I'm waiting to enter a nursing program and am working in the lab of a large, local hospital. The ICU nurses do most of the draws on their patients since they have picc lines, but we go up to do the blood culture draws.
Prior to doing these draws on the unit, I thought ICU might be an area I'd be interested in pursuing when I'm an RN. The feeling I get, however, is that so many of the patients seem "warehoused" there until they die or are transferred somewhere else to die. They are intubated and on ventilators and have a seemingly endless array of issues and complicating factors. I can't count the number of times I've gone up to do draws and seen other patients' families saying last good-byes, etc...
It seems like a sense of futility might set in after a while. Am I just seeing fleeting glimpses of the worst cases? How many of your patients actually improve, and what sense of purpose do you get out of ICU nursing? I'm still interested in it and am wondering if I'm probably just not seeing the whole picture.
I think what you are really getting at is how emotionally taxing is it in the ICU? I wont lie, its emotionally draining at times.
I had one night the family decided to withdraw care. The pt was extubated but the fam req we leave just the ETT (disconnected from the vent) in as sort of an oral airway...when i came on she was still alive-the ETT prolonging the situation....i gently explained to the son and his wife that we needed to remove the tube...that was tough..no one prepares you for this stuff...there were no drs around....it was just me, the family and the pt. I pulled the ETT and she passed 3 minutes later. I had to not breakdown bc i had to be there for the family....but it was hard...and draining.....but its my job-and in the end I think I helped the son and his wife a little and that made it worth it
I felt horrible. We did everything we could for her. The previous week I had admitted her and worked for hours with the resident at my bedside, inserting two brain drains, trying to get her pressures down and her vitals stablaized...we finally did and we thought she was going to make it....
I have had many times like these but ive also had experiences like seeing a pt. that we all thought was going to die...in our unit on and off for 6 months...he came back in walking and talking...he was truely a miracle!
i guess the answer is...some. lots of our patients seem doomed from the start (large teaching hospital that operates in cases where you think they should have their heads examined). i still care for every single one the same way. it is disheartening. it can be draining. I guess the reward is being able to treat the pt as a human being and try to make the connection for them before they leave.
if you are thinking about a critical care career i would advise you to think again. as one poster already pointed out it takes a certain kind of crazy to get into nursing to begin with. it takes a whole 'nother kind of crazy to work in the ICU's. but i wouldn't ever leave.:heartbeat
Jdl2002
50 Posts
Anyone work in an NICU and care to comment on this thread? I'm a nursing student interested in possibly working in an NICU.