Diagnosis..

By far I see more varied medical Dxs than surgical. I work in a MSICU, so I am fortunate to get such a well rounded group of complex pts! Most of the pts I see are also poor or homeless, which adds to the comorbities. As a result, a lot of my pts are on insulin gtts.

I just posted this on another thread, but the last few months I have had pts with Myasthesian gravis, thryoid storm, DKA, rhabdo, serotonin syndrome, DIC, resp distress, GI bleeds...just a lot of cool things. I'm never board!

For surgical pts, I see a lot of dead bowels!

900+ bed county hospital MICU:

GIB, EtOH abuse/DTs, polysubstance abuse/AMS, pancreatitis (hypovolemia or hemorrhagic pancreatitis), CVAs (a lot of ventrics), liver failure, renal failure (CRRT), SIRS/MODS/sepsis, septic shock, DIC, respiratory distress/failure, asthma attack (intubated), status epilepticus, seizure disorder, tetorifice (yep, tetorifice pt today), DKA, pH problems (resp/metabolic alk/acidosis), HTN crisis, HIV and end of life issues, Tumor Lysis Syndrome (2 this week - kind of odd -- both came into unit, got Quintons, and started CRRT or WBC depletion via dialysis), occasionally get some OB patients that crashed, HFOV for ARDS patients and some other unusual ventilatory support methods, snakebites (went into anaphalactic shock and swelllllllllllllllllled pretty bad, including his airway), plus the other unusual stuff that I cannot think of right now.

SICU gets the traumas - lots of post-ops, ortho and neuro stuff. They get more Swans than we do.

Burns go to Burn ICU.

Cardiac related go to cardiac- ICU

Don't forget, depending upon where you work. You might get alot of long termers from the nursing home who are trached, pegged, with numerous pressure sores. Not much fun. These patients are draining. If i were you, stick to a SICU, and make sure you check with the manager regarding taking patients like the above as micu overflow.

in my experience, MICU in SICU and SICU in MICU.. get it? if not, you will...

I'm in a 40 bed ICU, with 8 beds designated as a stepdown/respiratory/long-term section, 16 beds for MICU and SICU, 8 beds for Neuro, and 8 beds for CVICU...obviously, depending on pt census we can get an overflow from any of the above units so we get alot of varying diagnoses...anything from a drug OD or ETOH DTs to post-op CABGS, lots of Respiratory Depression admits and GI bleeders, just about everything you could think of besides severe Burns and really bad trauma victims...there is an awesome level one trauma hospital with a fantastic burn unit just a few miles away. We are known for our CP center so we see alot of heart patients.

It doesn't really matter MI or SI. You will get spill over from the other units. If you want to chase your tail all shift then go to the MICU, cause medicine docs can't ever make up their mind on how to treat the patient. give me a surgeon anyday.