Acute Care Cardiac Unit vs. Cardiac Specialty Unit

[Wms28]

Hey guys I need some advice... I have been away from the bedside for about 1.5 year or so now and have now decided I want to come back. My previous nursing experience has been in a CCU/CVICU. I am current on BLS/ACLS/PALS and have taken and passed the CCRN exam. Im trying to start applying for jobs again but some of the hospitals I'm looking at have options available in either the Acute Care Cardiac Unit or the Cardiac Specialty Unit. I'm wanting a position similar to what I was doing previously. Can someone please explain the difference to me because the job description that was posted didn't have any such information available?!? Thanks :)

[missnurse01, MSN, RN]

you will have to call and ask the nurse recruiter. sometimes I glean info from the hospital's websites as they usually have a little blurb about each unit and what they do.

acute sounds like non icu, maybe stepdown. specialty could be anything.

good luck

[GypsyNurse54]

Here's the trend I've seen over the past few years when both of these units exist in the same facility.

Cardiac Specialty Unit: I've seen this unit be one of 2 very different things, either: 1) A Cardiac Rehab area, or 2) A PCU/stepdown area.

Acute Care Cardiac Unit: Warning: this job posting can be misleading. "Acute Care Cardiac Unit" often has the hidden meaning: "Acute Care AND Cardiac Unit. You get heart patients, but you also get a diversity of other acute care patients: renal failure, psych, etc. These floors tend to be more "medsurgey" and you see a greater diversity of patient illnesses.

Keep in mind the above is from personal experience; it may be the complete opposite at some facilities, I agree with the above poster about contacting a facility resource to elaborate on the job/patient population specifications.

Best of luck!

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

Our hospital has a Cardiac Acute Care Unit (CACU) which in essence is a cardiac stepdown. Their website description in part is as follows:

The Cardiac Acute Care Unit (CACU) is a 25-bed intermediate care unit ... Some rooms are private while others are semi-private. CACU provides care for patients who require cardiac monitoring for medical conditions of the cardiovascular system. Patients receive state-of-the-art cardiac care from their healthcare team, including many different types of testing options until they are ready for discharge. Patients and families will be prepared for discharge by a dedicated Discharge Nurse.

Sent from my iPad using allnurses

[delphine22]

Either of those could describe a "chest pain unit," meaning a quick turnaround place for chest pain obs pts holding overnight for stress tests. I've heard these units are terribly boring. . .