Does it feel to everyone else that many newer nurses glamourize the ER and ICU?

[The0Walrus]

I'm curious. Most of the people I went to school with want to be ICU or ER nurses. They've never worked in the ICU or the ER but that's all they want to do. I told one girl who refused to work anywhere else other than ICU to go into a nursing home if she needs a job. She refused it and it took her a few months to finally go into a nursing home. She quit after a month because of her standards. It's the same thing when it comes to med surg and psych nursing. It feels like many newer nurses look down upon any other nurses other than ER and ICU.

Another girl I know said she's wanted to work as a psych nurse forever, but when she was offered the ER position and psych position she took the ER position. I asked her why she chose ER over psych and she said she knows ER better. Now she complains about the work load from a trauma 2 hospital. I asked her why she didn't just transfer into psych since it's what she wanted and she didn't really give me a concrete answer just basically that she's stuck.

Does it feel that way to anyone else? When it comes to ER/ICU it feels like they only respect those specialties. Thanks!

[MPKH, BSN, RN]

I recently started working in the ICU after 8 years of working on a general internal medicine floor. I did it because I was starting to feel stale working on the floor, and I wanted to expand my nursing knowledge and learn new things. ICU did not disappoint—I’ve learned so much already, and I’ve only completed 4 weeks out of my 12 weeks orientation. I also wanted to open more doors, and it seems like having critical care is the way to do that. 
 

With that said, I knew going in that ICU is not glamorous at all. 

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Yep. Been around forever. ER, ICU, NICU and L&D were always the hot buttons. No idea why except that they do tend to result in more options later in one's career if you have 2-5 years experience in them - at least for ER/ICU. 

[LibraNurse27, BSN, RN]

I stumbled into a Stepdown job after working per diem in Med/Surg because I needed benefits stat and that was the first full time job I found. I was amazed at how people immediately started "respecting" me more and asking if I was on my way to ICU, and calling me to start difficult IVs as if magically I was amazing at IVs. I have improved, but I'm still not the go-to! There are Med/Surg nurses much better than me, and better at other skills too, and amazing at multi-tasking.

After doing Med/Surg for almost 2 years, I still think it's the hardest job I ever had, well tied with being a CNA in LTC. Can't even imagine being a nurse in LTC, hats off to those who are! But all specialties are important and deserve respect. ER and ICU for handling emergencies, Peds for the special touch it takes to work with sick children and their parents, L&D for dealing with OB emergencies, postpartum for dealing with those emergencies and educating stressed new parents. Psych nurses for helping those with mental illness, so important! Clinic nurses for providing preventative care. And the list goes on and on! Thank you to all nurses! 

[speedynurse, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

12 hours ago, HiddencatBSN said:

When I was in school a lot of folks wanted ED, ICU or peds. I had many classmates though who wanted to do med surg or psych. I had many classmates who were also not sure where they wanted to work. There’s definitely more cultural exposure to what nurses in the ICU and ED do.

When I graduated, I knew I wanted to work in the ED but the job market was only just rebounding from a really bad few years for new grads so I applied everywhere and had one job offer in a peds ED. I left after just under 2 years to get experience in an adult er because I was worried about getting pigeon-holed in peds and lasted 5 months before going back to peds in med surg. I had had zero interest in peds in school and thought it was kinda soft and fluffy, but it turns out to be what I love. I’ve been back in peds er nursing since and it’s where I plan to stay for the foreseeable future, and I never plan to leave peds. I often wonder if I’d have left ED nursing entirely if I’d started out in an adult er.

 

Oh yes......peds and adults are totally different worlds. I always loved peds too.

[speedynurse, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

On 12/2/2020 at 10:30 AM, klone said:

I can't imagine anyone glamourizing the ICU right now.

Yep. All I see when I go down to the ICU or ER is the exhausted faces of my former coworkers....sometimes I feel guilty moving onto surgical nursing but it’s so much better for my life.

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

I've done LTC, med-surg and I've been in ICU for almost three years. I'm no more of a nurse now than I was eight years ago starting in LTC. I have a different skill set and I'm capable of titrating drips, but I'm still essentially the same nurse. In long-term care I had to use my assessment skills to assess patients that were only seen by a doctor once a month unless something went wrong. I was their eyes and ears for detecting a patient that needed more medical attention. On my med-surg floor I didn't have continuous telemetry monitoring showing me all of my patient's vitals at a glance, and again, my assessment skills were necessary for seeing changes in patient condition that needed attention. In ICU I've got all the bells and whistles, but I still need my basic assessment skills because the monitors don't tell the whole story. I get really annoyed by people that feel like there's a nursing hierarchy, every nurse providing care is vital for the care of another human being. Some are sicker than others, but we're all important for the overall care of patients in many environments. 

[Dacatster, ADN]

Seriously, I just wanted to make money. Ended up working in many sought after specialties.... From Peds stem cell transplant/cvs to Peds ER at a level 1 trauma center to adult ER, PICU and many other various areas. 21 years into nursing, just was told by my ortho doc that I should not do floor nursing again, to work in an office. I knew it was coming. I just finally heard it outloud is surreal. 

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

I think there’s quite a few that glamorize nursing in general. Glamorizing certain specialties is just another layer. 

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

I've said this before in other posts, but to me, ER just feels like med-surg on steroids. Oh, and ICUs have ridiculously high turnover, especially since the pandemic hit. You couldn't pay me enough to want to work in an adult ICU.

 It seems like the RNs I know that have some of the highest job satisfaction are those in LD, OR, outpatient/clinic, PACU/Pre-Op, and psych. Out of all of those specialties, only one is hyped (LD).

[RNperdiem, RN]

These types of nursing have status or glamor because of some of the patient population they serve.

The elderly, people with mental illness or disability, the poor, the down-and-out, the imprisoned and the marginalized people do not have status. Nurses who work with these groups- who really need good nursing care- are considered to be working in lower status setting because of the patient population.

ED and ICU are places where anyone can find themselves.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

1 minute ago, RNperdiem said:

These types of nursing have status or glamor because of some of the patient population they serve.

The elderly, people with mental illness or disability, the poor, the down-and-out, the imprisoned and the marginalized people do not have status. Nurses who work with these groups- who really need good nursing care- are considered to be working in lower status setting because of the patient population.

ED and ICU are places where anyone can find themselves.

"Low status" is an assigned value.  It's a value only held by the person who makes it and the people who work in these areas don't deserve to be demeaned because they chose to work in those areas.  I don't know what "ED and ICU are places where anyone can find themselves" means.  I refuse to assign a status to anyone for where they work because it denies the value of their choice.

[Squeamish BBA LPN, LPN]

1. Unless it has changed since I was actively working in acute care. ICU et ER specialties are [still] paid the most. 

2. ICU et ER specialties have been the most glamorized specialties in Hollywood et MSM.