anyone working A TCU unit in A Hospital setting?

sissiesmama, ASN, RN · Sep 6, 2008

Hi, I am wondering if, anyone is working, TCU in a Hospital setting? Wondering what it is like. do you like it?

Hello - I am sorry, this may be a stupid question. A TCU unit? Is that a transitional care unit, like after a patient is admitted inpatient, but for one reason or another they have to wait? Not enough staff, room not available, that kind of thing?

We had an old 12 or 16 bed ICU area that they opened and kept everything from OB/GYN, Peds, Tele, med surg, everything except for ICU stuff, and sometimes they put ICU patients in there in the mix too.

Is that what you were referring to? Anne, RNC

momnmotn · Sep 6, 2008

yes, it is a Transitional care unit. I think , they care ,for pts. that are not ready to go home yet, but need additional care, rather than keeping them on the unit .

sissiesmama, ASN, RN · Sep 6, 2008

yes, it is a Transitional care unit. I think , they care ,for pts. that are not ready to go home yet, but need additional care, rather than keeping them on the unit .

Ok, thanks! The facility where my dh works and where I was employed has one, in an ICU unit that was renovated and then not used, of course.

We put anything and everything in there, from Tele, OB, peds, they even tried to slip in a PICU patient or two. I don't go for that too much. Kids can go south too fast for me, especially when you are also watching (for example) a post delivery vag bleed, a medical pt. with acute pancreatitis, throw in a couplr of tele patients with a positive hx., and then maybe at least 2 fresh GI bleeds.

Usually, there are 2 nurses, 1 RN and 1 LPN, no secretary, maybe an aide (if you are REAL lucky, cause it's my luck that 1 if not both of them, and of course at least 1 of them will be bedbound and on a GI prep.

And, they don't keep the unit open all the time. They will open from 7am until 11pm or so, then closed for a few days, the open again, ect. Really no rhyme or reason behind it, cause a lot of the time when they close it, they have to bed the patient down in the recovery room or Endo.

How does yours work?

Anne, RNC

momnmotn · Sep 6, 2008

Wow, that sounds interesting. I agree, adults and kids don't mix. The unit we have, mostly has, Med-surg patients, but could have, really anything actually, alot of cardiac, the patients, from ICU that cannot yet go home,or to their LTC. basically you could see alot of variety. I was just curious, if this is a , type of unit most Nurses seem to like. I know, I would have a problem, with kiddos being on ours, I myself, have a very complex child, so I know how things go sour so quickly. :cry:

CNA_Timmy · Sep 7, 2008

I have worked in my facilities acute rehab unit, which I think is similar. Ours is very structured, they have a strict routine everyday, and therapy all day long. I like being floated there, especially on the evening shift, when they are all relaxing after a long day of hard work. They stay from a few weeks to 3 months, so you get to know some of them pretty well. Most of them are older and recovering from an acute condition.

sissiesmama, ASN, RN · Sep 7, 2008

Wow, that sounds interesting. I agree, adults and kids don't mix. The unit we have, mostly has, Med-surg patients, but could have, really anything actually, alot of cardiac, the patients, from ICU that cannot yet go home,or to their LTC. basically you could see alot of variety. I was just curious, if this is a , type of unit most Nurses seem to like. I know, I would have a problem, with kiddos being on ours, I myself, have a very complex child, so I know how things go sour so quickly.

Hello - I know I sound like I don't like to work there, but I did. It's not too often that we have a peds patient, the MDs usually expedite them to keep them from having to wait in this unit. I know that the little ones are stressed out enough just being in the hospital or sick, so that helps with them.

I am an ER nurse, so the phrase "variety is the spice of life" is one I have always kept close to me when I decided to become a nurse. I never really minded coming in and working it when it was open, I would not like to be a nurse being pulled to Endo or Recovery to work the TICU there on "off hours." Like I said, being an ER nurse for years, I do have a broad base of knowledge, thank God, to draw from. Befor I transferred to the ER, I did med surg and also ICU, so that was not a problem either. On our old medical we had a staffing of up to 10 to 12 patients each nurse, whether it be RN or LPN. That by itself also helped a great deal when having a few GI bleeders with a tele patient or 2, and some resp patients, and on and on. It was nice when they said no ICU patients to be placed in there and stuck with it. Our facility is notorious for "talking out of both sides of their mouth", something to that effect. It stays so backed up in the ER there that we at times have to hang up a sheet to be a curtain in the hall to place additional patients on stretchers in the hallway when needed, that is where the ER hold patients stay anyway.

Thanks for your response earlier, I hope you weren't thinking too badly of me from my earlier posting. I know that some major changes will be needed in the federal and statewide sense both to make many changes.

Have a good day! Anne, RNC

smurfette1953 · Oct 1, 2008

Yes,

I was the DON at a TCU unit in a hospital and it was wonderful. The patients received great care and the staff had time to really care for the patient. Unfortunately it was closed because it hemorrhaged money.