cardiothoracic ICU vs STICU

Specialties MICU

Published

Specializes in ICU.

I'm about to graduate and got offered an internship at a level 1 trauma center in the ICU. They have a surgical/trauma ICU, a MICU, and a cardiothoracic ICU. I know I'm not hip on the MICU, just not really my thing. I know need to decide which one I should go with since I have to make a decision in a few short weeks.

Any ideas??? I want to go on to CCRN at some point.

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Congrats on getting the internship! You'll get good experience in any of those units. If you don't like your choice, you can always transfer later. CCRN is a certification, did you mean CRNA?

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Specializes in ER/ICU/STICU.

Well they are two different balls of wax. In CTICU you'll deal more with hearts and what not. In the STICU you will see a lot of neuro due to sometype of trauma, usually an MVA. You get people who have been shot, stabbed, hit by cars, etc. You'll definitely see more swans in the CTICU than the STICU. Also in the STICU you get the surgical patients as well. If your passion is the heart and the CV system then CTICU might be the way to go. If it's not then the STICU might be the way to go. I used to work in the ED and I have found that the STICU is a nice combination ER and critical care.

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Specializes in CTICU/CVICU.

Sounds like we're in the same program, garfield. S&W? If so, I'm totally choosing CTICU. My ultimate goal is to be a cardiac nurse practitioner working with post-op cardiac patients.

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