ICU VS. the ER?

Specialties Emergency

Published

:idea: To ICU, and ER Nurses:

Hi. I am curious to know the difference between ICU Nursing, and the ER. Do the Er people just treat people immediately, and iCU treat over the long-run ...or how does that work? So sorry to be so clueless, yet I guess until I am actually in clinical rotations I won't know the difference. So, I am curious to know what you think? Thanks for any advice, and interpretations of the difference between the two.

WILLBEaFuture RN,

Anna Miller

Specializes in ICU.
I always think of the ED as the "Jocks" and the ICU as the "Nerds".

Whatever, you know we're the cool kids and everyone wants to be worthy of hanging out with us. ;) But, yeah, it is really weird the way they run things here. I don't know if it is because the ED is shortstaffed or haven't had enough training, but they really do want ICU taking over and we do actually get lots of trauma training. Or if it is a STEMI, the CCU nurses come. Ours is actually the only unit with adequate staffing so that may have something to do with it. I think another part of it is that there is a big level 1 trauma an hour away that does see more action than our smaller level 2 so trauma nurses tend to gravitate that way. Anyway, rambling. I guess I am a nerd.

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Specializes in Float.

I'm pretty nerdy .. maybe I should check out ICU lol. Still trying to decide what kind of nurse I wanna be when I grow up :) (at least I have til May)

Unfortunately we get NO ED OR ICU (or OR for that matter) rotations at my school :( so I have to get all my info through osmosis here at allnurses!

I always thought ICU and CCU (critical care unit?) were the same thing different names...I am now guessing that is wrong. Can someone tell me the difference? Also the difference between coronary care unit and CVICU. I'm so confused!

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Specializes in ICU.

Our Cardiac Care Unit is called the CCU. Everybody's got different names for things. Do your local hosptals offer any externships? It's a thought for getting experience in the area you are considering before totally committing to it. CVICU might be open heart?

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Specializes in Float.

hey blueeyed... yea they offer externships. I actually have been working since summer in a cardiac tele unit. We get chest pains, CHF, and CABGs when they get out of ICU. I like it pretty well. But don't have a lot to compare to. In clinical I've only been on L&D/Postpartum, medsurg, and a uro floor.

I'm trying to set up a shadow in the OR just to "see" what it's like (don't have any particular interest - just would like to check it out)

I also have an interview for an externship at another large area hospital and I'm going to try to get into an ICU to see how I like it compared to tele.

I'm also interested in mother baby - yes I know totally different. But seems like great teaching area and could lead to NICU down the road maybe. I have a lot of interests! Guess I'll never get bored huh? lol

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Specializes in SICU, EMS, Home Health, School Nursing.
I'm pretty nerdy .. maybe I should check out ICU lol. Still trying to decide what kind of nurse I wanna be when I grow up :) (at least I have til May)

Unfortunately we get NO ED OR ICU (or OR for that matter) rotations at my school :( so I have to get all my info through osmosis here at allnurses!

I always thought ICU and CCU (critical care unit?) were the same thing different names...I am now guessing that is wrong. Can someone tell me the difference? Also the difference between coronary care unit and CVICU. I'm so confused!

At the hospital I work at CCU= coronary care unit. CVICU is where all of our open heart patients go. We also have a SICU (Surgical Intensive Care Unit) which is also occasionally called the SCU (surgical care unit)

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Specializes in Skilled.

ALL NURSING IS TOUGH, BUT I DO AGREE WITH JOE....E.R. NURSES RUN THEIR BUTTS OFF FOR THE DOCS. AND ARE NOT MAKING DECISIONS........ IN I.C.U. DEPARTMENT, THE NURSES STEER THE WHEEL SORT OF....NO DOC AROUND 24 / 7 LIKE IN THE E.R. ON THEIR OWN MOST OF TIME MAKING DECISIONS. I RESPECT I.C.U. NURSING AND HOPE TO BE ONE OF THEM SOMEDAY.:nurse:

sincerely sorry for the all caps. i am not yelling / shouting. tired and a lazy typer.:zzzzz

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Since there are some people who have experienced both sides er & icu, could you give me your advice?

If a new grad. only could enter either the E.R or the ICU which one should he or she take?

And why should the new grad. enter the e.r over the icu first or vice versa?

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Specializes in CCU/CVU/ICU.

The difference is that most ER nurses have an inferiority complex and constantly scream that "we're critical-care nurses too!"...(teasing)

This is like beating a dead horse...but since the horse is apparently a full-code and no-one's called it...

Think of ER nurses as 'jacks-of-all-trades'...'masters of none'. If an er nurse says she's a 'pediatric nurse' she's not, but to an extent she is because she deals with sick kids. Now..if she say's 'i'm a critical care nurse' she's not...but to an exstent she is because she will deal with critically sick patients. She does both but is not an 'expert' in either. This can be said about all the other things ER nurses do...(psych, OB, office-types (rashes, tummy-aches, diahhrea, etc. ad nauseum).

Another way to look at it is as one giant 'triage'. ER specializes in triage. They get people who come to them and decide where they need to go...and get them there. If you're critically sick, you need to be in ICU..not ER.

Some ICU patients get there from ER...but others (most?) dont. They come from the floor, or after a major surgery (bypassing recovery room), or from other hospitals, or...

ICU nurses deal with more invasive monitoring, more high-tech equipment, and sicker patients...all day every day. In general, are more autonomous ((ie can order labs,x-rays, etc.)) But this is EXPECTED because ICU nursesONLY deal with the sickest of the sick...thus the 1-2 patient ratio...

And...i've said alot more about this stuff on other threads and should be done ranting (regurgitating)...but...

"er nurses are jocks and icu nurses are nerds"??? "...icu nurses are lazy.."??? These statements really say it all if you think about it. Like someone who is more concerned about image(and cooler-important-nurse-job-than-you)...these are the types of people who perpetuate this silly banter...and have a juvenile streak to boot.

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Specializes in Skilled.

E.R. nurses are running nonstop for the docs orders. The doctor makes all the decisions in the E.R. ie: should patient be treated a.s.a.p.? be admitted? go to O.R.? go to I.C.U. ? go to an outpatient facility? or go home and take 2 aspirin and dry out? Docs call the shots. :blushkiss

I.C.U. nurses brains run nonstop. full code / no code? monitors galore going off...calling the shots of the long term (and sometimes very short term) stay of the intensively critically ill patient. A quick call to the Doc or to follow him around for new orders is the extent of the Doc's visit in the I.C.U. (In the E.R.--there may be 3 Docs on in the same shift). I am supporting Dinith's reply.

I personally, was taken to an E.R. while being resuscitated. Treated in E.R. - not stabalized....but lifeflighted out to a trauma hospital....coded in flight.....after extensive surgery.....landed in i.c.u. for a loooooooong time. With all the 'combined 'efforts of all doctors and nurses.....I lived. Which nurse was more important than anyone? The one that stopped along the road, saw I was dead, took the sheet off of me and started C.P.R. as I was bleeding out from a ruptured spleen. No nurse is better than another. We are all equal and should be a team, not rivals. My life was saved by a med-surg floor nurse. (Renee) The E.R. doc (Cataldo) immediatley flew me out stat and the trauma i.c.u. nurses (numerous ) watched me 24 / 7 for months. In my scenario.......

A 'plain old' nurse saved me. Then the E.R. Doc sent me. The the I.C.U. nurses were my 'family' while I was in a como and on the respirator...until I got on the floor, then rehab nurses helped me walk again.....I don't remeber an E.R. nurse.............this could go on and on. But ego should be let go and give credit to the nurses with compassion and knowledge. I am with Dinith on all her thoughts.....because I am alive because of a plain old R.N. named Renee who stopped on her way to work and uncovered a dead woman-me-a plain old:nurse:.

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Specializes in Skilled.

P.S. Praise God !

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Specializes in ICU.

Awww... that is such a beautiful tribute.

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Specializes in Trauma/ED.

Just to clarify what I meant by "Jocks and Nerds"...I think of ER nurses as "Jocks" just because we like to be where the action is and enjoy running are butts off. And ICU nurses as "Nerds" because they are the braniacs who like to study everything and tinker with settings and machines.

I do not care about "image" at all and would never consider myself better than any other kind of nurse but also would not consider myself less.

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