As we celebrate National Nurses Week 2025, we are pleased to shine the spotlight on three incredible medical-surgical nurses. These three individuals shared why they chose to become medical-surgical nurses, what they wish others knew, and how they stay motivated even on the toughest of days!

Lindsay Bolt, MS, RN, AGCNS-BC, CMSRN, NPDS, PCCN
UCSF Health in San Francisco 

What does your day-to-day look like?

I am a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS), so I round on patients with nurses and on my own and help with certain issues around the hospital.

What drew you to become a medical-surgical nurse?

I loved how my unit cared for both post-surgical and pre-surgical patients awaiting liver and kidney transplants. I got to be a full-on medicine RN and, on the same shift, force someone to cough/deep breathe and take their first big walk. It's just different every day.

What’s something you wish people understood about your job?

Every nurse is a medical-surgical nurse. The medicine may be different in labor/delivery, but it is there. We also have amazing medicine and surgical focus areas that allow us the variety that is the hallmark of medical-surgical nursing, with the expertise of seeing certain patients routinely. Maybe it is sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, renal failure, or even a solid cancer population. It is all still medicine and often can be surgical for these listed populations among the many others.

What keeps you motivated and passionate, even on the tough days?

Nurses and patients able to access their sense of humor in the chaos that is healthcare and the inpatient practice environment. Nurses that are outsmarting me and everyone else every day, finding new and genius ways to continue to humanize healthcare provision.

Nyree Lyons, MSN, MS, RN, CMSRN
Penn Medicine Cedar Campus 

What does your day-to-day look like?

My day-to-day work life consists of meeting with my team of nurses at the change of shift to hear about patients that are our concerns. This includes patients on special drips, fall precautions, patients with IUCs or CLs, and any other pertinent information that is needed.

What drew you to become a medical-surgical nurse?

I became a medical-surgical nurse due to the various surgeries and diseases that I would be able to assist in caring for patients

What’s something you wish people understood about your job?

Something I wish people understood about my job is my passion. I am committed to instilling the practice of our organization to the nurses. I am more than an educator. I encourage my team to be autonomous, advocate for our patients, and do what is necessary to ensure their safety.

What keeps you motivated and passionate, even on the tough days?

What keeps me motivated is when I observe or hear my staff teaching a peer the correct way to perform a task. I am also motivated when a member of my team builds a great rapport with a patient. What has made me most proud this year is when I heard my team speak to the Magnet Surveyor, and they were able to discuss the metrics of our unit.

Lori Thurmes, RN, CMSN, OMS
Northfield Hospital 

What drew you to become a medical-surgical nurse?

I started working in a long-term care facility that was connected to the hospital. I used to have to walk through the medical-surgical unit to get to the long-term care facility, and speaking with the nurses as I walked through prompted me to go to nursing school. I started out as a CNA in 1996 and then became an LPN in 1997. A position for an LPN came open on the medical-surgical floor. I applied and was hired as an LPN on the medical-surgical unit. After a couple of years working side by side with another LPN, we decided to go to school and become RNs. In 2005, I graduated with my associates degree. Then in 2014, I returned to school and graduated with my bachelor's degree in nursing. Since patients are becoming more challenging, I returned to school again in 2016 and graduated with my master's degree in health administration.

I love what I do working on the medical-surgical unit here at the hospital. I am also a certified medical-surgical nurse and encourage my co-workers to also obtain this certification. This is one way of staying up to date with the most current evidenced-based practice. I am still working at the patient bedside but also have the opportunity to help manage or oversee the nurses I work side by side with.

What’s something you wish people understood about your job?

It always changing; no day is the same as the next, which can be challenging and rewarding at the same time.

What keeps you motivated and passionate, even on the tough days?

I love seeing my patients improve and go home.