Cardiac Intermediate Care Unit

RNperdiem, RN · Dec 13, 2020

Generally, intermediate care and/or stepdown units fall between ICU and med-surg in acuity.

You should expect a patient to nurse ratio more than ICU (usually 1:1 or 1:2), but less than med-surg floors (5+). Where I work intermediate care is 1:3 patients, and some of these patients tend to turn over fast. Usually they spend a day or two in intermediate care fully monitored before being sent out to the general floors. Others can have a stay of several weeks or more.

Davey Do · Dec 13, 2020

My wife Belinda works IMU at Anomaly Memorial and it is as RNperdiem stated, CoffeeMuffins.

CoffeeMuffins, BSN, RN · Dec 13, 2020

Thank you @RNperdiem and @Davey Do

I'm torn between job offers: cardiac intermediate care unit and a med surg tele unit. I'm a new grad and I've seen new nurses cry at floors a lot of times when I was CNA.

Davey Do · Dec 13, 2020

Belinda worked med surg for over a decade at Wrongway before getting the IMU position at Anomaly. She is one Cracker Jack nurse and says IMU is much more intense than med surg; much more stressful.

Something to take into consideration...

JBMmom, MSN, NP · Dec 13, 2020

7 hours ago, CoffeeMuffins said:

Thank you @RNperdiem and @Davey Do

I'm torn between job offers: cardiac intermediate care unit and a med surg tele unit. I'm a new grad and I've seen new nurses cry at floors a lot of times when I was CNA.

You will find a good set of skills on either of those floors. On the med-surg until you will have a higher patient to nurse ratio and you may not have as much time to dive into the nitty-gritty of patient care as much, but you will see a wide variety of medical conditions and get a good overview of medications across many classes and see a varied patient population. On a cardiac intermediate care, you're going to have more training in the specific cardiac medications, you'll learn rhythms and probably need your ACLS certification. You will have a little more time (at least theoretically), with a smaller patient load, to get into the details of their care and really start putting together the full picture of the patient's situation including labs, tests, consults, etc.

Not sure what happened to make the nurses cry that you reference, but I wouldn't put too much stock in other people's ability to handle stress. Good luck with your decisions! You have a couple good opportunities to choose from there.

CoffeeMuffins, BSN, RN · Dec 28, 2020

@Davey Do @JBMmom both of you gave a great insight and for this, I went with Cardiac Intermediate unit. I'm going to be in the orientation with my classmate from BSN (and we get along very well) so that's a plus! I want to pursue MSN FNP as an inpatient cardiac arrhythmia advanced practice provider (what a name) and I think that CICU would be perfect.

I already applied for the MSN FNP as I just found out that I have malignant cancer and I just want to get my goals done. Pray for me ❤️

Hope everyone had an amazing Merry Christmas!!

Happy new year!!

JBMmom, MSN, NP · Dec 28, 2020

5 hours ago, CoffeeMuffins said:

@Davey Do @JBMmom both of you gave a great insight and for this, I went with Cardiac Intermediate unit. I'm going to be in the orientation with my classmate from BSN (and we get along very well) so that's a plus! I want to pursue MSN FNP as an inpatient cardiac arrhythmia advanced practice provider (what a name) and I think that CICU would be perfect.

I already applied for the MSN FNP as I just found out that I have malignant cancer and I just want to get my goals done. Pray for me ❤️

Hope everyone had an amazing Merry Christmas!!

Happy new year!!

Prayers and positive thoughts coming your way for good health and success in your career. Take care of yourself!