MSICU vs trauma ICU?

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  1. This is a discussion on MSICU vs trauma ICU? in MICU / SICU Nursing, part of Critical Care Nursing ... hi everyone, I am currently a nursing assistant in my hospitals MSICU. The hopsital is a level 1...

    by Jul 7, '12
    hi everyone,
    I am currently a nursing assistant in my hospitals MSICU. The hopsital is a level 1 trauma ceneter but we dont have a trauma ICU. I am in nursing school and ever since i was young i always wanted to work in either the ER (like the trauma room)or the ICU. I love taking care of very sick patients, i love the blood and guts part but i had another job at this hospital before becoming a nursing assistant and i was all over every area of the hospital and i noticed maybe i dont want to work in the ER because i want the excitment of a sick patient and a trauma like a stabbing or shooting or something like that but i want to be the person who contiunes the care like in an ICU setting.

    my question is where do you think I would best fit, more in a trauma ICU or a MSICU?
    i love the patients in the MSICU because we get everything but what exactly is the difference between a TICU and a MSICU?
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    by meghan91 Jul 7, '12 12:52 pm
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  3. 10 Comments so far...

  4. Jul 7, '12 by
    I work In a large teaching, level 1 trauma hospital. I'm specifically in neuroICU, we also have mICU, sICU, ctICU, and ccu. In mICU, you will see your sepsis, ARDS and everything in between medical. Where as in sICU and neuroICU, you will see MVCs, GSWs and other sorts of weapon inflicted injuries. Anything to the head or spine goes to neuro, everything other trauma goes to sicu. Just depends on what patient population you want.
    ozoian likes this.
  5. Jul 8, '12 by
    It's all very hospital dependent.

    Trauma ICU is going to be people who have had some sort of traumatic injury...whether it's via weapon, motorvehicle collision, a fall, a farming accident, etc. Something is generally broken in the Trauma ICU.

    The advantage of trauma ICU is that trauma affects all ages, populations, and medical problems. So you will still have your sepsis, ARDS, pneumonia, multi-organ failures, CHF, COPD, MI, etc. but their trauma is complicated by their existing medical problems.
  6. Jul 10, '12 by
    another thing to consider is that in most places I have been across the country there isn't enough trauma to keep all er nurses happy. after paying your dues of a few years to be able to even be assigned the trauma rooms, you might not get any for a week. or you might get 5 a night. it is the luck of the draw. the majority of er nursing is NOT emergency nursing at all, more like urgent care and clinic. the great thing about nursing is that you can always start in one area and move to another! you will always be learning new things to keep you interested!

    good luck
  7. Jul 12, '12 by
    I love trauma and I've found that the trauma ICU or surgical trauma ICU is much more exciting than an MICU. Every nurse is different as far as likes and dislikes. I'm strictly a trauma person. I hate medical pts so naturally I wasn't too thrilled working in the MICU (don't get me wrong there are tons of EXTREMELY critical pts and it's a huge challenge). I worked in a 16 bed STICU and loved it. Only thing is a lot of the fun stuff is already taken care of in the ED or OR, but you do get to still see a lot of procedures and cool stuff. Just depends on what you like. If you want to take care of them for a longer time then ICU is the way to go.
    mmutk likes this.
  8. Jul 13, '12 by
    I concur, SICU will be much more exciting than MICU (but the patients may have more infections)
  9. Jul 13, '12 by
    Just curious as to why you think it's more exciting? Not trying to start and argument, just curious as to your reasoning for your viewpoint.
  10. Jul 14, '12 by
    I work in the TSCU (trauma surgical care unit), our hospital is a level 2 trauma center. We of course get any and all trauma pts, mva's, falls, assaults, crush injuries... you name it.. we also get every crain and any other complex neuro surgery, as well as general surgical pts who went bad in OR or the PACU. Like someone else mentioned earlier, trauma pts are generally medical pts as well. I prefer TSCU over MICU because we get both medical and surgical pts as well as neuro pts. MICU gets strictly sick medical pts.. a lot of sepsis, acute renal failure, ARDs type stuff. I feel that I see a wider spectrum of pts in my unit than our MICU. Don't get me wrong, MICU is fabulous experience, and some of our best nurses worked in MICU before they came to trauma.
  11. Jul 14, '12 by
    In our MICU there are rarely any SWANs or ART lines and other toys that very sick patients carry. I just got board of the ETOH and drug overdoses and routine pneumonia cases in our MICU. I think it's more "fun" to have lots of toys to play with and sicker patients, such as balloon pumps, ECMO, ect. I am sure there are MICUs elsewhere that may be more challenging than ours.
    Good Morning, Gil likes this.
  12. Jul 15, '12 by
    Totally facility dependent. Ask a nurse recruiter about it. I work in a level one trauma center, and we don't have the name "trauma ICU" or anything like that but all the traumas come to us. Personally, I think trauma is a better experience. Trauma patients are complex and there's never 2 patients alike. Besides the broken bones and blood loss, you have to think about where their injury is. I also enjoy "the drama with the trauma"....meaning how they ended up with whatever it was happening to them. I've cared for inmates, criminals shot by the police in pursuit, guys who fell off a ladder drunk, MVAs, MCAs, a guy who was kicked by a cow, and of course moped accidents. Trauma keeps it real and I'd take that over a COPD exacerbation any day....just my preference
    mmutk likes this.