Difference between Cardiac Telemetry vs Med-surg Telemetry

[NURS94]

I got a job offer to work on a Cardiac Telemetry Floor as a new grad. However, I’m nervous about taking the job because eventually I work to transfer to either ED ,CVICU or ICU. I just want to make sure I get enough experience and skills in before I enter those department and I don’t think I will learn from a cardiac tele floor. Also , I notice the hospital I’m working at has a med surge /tele unit. So what’s the difference between the two.

I never done NG, Foley, or even did an IV. Will a cardiac Tele unit offer these skills set.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Moved to the Nurse Career forum

[AvaRN_ICU, BSN]

I am a new grad working on a cardiac telemetry floor.

Things we can do that med/surg telemetry floors cannot: cardiac drips (cardizem, amiodarone, nitro, heparin), care for post cath lab patients, chest tubes, etc. Essentially it’s just another step up in acuity with a focus on cardiac.

If you are interested in cardiac at all, you should choose the cardiac floor over the med/surg floor because you will see everything that you would on a med/surg floor and more. Any patient that has a cardiac history is coming to our floor even if they are admitted for an unrelated problem. Also, if the med/surg telemetry floor is full, cardiac telemetry is the floor that will get their overflow so sometimes the cardiac floor can feel like a med/surg floor.

Within my first few months on the cardiac floor I had done foleys, NG tubes, LOTS of IV’s and more. You get plenty of opportunities to improve your skills!

Also, the cardiac floor will look better than med/surg on your resume if you are considering CVICU or really any floor just because cardiac is a higher level of acuity.