Critical Care Eliticism?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi all, wondering if anyone has come across an attitude from some critical care doctors and nurses that suggests critical care providers are more elite than other specialties like med/surg, postpartum, etc. I currently work in critical care but due to my mental health issue I want to transfer to a different department. I have an interview for postpartum that but when I talk to my coworkers they say I will lose all my skills, be bored, etc. one doctor said I’m “too smart” to go there, another said I will “just hold babies and pass out colace”.

These are all nice people so I was surprised at the comments. I get the feeling they think critical care is the most important and challenging department where the smartest people work. I respect all specialties and they all have their challenges. The ratios, time management and assessment skills in med/surg are the most difficult things I’ve dealt with as a nurse. Is going to postpartum really that big of a “step back”? I’m excited about it and think I will learn new things. Postpartum hemorrhage and eclampsia are no joke! Any opinions? Thanks!

All nurses are equal. This has been an issue since I graduated 35 years ago. I spent 25 years in MS, ICU, etc., because psych nurses (what I was really interested in) weren’t real nurses. Personally, icu drove me nuts, cooped up in one room. And it’s much easier to assess the patient when you have the machines telling you all the information than if you actually have to physically assess your patient. So, life is short and do what makes you happy. It’s ok to be joyous in nursing ❤️

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Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.

Yes sometimes workplace violence, although not physical, is nurse to nurse. I had an OR nurse scream at me that I left the cardiac leads on a patient although I didn’t know they were going straight to OR and not to pre-op where they monitor. She also screamed at me for not telling her patient needed interpreter and yelled “why do none of our patients speak English?!”

turns out the patient did understand English, just not enough to sign a consent. She asked me if the nurse hated her and would do something bad to her when she was under anesthesia. No patient should feel like that! But most nurses are wonderful and caring ?thanks for all the great responses!

P.S. although I’m sure I wouldn’t last a day in OR I wanted to ask her to come to the floor and get a patient ready for OR while another is calling for help to the bathroom, one wants pain meds, one is vomiting and one needs STAT ice cubes ?

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Critical care nurses are relatively over-glorified, and bedside nursing, in general, is overrated.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

I think a lot of these “elite” views stem from a “you don’t know what you don’t know” situation. Unless one has experience in the specialty, it is impossible to know the intricacies and all the moving parts of what it means to work in other specialities.

OP, don’t let the other nurses’ comments get you down. You need to do what is best for you and where you see your career going. As Dr. Suess said, “Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind”

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18 hours ago, K+MgSO4 said:

I had a senior ED nurse clash with a number of my nurses over a few weeks. Ego galore, why were we taking so long for beds, why couldn't we organise things when the pt arrived.

Spoke with her NM and invited her up for a shift on the ward. By 11.30 she was freaking out. By 2pm she was contrite. And it wasn't even a busy day! Only 1 theatre case, one active GI bleeder, and 2 other patients. But lack of constant access to medical staff, less ancillary staff, more allied health staff with requests and a ward that actually followed P&P opened her eyes.



I always say each area is special or busy in their own way. Also there is only 1 ED and 1 ICU but 20 multi day wards in our hospital, which suggests that most people need more that critical care...

I think this was a good way of handling this situation. I wish there was shadowing like this more often in the settings I've worked in.

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I’m a critical care nurse. I don’t see myself as better than any other nurse. Each nursing job has it’s own challenges.

You will lose a lot of knowledge and skills leaving icu. There is a certain knowledge and skill set that comes with icu. You will gain different knowledge and a different skill set in postpartum. I will say I don’t think you will see the things you think you will see in postpartum. You may want to look more at labor and delivery.

I find often that floor nurses look down upon icu. I transferred a patient on time and as I was out in the hallway turning my bed around to go I overheard the nurse saying she didn’t know what we did as we only had 2 patients all day. I had missed a 1400 Tylenol because my other patient was declining. I stabilized that pt and had to transfer that one as I had a bad trauma coming up and we needed that room.

I personally could not do 5-6 patients at a time like floor nurses do. They’d knowledge and skill set is different than mine. And I most certainly respect our psych nurses. I would probably quit that day one.

But I do find the disdain goes both ways. I’m guilty myself of thinking What the heck happens on the floor when I get a train wreck rapid. Just like the floor thinks I have it cushy with my 2 patients and monitors. I do 3 head to toe assessments a day and then hourly focused assessments. On two patients. I then sometimes have to document vitals every 15 minutes along with all the other things that comes with icu. Some patients have meds every hour.

I hope you find your niche OP. Mine is icu.


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Not only would it be beneficial for ICU or ED nurses to shadow a med surg nurse all day to get a feel for what they actually go through, it would be great for floor nurses to experience what ICU and ED nurses have on their plates. They have 2 patients for a reason in ICU-any more than that would be impossible to keep up with. Death, codes, constantly dealing with the kind of instability that makes floor nurses very nervous because they don't have the kind of time or experience to take care of that properly-that's a normal day in the ICU. And ER nurses-don't even get me started with what they have to put up with.

Everyone is performing a unique role that would not be easy for others to just step into with ease. Some nursing roles are more complex and other nursing roles are simply unimaginable from the sheer numbers that they have to deal with. And those vast numbers of patients still need a nurse who not only reacts to the present situation, but has the ability to anticipate and prevent crises-that's a very important role those floor nurses are performing. I know I couldn't do it.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.

Definitely. I have a ton of respect for those who can stay in ER and ICU for the long term. The stress level is incredible and dealing with death, codes and sad or angry patients and families is intense. We need nurses of all types!

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Specializes in Oceanfront Living.

I would have loved to have a nurse with critical care IV skills when I was on a PP floor but had not delivered. I needed an IV stat and it took several tries to get it right.

I would say do what YOU want!

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Specializes in Community health.

If you were a lawyer, people would fill your ears about how unethical and greedy lawyers are.
If you were a musician, people would say “Must be nice to just sleep late and play around at the piano all day”

If you were a teacher, people would say you must not be very smart since “Those who can’t, teach.”

If you were a psychiatrist, people would tell you that it’s barely even a real branch of medicine.

You have to chose your career (and your next job) based on what you WANT to do, and not what people say or imply about it!

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Out of all the places I have worked, I noticed the critical care team always thinks this way. I used to care, but not anymore. There are definitely strong personalities in the ICU, let me tell ya. I think you should do what makes YOU happy. At the end of the day, you’re the one having to live your life. What’s good for one person (thinking their life is the best) doesn’t mean it’s the best for everyone.

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Specializes in SRNA.
On 2/22/2020 at 3:05 PM, cynical-RN said:

Critical care nurses are relatively over-glorified, and bedside nursing, in general, is overrated.

I’m dying. This comment by this username is the best thing I have seen on this site yet. It’s going to be a great week. Thank you.

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