Psych to Critical Care

[JM_RN]

i have been working in the psych unit for the last 2.5 year, the last 6 months as an RN. I feel like I am ready to move on to something else. The 2 areas that interest me are critical care and the ER. Anyone want to give pros/cons of the ER/critical care and some basic info such as nurse/patient ratio etc... Thanks in advance.

[delphine22]

I do not know any nurses that have successfully transitioned from psych to the floor. In fact, I know only one who even tried. She was a manager at a prestigious inpatient psych facility -- and could not get hired on the med-surg floor at the hospital next door. She just didn't have the same nursing skills that even a brand new grad RN would have.

That's where you should play up your strength. You are a newer RN so your clinicals should still be fresh in your mind. Highlight those experiences in addition to anything you learned on psych that could transfer. But in general, anecdotally at least, it seems that hospitals do not consider psych the same nursing that they do, valuable and complex though it certainly is.

[Larry3373]

To answer your question: icu nurse/patient ratio usually 1-2 at most 3, but that is too much and rare in my icu. Pro: less patients to focus on, more knowledge, good experience, can use to go to CRNA school if you desire Con: pt are sicker, most are total care, no techs usually to help clean patients.

ER 3-5 patients (hopefully 3-4)

Pro: more codes!, better experience, sometimes slow, doctor is right there to give orders, get them stable and ship them out.

Con: may have too many unstable pt at once, attitude from floor/icu nurses when calling for report, drug seekers, rape victims (including children), may get punched