ICU to Floor?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in SICU, Peds CVICU.

There are many threads about the merits of going the Nursing School -> Med Surg -> ICU route vs. Nursing School -> ICU route. However, I've never seen on here or met anyone who has gone from the ICU to floor. I'm wondering if it could be done and if ICU anal-retentiveness would make floor nursing easier or not. Any opinions/thoughts/experiences?

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I worked Step-down with a few ICU nurses that were floated there.

And they DROWNED! A couple were so used to taking care of ONE patient, taking care of 3-4 was just too much. Not to mention, they were not used to the patients "talking" or "walking" either.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

As a fellow anal retentive critical care nurse.......No they don't do well...the necessary attention to detail that a ICU nurse requires causes frustration and delay on the floor. They never get used to all the commings and goings on the floor and the lack of direct patient care. The charting on a patient you barely laid eyes on....ICU nurses miss the hands on patient interaction/care too much and they quickly return to the ICU they thought they were burned out on, on the plus side they realize their true niche and remain happy in ICU for a LONG LONG time!

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I personally think the ICU anal-retentiveness would make the transition to the floor more difficult, rather than easier. Have you ever worked on a floor before? If not, try shadowing a floor nurse if you are considering this change. Even 4 hours on the floor would likely give you a good idea of whether or not it's an environment you can see yourself in.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

many ICU nurses have no idea how busy the other floors can be. If you can adjust to that you will be fine.

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many ICU nurses have no idea how busy the other floors can be. If you can adjust to that you will be fine.

And, vice versa, many floor nurses have no idea how busy one ICU patient can be . . . with 15 drips running, procedures, mini-codes . . . non-stop for the entire 12 hours!!

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Specializes in SICU, Peds CVICU.
I worked Step-down with a few ICU nurses that were floated there.

And they DROWNED! A couple were so used to taking care of ONE patient, taking care of 3-4 was just too much. Not to mention, they were not used to the patients "talking" or "walking" either.

Just out of curiosity, did the ICU nurses get floated to step down often, or was it an occasional situation? I've been floated a few times, and holy cow- I respect float pool nurses! I hate being out of my comfort zone. It takes so much longer to get things done, simply because it's not second nature yet. That doesn't mean I couldn't work in the NICU or neuro ICU- but I definately am a weaker nurse when I'm unsure of things.

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Specializes in SICU, Peds CVICU.
I personally think the ICU anal-retentiveness would make the transition to the floor more difficult, rather than easier. Have you ever worked on a floor before? If not, try shadowing a floor nurse if you are considering this change. Even 4 hours on the floor would likely give you a good idea of whether or not it's an environment you can see yourself in.

I probably could have clarified- I'm not looking at changing to floor nursing. I am curious as to whether the transition would be easier because of ICU experience. I am switching jobs soon to a hospital that keeps their patients in one room throughout the hospital stay, so the floor is mixed ICU and tele. We'll see if I can adjust to taking tele patients, but I'm hoping they keep me mostly on the ICU side of things.

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Just out of curiosity, did the ICU nurses get floated to step down often, or was it an occasional situation? I've been floated a few times, and holy cow- I respect float pool nurses! I hate being out of my comfort zone. It takes so much longer to get things done, simply because it's not second nature yet. That doesn't mean I couldn't work in the NICU or neuro ICU- but I definately am a weaker nurse when I'm unsure of things.

In my hospital, they got floated often because of low census in the ICU's. It was either be floated to Stepdown or go home. Over the holidays was rough, one of the ICU's units was closed for a week at a time.

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Specializes in CVICU.
And, vice versa, many floor nurses have no idea how busy one ICU patient can be . . . with 15 drips running, procedures, mini-codes . . . non-stop for the entire 12 hours!!

I did a year on a rough tele/medsurg floor with 6 pts that usually had 3 consultants writing orders. 2-3 discharges. 1-2 ER admissions and transfer. So thats potentially having to know everything about 9 pts in one shift. Passing all meds and dealing with pts that really are not stable and need to be in an ICU. I 100% guarantee you the hospitals Ive worked at the tele floors are FAR FAR busier and crazier. Im in a CVICU with very high risk pts they doing all kinds of experiments on and the acuity is very high but its 2 pts!!!!

The ICU nurses I know that never worked on the floor and they get floated, suck, bad. They are toast on arrival. Not all of them but a good chunk. ICU and tele are 2 totally different beasts. I just love the CVICU beast way better cause im not even half as busy and can actually chill a bit and also do a better job per pt...

And yes, we get tripled in ICU on occasion, even if your triple is a code blue comming down from my old tele floor at 5 its better any day of the week!

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

i know of one icu nurse with 15 years experience who tried to work on a med sur tele floor. no more then 6 hours into her shift she walked up to our don and announced that she was not returning tomorrow and to take her off any remaining shifts now! icu nurses are smart and do their jobs well. however, like everyone else mentioned, med surg tele is a different beast. if you are not used to it, you will not do very well. one patient as oppose to 5-8 is a rough transition!!

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Specializes in ICU.

ICu to floor almost never happens. For a few reasons. one is why would a nurse want to go from 2 patients to 6 or 7!

Also, the ICu anal retentiveness really does not work well on the floor. When I got floated to the floor, I had to do full assessments on all my patients and check on them every 15 min. meanwhile I had TONS of charting, many meds to pass.....

I started out my career for the first few months as amed surg float. i hated it. Then i got the ICu and it was right for me, because I hated not haivng time ot do anything more than pass meds and chart. I wanted to use my critical thinking skill, teach, involve family...ICU gave me that opportunity.

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