An ICU nurse manager told my wife that her Med/surg experience was hurting her!?

Specialties MICU

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We went to a job fair at a new North side hospital today only to learn that all positions (including med/surg) required two years experience. I started up a conversation with the manager of the new ICU, and related how important it was for my wife to get in the ICU. I also told her of my hypothesis that it might be more difficult for a nurse with some nursing experience, but not two years to find an ICU job than a new grad (based upon my observation that several of my wife's classmates had no trouble going straight to the ICU, but that she has had problems trying to transfer after six months).

I was surprised to find that she (the ICU manager) absolutely agreed with me. In fact she said that my wife going to Med/sugical in the first place was a mistake if she had the ambition of going to the ICU, and then becomeing a CRNA. She indicated that Med/surg was in fact making her a worse ICU prospect since it tended to degrade critical thinking skills necessary to the ICU. Personally, I don't see how caring for four to five very sick patients most with multiple IV's, and many with telemetry could degrade the skills of a new nurse! However, in the real world perception is reality and I'm left to wonder is this really what ICU managers think? IF so why would someone become acceptable after two years experience in med/surg? After all if being in med/surg degrades critical thinking skills then one would think that those skills would be significantly more degraded after two years than only after six months.

IN THE DEFENCE OF THE NURSE MANAGER OF THE ICU THAT YOU SPOKE WITH, SHE IS RIGHT. I HAVE WORKED IN AN ICU FOR OVER 4 YEARS AND FOR THE MOST PART, NURSES WHO GIVE REPORT FROM THE FLOOR HAVE LITTLE TO NO CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS WHAT SO EVER. THEY JUST THINK

"SENT THEM TO ICU." MY OPINION IS IT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE TO OVERWHELMED WITH PT. LOADS. THEY HAVEN'T THE TIME TO STOP AND THINK ABOUT MUCH. HONESTLY I WOULD BE SCARED FOR MY LICENCE IF I HAD TO RESPONSIBLE FOR AS MANY AS 7-9 PT. AT ONE TIME. SO IF YOUR WIFE WANTS HER CRNA, I WOULD JUST GO STRAIGHT TO THE ICU.

I am a new grad 3 months into an ICU. I definitely disagree with the above statement. I have great respect for the med surg nurses who I have interacted with, and my classmates who have gone into med surg. I went into the ICU because I knew that eventually I would want to be in an ICU anyway, and because I did not think I could handle 6 patients. (I am a bit long in the tooth for a new grad). However, I think a year of med-surg would have been greatly helpful. I am still learning fast bedmaking, phlebotomy, starting IVs, etc. So, I don't think there is a hard and fast answer to this issue.

What saddens me is the negativism of this post. Why can't nurses respect each other??

Oldibutgoodie

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Would like your input about a new grad going to CCU. I posted a new thread relating to this....but I'm new to this site. Any thoughts?

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:nono:

I was a med surg nurse for 10 years before I went to the unit. 10 years of very fine assesment skills came with me . It is not that they lack skills what they lack is resources and SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!And attitudes like yours do not help. These nurses think on their feet and on the go they make quick assesments and are tuned to subtle changes with out the aid of moniters, probes, lines ,or what not! If any thing I have lost most of that ability so I would never be able to return to med surg. Critical patients have no business on a med surg floor. It is not that "they just think send them to the unit ".These nurses know "get them out of here ,NOW. period. Med surg is a skill and an art just like any other speciality. geez

Great post!

I too, like to point out to my colleagues that Med/Surg nurses don't have the luxury of monitors to pick up on sudden O2 desaturation or a-lines to detect BP's plummeting whenever we get a crashing patient from the floor and I hear the old "I wonder how long this patient was going bad before those floor nurses actually noticed or did anything."

Many ICU nurses spend more time looking at that monitor than the patient and rely on it to compensate for lack of good assessment skills.

It also helps in ICU to only have two patients that you can literally sit on top of for most of the day and chart in front of.

It also annoys me that the same ICU nurses who have that attitude toward the floor seem to be the same ones who can't handle a full load when floated to the floor. I frequently hear the old "We have more in depth critical thinking/assessment skills and need to spend more time with a smaller group" rhetoric whenever assignments are made. Baloney.

You don't need that much extra time with stable floor patients who breathe on their own.

My colleagues and I occasioanally help out on telemetry when needed and all of us can handle the same full tele patient load as the regular staff despite our being used to having only 2 patients in the unit.

If ICU nurses are so much better and higher functioning than floor nurses, then why can't they do their same job when floated to the floor and frequently need smaller assignments?

Because they are two completely different specialties, not better, just different.

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AMEN RN34!!!! The ICU nurses I work with WHINE when they get floated to the floor and have 4 patients. I just shake my head and wonder, how would they have survived on the tele unit I used to work on? My basic assignment was 7 patients plus an LPN's IVs.

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New grads have the most problems in any critical/ICU setting I have ever worked in...based on the fact that they do NOT have their basics down. I'm not sure from where this person was coming from, but don't take it as law.:(

This is from my years as an ICU nurse and preceptor. I would much rather have an experienced med surg nurse as my new preceptee, believe me.

I am a new grad in the ICU and based on what I have seen, regardless if you are a new grad or a new ICU nurse with previous nursing experience, making it in the ICU depends upon the person (and the internship/education provided from the hospital). I have started in the ICU as a new grad (along with 4 other new grads from my University) at the same time as other "experienced" nurses (m/s, step-down, ER, etc) and seem to be catching on to the ICU just as fast, if not somewhat faster, than the experienced nurses. As a matter of fact, one of the experienced nurses was just sent back to orientation because she "wasn't catching on". Whereas I just received my first evaluation as a new nurse (7/2005) and am already receiving a 5.5% raise based on my "outstanding performance"... All the new grads in our ICU units are performing excellent.

In regards to the original post, I don't understand the nurse manager's thought process because I believe that ANY nurse (rather new grad or experienced in MS, SPCU, MPCU, ER, etc) can florish in the ICU if that is their true passion. The key is: ASK A MILLION QUESTIONS, utilize your resource nurse, read/read/read/read/read, lean on your coworkers (and allow them to lean on you), learn from your (and others) mistakes, and BECOME A TEAM PLAYER. With that type of attitude and the determination to suceed, ANY nurse can become an excellent ICU nurse.

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if you feel like you want the icu go for it, i started my nursing in a med icu and have never looked back.

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.

Please note that this was posted in 2005 and the OP has long since bid farewell.

And of note, please review the OPs history in posts. It tells the story.

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