Anyone work in a chest pain ctr? How do you like it?

[MyUserName,RN]

I currently work on a very busy tele/med-surg floor have been an RN for almost 2 years and am interviewing for a position in the chest pain center in our hospital. This is a fairly new unit for the hospital. I went to my first interview today and it seemed to go really well and I am excited at this possibility. I love cardiac and would love to be able to focus primarily on cardiac issues instead of anything and everything that you get on med/surg. I was told that instead of having huc/tech they are going to staff 2 nurses in the unit at all times instead which I think is a good idea since that means I won't be alone if something goes down. Has anyone moved from med/surg to this type of floor? What is your unit like and how do you like working in it? Thanks!

[hopefulwhoop]

I have never worked on a chest pain unit/ctr, but I have floated to the CP ctr at my hospital. It was a great experience, probably one of the best units I've floated to. They're all there for the same reason and you just followed a specific protocol. It was easy breezy. Typically, though, this particular CP unit was for observational purposes, meaning the pts were being observed and not 'admitted' because they did not fit the criteria for admission. Very few nurses there. I want to say there were 3 nurses total and the nurse-pt ratio was low. It was great.

[MyUserName,RN]

Wow, that sounds WONDERFUL!!! This unit did seem pretty laid back, but I'm sure things can go bad too, but that can happen on any floor. This one was an observation unit as well. I'm really excited about it and really hope that I get the job. I'm so ready to move on and do something new. Hope that I get it!

[Racer15, BSN, RN]

My ER has a chest pain center, and I've worked there a few times (it isn't always open). I like it because you have certain protocol to follow, you have a flow sheet of what to do when, and it's pretty consistent. You never know when that CP is going to be a STEMI or just indigestion or something, but I like cardiac, and I like the flow of how things work there. When open, our CP center has two nurses, and maybe eight patients at the max.