I am a junior in a BSN program and am applying to a critical care nursing internship for the summer, and have a question for all of you:
Which do you think would be a better clinical placement - the ICU or ER? And why?
I feel like I could thrive in either environment - I have a bit of ADHD and am an adrenaline junkie and like variety but also can focus very well when needed. I also scored highest in my nursing class on our critical thinking entrance exam - so I'd say I'm pretty good at that. I think that I would want to be in the ER, but I hear that being in the ICU before ER is helpful.
ED is very much like lather rinse and repeat. It is like a hamster on a wheel and you do the same stuff over and over. It takes the least amount of critical thinking skills, but the most time management skills. You get 'em in and get 'em back out and guess what there are more where that came from. Some nurses thrive in it and some hate it...If you are a person who thrives with a bunch of stuff going on at once and do not have the need to be super involved it any of it then it may be up your ally. However, if you like to read a chart and track things and try to understand the overall plan of care then it may not be the right fit.
ED is very much like lather rinse and repeat. It is like a hamster on a wheel and you do the same stuff over and over. It takes the least amount of critical thinking skills, but the most time management skills. You get 'em in and get 'em back out and guess what there are more where that came from. Some nurses thrive in it and some hate it...If you are a person who thrives with a bunch of stuff going on at once and do not have the need to be super involved it any of it then it may be up your ally. However, if you like to read a chart and track things and try to understand the overall plan of care then it may not be the right fit.
I very much disagree with this (the area in bold). ER nursing requires quite a bit of critical thinking, being able to quickly figure out who is sick and who isn't sick certainly doesn't come naturally to everyone. I work both ER and ICU and have see a lack of critical thinking skills bite a nurse in the ass on both sides. It's true, a lot of the pts seen the ER are not sick and that can get very monotonous, but when you do get a sick pt your critical thinking skills need to be spot on.
I've only done ED, started there as a new grad and never left. I agree with what most people have said--ED is about 80% not sick people and 20% sick people. The difference is you don't know what you're going to get and you have to be on your toes all the time. That belly pain-er that you thought was here for pain meds (because it's their 30th trip in the past year, all for belly pain, all for pain meds) well--this time the pain is gallstones, which caused pancreatitis, that also caused blood glucose issues and suddenly it's not as routine. Or hey, this kid has abd. pain and a giant belly, is 16 and swears they never had sex, and suddenly you're a L+D RN because that baby is crowning and they won't make it to L+D.
I also really like education, which helps with the 80% of not-sick people. A lot of education takes place in the ED, which is what I love doing. Helping that young parent undertand how to treat a fever, how to take care of their baby, etc.
I'm an ICU nurse, and my brother who went to nursing school with me is an ER nurse. He worked ICU before the ER and absolutely hated it; he loves his ER job. I've worked in the ER and I hated it, and I love my ICU job. Hopefully in school you had a chance to do clinicals in both and maybe have an idea of which one you like; If you pick one and hate it go to the other. Presumably you're going to be doing this a while and should be happy with your job. The great thing about nursing, though, is that if you can switch if you get bored in one or start off in one and wind up not liking it. Or, some hospitals offer float positions and once you get more experience you can work in both.
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ED is very much like lather rinse and repeat. It is like a hamster on a wheel and you do the same stuff over and over. It takes the least amount of critical thinking skills, but the most time management skills. You get 'em in and get 'em back out and guess what there are more where that came from. Some nurses thrive in it and some hate it...If you are a person who thrives with a bunch of stuff going on at once and do not have the need to be super involved it any of it then it may be up your ally. However, if you like to read a chart and track things and try to understand the overall plan of care then it may not be the right fit.