is MICU good experience?

[piper_for_hire]

I just got a job offer for a MICU in an inner city teaching hospital. They seem to have all of the goodies there - Swanz-Ganz, a-lines, vents, etc. but I'm really not sure exactly what I am looking for from an admissions point of view. Does anyone have an opinion on what I should be looking for specifically before I accept the offer? I am not in an extreme hurry to get into CRNA school, but I want the appropriate experience

Thanks,

-S

[toobemall]

As I know a number of folks with MICU experience that are now CRNAs, I would that, yes, MICU is good experience. You need to get an insiders viewpoint as to just how "sick" the patients are in that specific unit. Since it is in a teaching facility, my guess is that this is also a referral center so probably the patients are pretty sick. The number of beds in the unit is a consideration also. Is it small enough to house a specific patient population or is it a large unit that may have to hold onto patients even if they are "intermediate" status. I ran into that on the cardiac medicine unit where I spent two years. That unit had 12 ICU beds, frequently received MICU overflow, and frequently had patients which were probably not really ICU patients. This of course, means no vents, no swans, etc.

Certainly this may be different at other hospitals, but I feel that I did not independently manage my patients in this unit as I do now working on a cardiac surgery ICU. Also, being an eight bed unit, the patient population is very,very specific to cardiac surgery. We do not get alot of overflow. The overwhelming majority of our patients come back for OR with swans, vents, alines, temp pacers. Additionally, we actually use swan reading to adjust drips and get the patient where they need to be. Speaking of gtts, we commonly see propofol, nipride, epi, dopamine, ntg, neo. Also give a lot of volume, blood products. You cannot help to be exposed to hemodynamics.

Never worked in trauma ICUs, so I cannot speak to that.

In the end, it is what you want out of a job, and really I do not think that one adult ICU is looked upon any more favorably (sp) than another.

Good luck!

[mwbeah]

Find out quickly where you plan on applying and contact a representative from that (those) institution(s). Your best bet is to work in the environment the school you are applying to is looking for.

Hope this helps,

Mike

[apaisRN, RN, CRNA]

I had about 1.5 years of MICU/CICU in a tertiary university hospital when I was admitted. I think as long as it isn't a rural type MICU where you only take care of stable MIs and pneumonias, you should be okay. There's all kinds of cool stuff in MICU - sepsis, liver failure, balloon pumps (if yours takes cards).

[KimberRN1]

I work in the MICU and everyone that's applied from our unit thus far since I've started working has been admitted..( I work in a teaching hospital that has a CRNA program)....Our MICU has a high acuity though.....we have swans...a-lines...central lines....vas caths...sheaths....IABP...CRRT...Vents....etc etc...They like that...They also take a lot from the Open Heart Recovery Unit...and this year they took 5 from the NICU....I thought that was surprising....