What type Nursing Units have you worked? And

ERNurse752, RN · Oct 14, 2001

During school, I worked for 3 1/2 years on a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. I liked the critical nature of the pts, and I like the heart. I really liked the people I worked with, but I eventually got tired of having the big heart focus, and having a more long-term focus sometimes. I also did a 12 week internship in a Level I trauma center in the ICU's there...in Medical ICU, Trauma/Surgical ICU, Burn Unit, and stepdown. I liked the variety of the MICU, I loved the trauma in T/S and Burn, and the burn pts were all very complex and had really interesting stories about how they were burned. When I graduated, I did a new grad internship; 8 weeks in the ER, 8 weeks in Cardiovascular Recovery Room (where pts go right after open heart and other vascular surgeries). I decided CVRR wasn't for me b/c of the big cardiac and surgical focus. Now, I am currently a new grad RN in the ER I interned in, and I really like the huge variety of pts in the ER, and the non-long-term focus...they come in with a problem, and you either fix it, or they get admitted and it's not your problem anymore. Might sound bad, but I like the short term part of it, although I do miss forming relationships with pts like I got to in the various ICUs. I'm still considering going back to the Level I ICU in a year or so, or working in the ER there. Labor/delivery, chemical dependence, online nursing, public health, school nursing, and clinics are also possible interests of mine for the future.

Aerolizing · Oct 14, 2001

Hi All,

I have worked 10 years in mental health at large teaching hospital. I have always loved psychiatry and I toured area hospitals (yes they will let you do that if you call and ask) before choosing the one I worked at to make sure it was just what I was looking for in a job. I asked lots of questions.

I liked that it was adult which meant no adolescent wrestling matches and minimal gero-psych patients. The adults I saw were primarily pretty healthy and always seemed to get better just by sleeping, eating, bathing and taking a few days of psych meds. There weren't too many life and death situations. I liked being able to talk to my patients even if they were asking to return to their own planet. I also liked med and illness teaching.

I did not like having people admitted for babysitting services which did happen. There was a doc who routinely admitted mentally retarded patients for a week or so while their families would go on vacation. (He justified this by changing a med or saying they had a behavioral outburst.)

I also did not like unsafe conditions like placing violent felons on double blind drug studies so we would never know if they were receiving meds or placebos.

Politics. Enough said.

debbyed · Oct 14, 2001

When I first got out of school I do Telemetry, CCu, Oncology and orthopedics----Than 20 years ago I found the ER and have been there pretty much ever since. I really can't imagine doing anything else.

kaycee · Oct 14, 2001

SICU,TRAUMA,CCU and the last 19yrs ER.

Always liked critical care nursing. I enjoyed SICU, and TRAUMA. You really got to see people get better and work with them very closely. It's a very intense type of nursing and full of learning opportunities.

CCU was my least favorite. I just got bored with the same stuff all the time.

ER was the change I needed and I've been doing that the longest. It's the unexpected, the diversity and the challenge of having to have a broad knowledge base that keeps me there.

Hope you find the area that you are looking for. There certainly is a lot to choose from.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Oct 14, 2001

ER, Med Surg. Elective Surgery, Renal, PCCU, PACU, Oncology....sounds like a lot. but was actually in a resource (float) pool for a year.......did every thing except actuall critical care.

OR Circulator 1 year, Headstart 1 year, Public Health 6 mo, Vocational Rehab 6 mo. (Hated both)

Orthopaedics 22 years.

As a Med asst. Small hospital that makes VictoriaG's look like the Mayo Clinic! Did OR, ER, Nursery, L&D and Med Surg. ALL as a tech!! WOW I can't even believe thatI did that.

And my all time favorite was MY doctor's office!!!!! WONDERFUL.