Basic questions

[Ciale]

I'm interested in Neuro ICU but I've heard some mixed opinions about that unit. My friend visited a hospital because her friend had serious brain trauma and while she was there, she said the only people that ever came into the room was a nurse aid and the doctor. She said there were a few nurses in the nursing station but for the most part, they just sat there.

Now, I've heard that ICU nurses are constantly monitoring their patients. Is this true? Or is it pretty quite and not much to do?

Do you deal with famalies a lot? Is it pretty emotionally demanding in that way?

[Creamsoda, ASN, RN]

The reason your friend maybe didnt see alot of people in the room if it was in a neuro ICU, is patients with traumatic head injuries have high intracranial pressures (ICP). to minimize the increase in ICP to prevent further brain damage, we keep the room quiet, and dark and minimize stimulation. Unless the patient is having acute ICP issues, then they can typically be very busy patients trying to get the ICP down with multiple bloodwork, giving various sedating drugs, ect. But if the patient is more stabalized, we try to keep stimulation to a minimum. As far as monitoring, the patients have bedside monitors that monitor HR, BP, oxygen continuously so maybe the nurses were able to monitor from the nursing station with these monitors.

[newohiorn, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Quick answer to your question about whether or not you deal with families a lot in neuro ICU--absolutely. I'm sure families are a big part of all ICU patients but having worked in neuro ICU I can tell you families can be wonderful and they can be very, very challenging to deal with. Often your patients are not conscious so emotionally supporting family members and teaching them about what has happened and is happening to their loved one is a big part of the job.