[mrdoc2005]

I am finishing school this semester and trying to figure out what I want to do. I know I want to focus on cardiac. Most people (family, friends, and teachers) are telling me to do med/surg for a year to increase skill level. My question is, do you think I could do that while working on a cardiac floor. I do not mean CCU or ICU just a cardiac floor.

To me it looks like I would be doing a lot of everything on a cardiac floor and that would give me the experiance I am looking for while allowing me to focus on cardiac.

Thanks for you comments.

[SCNuttyMeg]

Hey,

I graduated almost 2yrs ago and I started on a cardiology floor. We take post open heart pt's once off the vent, post cath, MI's, Strokes, CHF, plus anything else the cardiac surgerons operate on. I have no regrets at all going straight to a cardiology floor. You get med/surg plus cardiac. If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would not change a thing. We have a lot of new grads that start on our floor and they do very well. Good Luck in your decision. I say go for it!!!

[Cameelrn]

Originally Posted by mrdoc2005

I am finishing school this semester and trying to figure out what I want to do. I know I want to focus on cardiac. Most people (family, friends, and teachers) are telling me to do med/surg for a year to increase skill level. My question is, do you think I could do that while working on a cardiac floor. I do not mean CCU or ICU just a cardiac floor.

To me it looks like I would be doing a lot of everything on a cardiac floor and that would give me the experiance I am looking for while allowing me to focus on cardiac.

Thanks for you comments.

I started out on a cardiac (telemetry) floor right out of school. I learned that in our hospital, where we do open heart, there is plenty of opportunity for medical/surgical experience. We also get a lot of patients who have MIs during surgery or shortly after, so we are not just dealing with heart patients (seldom is that their only problem) but typical med/surg patients with heart problems. Follow your heart.

[cathlabrn]

Originally Posted by mrdoc2005

I am finishing school this semester and trying to figure out what I want to do. I know I want to focus on cardiac. Most people (family, friends, and teachers) are telling me to do med/surg for a year to increase skill level. My question is, do you think I could do that while working on a cardiac floor. I do not mean CCU or ICU just a cardiac floor.

To me it looks like I would be doing a lot of everything on a cardiac floor and that would give me the experiance I am looking for while allowing me to focus on cardiac.

Thanks for you comments.

I started on a very busy IMCU right out of nursing school and got plenty of med/surg experience. It was a very hard place to work but I learned alot.
I am glad that I started there.

[greentea]

MrDoc-I'm graduating in September so I still have a little more time to figure stuff out but I've been wondering about the very same thing. I love the telemetry unit I'm on this semester for clinical and I really want to do this. I would be thrilled if I could work on a telemetry floor as my first job. I know I'm getting some awesome med-surg experience right now and I'm seeing things I would probably never normally see on other floors. Go for it if that's what you love! You'll probably have an interesting and challenging med-surg experience.

[AnnaRN327]

Go for the cardiac telemetry unit. I started out on a cardiac floor straight out of school and my friend started on a med-surg floor. I have been on the unit for 2 yrs now and my skill level, time management and total overall nursing skill and knowledge is greater than my friend because we get sicker patients than she does on a med-surg floor. My opinion on a med-surg floor is if you want to take care of sick, dying nursing home patients go to a med-surg floor. Cardiac is great though! Good luck in whatever you decide.

[medicrnohio]

I am a new graduate and just started working on a cardiac telemetry floor. I see plenty of med-surg patients in addition to cardiac patients. So far it has been a great experience.

[Hrtnurse14]

I think it is great that you are going into cardiology. Just a few words of advice about finding the right floor for you. On any "monitored" unit you should have a lower nurse to patient ratio than a med-surg nurse. I know that where I work on IMCU we have a ratio of 1-4 on days and eves and 1-5 on nights". When working tele you are responsible for more acute tasks such as drips and more frequent monitoring of the patients. So you need less patients. Some facilities don't staff that way so be careful. Make sure the facility provides you with a strong preceptorship that not only allows time on the floor with a seasoned nurse but time with a clinician to help you weed your way through policy and procedure and charting the "right way". Make sure you take advantage of every experience you can while training so you feel more comfortable when your on your own.

Working in tele will give you a great heads up to transfer to more critical care units such as ICU/CCU or Open Heart, or ED etc. You'll already be one step ahead of the game knowing your EKG info and many drugs and drips.

GREAT CHOICE! Good luck!

Mary Ann