Floor nursing vs ICU nursing

Specialties MICU

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Do you think ICU nursing is as STRESSFUL (crazy, hectic, etc) as med/surg floor nursing? I realize ICU nursing takes a great deal of knowledge and the patients are more critical, . . . .I need an opinion on med/surg patient ratio of 8 patient to 1 nurse as opposed to 2 or 3 patients to a nurse.

What does it really take to be an ICU (MICU, SICU) nurse?

Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency.
could you elaborate?

i have decided that i hate floor nursing. despise it. im caught and frustrated and am just gonna go off on a tangent and vent. i want out of floor nursing badly. im weekend work (two days work for three days pay) and any time worked outside of weekend, is time and a half, so its excellent money, and hard to walk away from especially since i have a toddler and a husband who is studying MCAT right now and plans on becoming an AA (lord willing), so im stuck in the job that will pay me the most money. i want out! i want to be able to focus deeply on two patients and really sort things rather than be pulled ten million different ways for all of the various people that want to see all the various patients i have under my care as well as pleasing very demanding-feeling-better-so-back-to-normal-and-BORED patients.

i can go through seven patients in a day, and with discharges and admits and quite frankly on days like that the patients all blur together. after three years ive decided that i know that concentrated care would be best for my personality, at least for now. im not giving the best care i can give. im in the wrong place.

but i need weekend work. here's hoping that something opens up. at this point i would take anything that is weekend work in ICU.

what i mean is floor nurses are usually trained in BLS, not ACLS.. it seems a lot of times floor nurses don't have the training to follow acls protocols, drugs, interpret rhythms, etc... by that, i mean they (floor nurses) are usually happy to see critically trained nurses, ones that respond to codes. not taking away their nursing skills at all. but some don't even have a clue what to do, or just freeze up when a code happens. (hey, it happens to the best of 'em, nurses i mean) - and i can say all this b/c i am a former med/surgian...

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Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.
not kidding brad.. but still, we are still all a team here.. the 6-8% of men who are nurses (and NOT male nurses) should be just as comfortable and heard as the rest of the "population".

no disrespect given...

All men who are nurses are male nurses, LOL! I fail to understand why some male nurses refuse to be proud of the title of Male RN?

Anyway, Flr nursing & ICU nursing are two totally different areas of nursing. It is unfair to compare, or rate the two as one better than the other. I prefer critical care nursing, but admire those that choose med/surg, or similar, nursing. Med/Surg nurses are great time managers! ALL areas of the nursing profession are equally important.

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Specializes in MICU, neuro, orthotrauma.
what i mean is floor nurses are usually trained in BLS, not ACLS.. it seems a lot of times floor nurses don't have the training to follow acls protocols, drugs, interpret rhythms, etc... by that, i mean they (floor nurses) are usually happy to see critically trained nurses, ones that respond to codes. not taking away their nursing skills at all. but some don't even have a clue what to do, or just freeze up when a code happens. (hey, it happens to the best of 'em, nurses i mean) - and i can say all this b/c i am a former med/surgian...

?? but why does that have you enjoying ICU? i really dont get it.

i happen to be ACLS, but that's only because i am interested. it certainly doesn't make me a better nurse on the floor. they "freeze" because really, they know better than to pretend to know how to do something, but they do know how to keep track of seven patients and everything going on with them. its a very very very difficult dance, and most critical care nurses would fall flat on their faces. i dont think knowing ICU nurses would utterly fail at being a floor nurse is what makes floor nurses enjoy being floor nurses.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency.
?? but why does that have you enjoying ICU? i really dont get it.

i happen to be ACLS, but that's only because i am interested. it certainly doesn't make me a better nurse on the floor. they "freeze" because really, they know better than to pretend to know how to do something, but they do know how to keep track of seven patients and everything going on with them. its a very very very difficult dance, and most critical care nurses would fall flat on their faces. i dont think knowing ICU nurses would utterly fail at being a floor nurse is what makes floor nurses enjoy being floor nurses.

i guess i'm being unclear.. i enjoy ICU.. much better than med/surg - i've done it.. i've taken care of six of my own pt's, monitored 16 on a wing, kept track of 2 lpn's and did all IV meds on 16 pts.. so i hear what your saying.. i went to icu for several reasons, one being i didn't want or like to do med/surg any longer than i had to (which is probably why MANY nurses go to ICU), and two, to get into anesthesia school.. it is what you make of it -

and i can't completely agree that icu nurses can't handle floor.. it's been done and will continue.. but by choice, they don't usually want to..

sort of like "going backwards" in time.. but throw a floor nurse into an icu, they're more likely to "fall flat" as you so eloquently put it..

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Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.
i guess i'm being unclear.. i enjoy ICU.. much better than med/surg - i've done it.. i've taken care of six of my own pt's, monitored 16 on a wing, kept track of 2 lpn's and did all IV meds on 16 pts.. so i hear what your saying.. i went to icu for several reasons, one being i didn't want or like to do med/surg any longer than i had to (which is probably why MANY nurses go to ICU), and two, to get into anesthesia school.. it is what you make of it -

and i can't completely agree that icu nurses can't handle floor.. it's been done and will continue.. but by choice, they don't usually want to..

sort of like "going backwards" in time.. but throw a floor nurse into an icu, they're more likely to "fall flat" as you so eloquently put it..

I agree, most Med/Surg RNs would have trouble floating to an ICU & taking care of Mech Vent patients on multi cardiac drip infusions.

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Specializes in MICU, neuro, orthotrauma.
I agree, most Med/Surg RNs would have trouble floating to an ICU & taking care of Mech Vent patients on multi cardiac drip infusions.

I've done it and didn't fall flat on my face and I have read post after post here from ICU nurses who ended up after one shift on the floor a walking wreck who couldn;t keep up.

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Specializes in MICU, neuro, orthotrauma.
i guess i'm being unclear.. i enjoy ICU.. much better than med/surg - i've done it.. i've taken care of six of my own pt's, monitored 16 on a wing, kept track of 2 lpn's and did all IV meds on 16 pts.. so i hear what your saying.. i went to icu for several reasons, one being i didn't want or like to do med/surg any longer than i had to (which is probably why MANY nurses go to ICU), and two, to get into anesthesia school.. it is what you make of it -

and i can't completely agree that icu nurses can't handle floor.. it's been done and will continue.. but by choice, they don't usually want to..

sort of like "going backwards" in time.. but throw a floor nurse into an icu, they're more likely to "fall flat" as you so eloquently put it..

what youre describing i do now exactly that, but with no transportation team. and like i responded to corvetteguy, i have taken care of an ICU pt (and one tele) who was multiple drips and stable vent. made no adjustments to the vent, but did monitor with abg's. its not rocket science and frankly speaking, its easier for me to care for two than who knows how many on floor. with two, i can KNOW them and keeping everything straight is much easier.

im not saying that it would be easier for everyone, my brain is just set up like that. "going backwards" tacks on a caste system to nursing, which i dont get and never will. prestige is pretty important to some people i guess.

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Specializes in PICU/Peds.
what youre describing i do now exactly that, but with no transportation team. and like i responded to corvetteguy, i have taken care of an ICU pt (and one tele) who was multiple drips and stable vent. made no adjustments to the vent, but did monitor with abg's. its not rocket science and frankly speaking, its easier for me to care for two than who knows how many on floor. with two, i can KNOW them and keeping everything straight is much easier.

im not saying that it would be easier for everyone, my brain is just set up like that. "going backwards" tacks on a caste system to nursing, which i dont get and never will. prestige is pretty important to some people i guess.

I think taking care of a couple stable ICU pts once in awhile is not going to give you an accurate idea of what an ICU nurse goes through. It may have been easier for you to take care those two on that day, than a floor of pts. However its important to keep in mind that things are not always running smoothly in the ICU and things can go disastrously wrong quickly, and with 2 pts or even 1, you can be running nonstop with no lunch from 7am to 7pm to keep them alive.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency.
All men who are nurses are male nurses, LOL! I fail to understand why some male nurses refuse to be proud of the title of Male RN?

sorry corvette guy,

rn is just that. no sex label or whatever. and sorry again, but i get perturbed when addressed as a male nurse. i am proud of being a nurse, but don't need the pretext.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency.
what youre describing i do now exactly that, but with no transportation team. and like i responded to corvetteguy, i have taken care of an ICU pt (and one tele) who was multiple drips and stable vent. made no adjustments to the vent, but did monitor with abg's. its not rocket science and frankly speaking, its easier for me to care for two than who knows how many on floor. with two, i can KNOW them and keeping everything straight is much easier.

im not saying that it would be easier for everyone, my brain is just set up like that. "going backwards" tacks on a caste system to nursing, which i dont get and never will. prestige is pretty important to some people i guess.

alright... i'm not arguing here. merely stating what my experiences have been. you perhaps are not the majority, so embrace that. i think we've beaten this to death. so long...

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Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.
sorry corvette guy,

rn is just that. no sex label or whatever. and sorry again, but i get perturbed when addressed as a male nurse. i am proud of being a nurse, but don't need the pretext.

dfk - No problem at all, nor apologies needed. We could spend hours upon hours discussing such a topic. I think, your line of thought is a nurse is a nurse, no matter the gender, which I can appreciate. My line of thought is the title of Male RN takes some of the feminine [constituting the gender that includes most words referring to females] connotation out of the word nurse. In fact, some folks [some males, but not all] have expressed an interest in finding a replacement name for the word nurse, which I think is silly. We could continue this discussion via email if you like. ;)

Back to the topic [since it is my fault we went off topic]- IMHO, most nurses that work in Med/Surg do so by choice & most nurses that work in ICU/CCU/MICU/etc. do so by choice, as well. Never should one's area of nursing be considered more significant than another. ALL phases of nursing care are extremely important in a patient's path to recovery.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency.
dfk - No problem at all, nor apologies needed. We could spend hours upon hours discussing such a topic. I think, your line of thought is a nurse is a nurse, no matter the gender, which I can appreciate. My line of thought is the title of Male RN takes some of the feminine [constituting the gender that includes most words referring to females] connotation out of the word nurse. In fact, some folks [some males, but not all] have expressed an interest in finding a replacement name for the word nurse, which I think is silly. We could continue this discussion via email if you like. ;)

yea, the best one i've heard is murse.. come to think of it, i believe it's the only one i know. but i do agree, the term nurse is definitely connotated as being "feminine".. even the spanish word for nurse is enfermera.. if you know your masculine and feminine endings, notice the "a" ... yep, feminine once again :D

face it, it is what it is and we are what we are...

me: "hi, my name is bif. i'll be your nurse tonight."

old lady: "oh, how nice. a male nurse!"

me: :angryfire :angryfire "yes. that's me. call me if you need anything. :saint: "

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