise in a new setting, at a new tempo, and with a new set of clinical tools. Your role will be to use your pharmacological skills to stabilize these patients and prepare them for a safe discharge, where they will once again become your stable, long-term retail patients.

Retail Pharmacist Analogy: From General Practitioner to Urgent Care Specialist

Think of your current role as a trusted General Practitioner of pharmacy. You know your patients’ long-term histories, manage their chronic medications, and focus on maintaining their health over years.

The Med-Surg pharmacist role is like that of an Urgent Care specialist. You see the same patients, but they come to you when their asthma has flared into a severe exacerbation or their controlled hypertension has become a hypertensive urgency. Your focus is on rapid assessment, targeted intervention with faster-acting IV medications, and intensive monitoring to stabilize the acute problem. Your goal is to manage the crisis effectively so they can be safely discharged back to the care of their trusted GP pharmacist.

Your High-Impact Interventions

On the Med-Surg floor, your day will be filled with opportunities to make a direct impact on patient care. This section is a masterclass in the three most common, high-value pharmacist interventions you will perform—the core skills that define the role of the Med-Surg clinical pharmacist:

Anticoagulation Bridging

We will transform your expertise in managing a patient’s INR into the science of periprocedural bridging, teaching you how to safely start, stop, and transition patients on warfarin and DOACs around their surgical procedures.

Pain Management Transitions

You will learn the art and math of equianalgesic dosing, converting a patient’s 24-hour IV opioid usage into a safe and effective oral regimen that ensures a comfortable recovery and prepares them for a successful discharge.

IV-to-PO Conversions

You will become a champion of patient safety and cost savings by mastering bioavailability. You’ll learn to identify and lead pharmacist-driven initiatives to switch patients from intravenous to oral medications at the earliest appropriate time.