ICU vs Medsurg

[Flylik3abr1]

I am an ASN student going into my third semester of nursing school and have just recently gotten a couple of job offers at a local hospital for work as a Patient Care Technician. One is for a PRN position as a Medsurg tech and the other is a full-time days position in the ICU. Scheduling aside I am leaning more towards the ICU position because I think it will solidify whether I truly want to work in the intensive care side of nursing. I have seen first hand what the techs do on Medsurg but I have yet to really get much ICU experience aside from what I have been informed of what the RN's do on the unit. I am curious to know from the experience of some techs here the key differences on the units for Techs and which you all prefer. Any and all advice/feedback is appreciated. Thank you.

[PVCCHoo]

If you want to work in the ICU, take the job in the ICU. I have worked in the same ICU for a few years and every year the techs that graduate nursing school are offered jobs on the unit.

[socal212, CNA]

I currently work on a med/surg floor. Are your techs the same thing as CNAs? At my hospital, techs/CNAs are pretty synonymous, but then we have actual techs on our Obs floor and in the ED who can do more things like IVs and blood draws.

I know from personal experience, I have gotten way more experience working med/surg! Now ideally I would love to work full time in the ICU lol. So if that's what you want then go for it! There's a pretty big difference between working full time and PRN, though, so I'm not sure how that will affect your decision.

I do have to say, however, that the CNAs in my hospital in the ICU don't do a whole lot...being that the nurse to patient ratio is usually 1:2 (on med/surg here it's 1:5 so the nurses need more help), the nurses like to do everything themselves. Including emptying foleys, repositioning, and even ADL charting. I've worked in the ICU a lot and while there is a lot going on down there, I get way more hands on experience working med/surg. In the ICU all I ever do is blood sugars, set up rooms, and the occasional bedpan.

[Queen Tiye, RN]

ICU nurses usually do everything for their patients. We don’t get to do anything without their instruction or assistance. On busy medsurg floors with lots of patients all I do is take vitals and answer simple requests. In the ICU or ER, you may be able to draw blood, and cath patients. If you want to be an ICU nurse, I say take the ICU job to improve your chances of being selected for the residency when you graduate.