ER to ICU or vice versa

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Medical/Surgical/Telemetry RN.

Has anyone gone from ER to ICU nursing? or the other way around? Could you share your experience and what you enjoy or dislike about your new specialty of nursing? Thank you and I appreciate the feedback as always.

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Specializes in Cardiac (adult), CC, Peds, MH/Substance.

If you have any level of OCD, probably ICU. In my anecdotal experience, people who want things very organized do well in an ICU environment. If you'd just as soon remove your larynx with a spoon as know what your day will hold, probably ED.

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If you have any level of OCD, probably ICU. In my anecdotal experience, people who want things very organized do well in an ICU environment. If you'd just as soon remove your larynx with a spoon as know what your day will hold, probably ED.

Hahaha probably true!

I moved from medicine to ICU, when I had the choice of ER or ICU. Glad I did. Learned the crazy stuff in a more controlled environment-how to line, tube, run a code, mix/use the meds, with staff consistently available. Wouldn't do it the other way around...

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Specializes in Family Practice.

I went from ER to ICU. I still picked up shifts in the ER when I was an ICU nurse. I think typically ER nurses do better in the ICU rather than an ICU nurse going to the ER. I mean, that's my opinion based on what I have seen. They are both jobs where you have to juggle lots of balls and prioritize but just in a different way. ICU seems to be more challenging in terms of time and ER is more challenging in terms of volume. What I mean by that is things can change in literally a second. You titrate down a drip ever so slightly and suddenly your patient's BP is in the toilet and you are scrambling to fix it. ER for the most part is chaos. You have more patients, more people that you aren't necessarily caring for but get caught up in doing things for them/the family. You also have far less ill patients in the ER unless you are in the trauma bay.

I personally felt very comfortable as an ER nurse at the end of my tenure but on my first day of orientation in the ICU I felt like a new grad! So be prepared for that feeling of being overwhelmed. I learned so so much and my co-workers were awesome in the ICU. I definitely did not regret my decision

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Specializes in Medical/Surgical/Telemetry RN.

Appreciate all the responses. Thanks guys! :)

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