Nurses Helping Nurses
allnurses Network: Central | Jobs | Books | Newsletter
allnurses: A Nursing Community for Nurses
Home General News Blogs Articles Students Region Specialty Degrees F.A.Q.
Log In | Register | Last 24 Hours
MICU and SICU Nursing Forum /

tele experience 'not good enough' for MICU?



Did You Know?
allnurses is the largest community for nurses on the web. We now have over 388,476 members! Join today to network with other nurses, laugh, share, and much more.

Nov 02, 2009 10:43 AM

tele experience 'not good enough' for MICU?


hi all-looking for some feedback from ICU RN's--MICU in particular.
I am looking to transition to MICU, however the MICU mgr seems to think I need to go 'get med surg' experience first. My background is telemetry for over 2years with Med/Surg overlfow. Some examples of my pt. population: post partum w/RAF, post sx w/RAF, complete heart block, heart failure/ ARF, heart transplant w/complications medically managed. gtts i've worked with: dopa/dobutamine lasix, bumex, milrinone, natrecor, dilt, some chemo, chest tubes, post OHS, cabg, post cath. sepsis. GIB sorry-not to bore you. i guess I can "backtrack" to med surg, however reading posts on here in which new grads are working all sorts of units, I am kind of insulted. I do not get post sx patients regularly--about every other week.

My question--what did I miss by not work med-surg? I have telemetry cert/ACLS. That seems to count less than a hill of beans
to the mgr. should I step away from a monitored unit and work m/s? I have no issue with working m/s as it wasnt available when i started at the institution. i figured i would get the gist of med surg from tele as these pts have mult.co-morbidities.

sorry so long. appreciate the feedback

Share
Search Tags
None
Top

 
Advertisement
Sponsored Links
 
Reply
7 Comments
No. 1
from detroitdano
Old Nov 02, 2009, 05:45 PM

Default Re: tele experience 'not good enough' for MICU?
Sounds like you'd be better off looking at a CICU.

I think the manager is being overly picky, you'd probably do fine in an MICU, but I can vaguely understand her reasoning. You never really got to deal with the basic cases you'll see in MICU like COPD, pneumonia, EtOH'ers, etc. and how they look on both the not-so-bad end and the patients who shoulda just gone to the MICU instead of the GPU.

I went straight to the MICU after graduation but I did 2 years of work as an extern on a med-surg unit, so I got to see the evolution of those patients when they get worse. That's probably the only perk I have over you, you already are going in with telemetry experience and a good understanding of the heart.
Top
 
No. 2
from surferbettycrocker
Old Nov 02, 2009, 09:16 PM

Dollar Re: tele experience 'not good enough' for MICU?
thanks for the reply. I was wondering if I should just keep it in cardiac and look for CTICU/ CCu positions. what your saying makes sense re: evolution of the types of pts on m/s. i figured with having some m/s overflow would help. we only get 'ethoh-er's with 'holiday heart' you know, the 'occasional' can of beer types. i haven't had pts w/ the dt's or in DKA per se.
Top
 
No. 3
from CrazyPremed
Old Nov 03, 2009, 03:06 AM

Default Re: tele experience 'not good enough' for MICU?
I started on Tele then moved to an MICU/CCU. I have worked with nurses that have moved to the MICU from tele and from med/surg and the tele nurses usually fare better. Although you may see more MICU diagnoses on a med/surg floor, your day to day activities will involve more of what you see on tele. While my med/surg counterparts were learning how to read strips and 12 leads, I was taking ACLS. While they were being introduced to basic drips, I was titrating multiple pressors. Working on a tele floor, we tended to be more involved in the codes on my floor, instead of defering many things to a rapid response team.

With that said, there are things that I am not familiar with, like traches and oncology patients. Non-cardiac surgery and long term nursing home patients are somewhat new to me. These are things that the med/surg nurses seem to be much more familiar with. Honestly, I think that it is much more difficult to have to learn strips and hemodynamics from a non/tele background. I think you will be more than OK, and you should not switch to Med/surg just to get the experience.

CrazyPremed
Top
1 Reader Gave Kudos
 
No. 4
from detroitdano
Old Nov 03, 2009, 04:53 AM

Default Re: tele experience 'not good enough' for MICU?
My typical day-to-day is not telemetry focused. Yes I run a strip from 2 leads every 8 hours, get 12 leads PRN, do CVP's, etc., but if the patient's rhythm is a nonissue for the most part and they are more long-term (nursing home patients as you said) then a med-surg background helps a lot and telemetry helps you none.

In my mind, I bet the manager is thinking you can teach someone telemetry, get them to take ACLS, etc. You cannot, however, give them hundreds/thousands of hours of med-surg experience.
Top
1 Reader Gave Kudos
 
No. 5
from youknowho
Old Nov 05, 2009, 09:56 AM

Default Re: tele experience 'not good enough' for MICU?
I personally think tele is great experience Of course I worked in tele for about a year before coming to the Trauma ICU. I don't know why that manager would think that tele is not good enough but whatever. Good luck
Top
1 Reader Gave Kudos
 
No. 6
from meandragonbrett
Old Nov 05, 2009, 02:36 PM

Default Re: tele experience 'not good enough' for MICU?
I don't see much difference in the background of tele vs. medsurg. If the manager doesn't think you will succeed, I'd look for another unit because they will probably be looking to nit pick everything you do rather than encourage you and help you out.
Top
2 Readers Gave Kudos
 
No. 7
from Tibbymc
Old Nov 07, 2009, 09:56 PM

Default Re: tele experience 'not good enough' for MICU?
I have 2 years of tele and went straight to MICU. My mgr thought tele exp is better than the regular floor. I think it's easier to learn the different illnesses you've never encountered before rather than come into an ICU not knowing how to read strips. Tele patient's tend to be more sick anyway so again I think it's better experience for you than the floor. Good luck
Top
1 Reader Gave Kudos
 
Reply




Thread Tools


Who's Online
401 members
3,949 guests
4,350

Nursing News

0

The hard to reach on-call doctor, and its effects on...
0

Woman charged with passing off prescription drug as...
0

Paralysed Belgian misdiagnosed as in coma for 23 years
1

Man in "Vegetative State" was conscious for 23...
2

Interesting article on ThedaCare's Collaborative Care Model
7

Possible breakthrough regarding MS
63

16th Philly area hospital to stop delivering babies: Mercy...
10

Really interesting article on Indian open hearts
7

High-Tech Pump Does What Her Heart Can't
6

Air Force RN Found Not Guilty


Nursing Articles

1

Society Needs Care Too
12

Why am I doing this, anyway?
2

Nurse Heal Thyself
9

My Papa, why I am the nurse I am today.
17

I made it through
11

An angel's gaze
16

A Sister Never Forgets
16

Ruby's Marbles
37

What Do Operating Room Nurses Do?
14

My Little Old Jedi
20

I love this job......
23

"I hear voices"
19

Preventing FRUTI (Foley Related Urinary Tract Infection) in...
24

Error and Attitude
10

It's Just a Shower


Does allnurses.com make you a better nurse?

Currently Reading This Page: 1 (0 members & 1 guests)

Interested in the hottest topics of the week? Subscribe to the Nurse-zine Newsletter.
Enter email address:

Available Topics (tags)


Search By Tag:

New To Site
Need Help
Quick Links

Copyright © 1996-2009, allnurses.com. All rights reserved.  allnurses.com, Inc.
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:05 PM.