first time ms/icu what to expect

WolfpackRed · Mar 4, 2011

hello everyone,
I am a new member to the boards but a long time reader of the helpful posts here =)I am a student nurse and am a candidate for two student nurse / tech jobs
one in telemetry and one is msicu.
I have an idea of what type of patients to expect in telemetry, if I got the position, but dont really know to much about ms/icu patients, any suggestions would be appreciated !
=)

not to be facetious, but expect sick patients requiring lots of mechanical support (i.e. mechanical ventilators, invasive monitoring, renal replacement or dialysis) and drug therapy. I worked in the ICU as a student nurse/CNA; its a great learning environment.

A good question to ask yourself is about your short and long term goals when considering your choices.

Biffbradford · Mar 4, 2011

Agreed. In the ICU you will see fewer patients but they will be sicker and you'll learn every little detail about them, inside and out plus get to use mechanical and chemical life support.

Cessna172 · Mar 4, 2011

Telemetry will be boring compared to icu. Besides all of the icu patients are also on telemetry plus alot of other devices. Good luck.

Biffbradford · Mar 4, 2011

If your telemetry patient goes south, you send them away. If your ICU patient goes south, it's YOUR problem! :grn:

On the other hand, if your ICU patient does well, you send them away and never find out how they did. If your telemetry patient does well, you see them happily home! *wine

Guess it depends on what kind of experience you're looking for.

OleMissRN · Mar 4, 2011

hello everyone,
I am a new member to the boards but a long time reader of the helpful posts here =)I am a student nurse and am a candidate for two student nurse / tech jobs
one in telemetry and one is msicu.
I have an idea of what type of patients to expect in telemetry, if I got the position, but dont really know to much about ms/icu patients, any suggestions would be appreciated !
=)

As a student you will learn more in-depth information about patho, pharm, and everything else working in the ICU, especially a MICU.

If you want to learn more about systems and how they interact, I'd go with ICU. Of course, I'm partial...

SleepynurseRN · Mar 4, 2011

What to expect:

First hand look into the workings of an ICU RN. You'll them in action responding to codes, changes in clinical presentation, handling multiple drips,( vasopressors, inotropics, blood products, fluids, anitbiotics etc..) and frequent vital signs.

You probably will also see them respond to codes out on the floor and get to tag along( good stuff for a newbie.. it really is exciting.. but in a bad way of course :lol2: )

I say take the ICU slot and see if it's something you like. Why? Most of the time those opportunities are far and few in between. I started my career as a nurse extern during my 2nd semester in nursing school and never left the ICU: we clicked!

Good luck!