In which units do most nurses in hospitals work?

• A. General medical-surgical care units
• B. Intensive care units
• C. Pediatric units
• D. Maternity units

Answer: (A)

The situation tests understanding of where the majority of inpatient nursing work happens. General medical-surgical units handle a wide mix of medical and surgical patients, across a broad age range, and they typically contain the largest number of beds in a hospital. This means a larger portion of nurses are staffed there to manage routine monitoring, medication administration, wound care, patient education, and discharge planning for diverse conditions.

Intensive care units, while staffed by highly specialized, highly trained nurses, have far fewer beds and require high nurse-to-patient ratios, so they employ fewer nurses overall. Pediatric and maternity units serve more specific populations, with specialized types of care, but they do not account for as large a share of the hospital nursing workforce as general med-surg units.