New Grad RN starting on Medical Intermediate Floor

TriathlonRN · Sep 9, 2011

Hello,

Just wondering what kinds of patients are seen on a Intermediate Medical Floor. Are they transfers from ICU and then go on to a regular Med/Surg floor? Ive heard of major hospitals with these kinds of units?

I work at a rural hospital Med/Surg floor where we get them straight from ICU/ER and Recovery post surgical procedure.

~newRN · Sep 12, 2011

Hi,

Yes, the patients are transferred from the ICU/ER and sometimes directly admitted from their home. I worked on the floor as a nurse's aide before I got hired as an RN. No, the patients do not go to a Med/Surg floor afterwards. I'm not sure why it's called an intermediate floor because patient usually don't go to another floor. However, I've noticed that we have less patients than some of the other floors, we have three patients and four on nights.

kayern · Sep 17, 2011

IMC = medical surgical patients with art lines and require a higher level of care. Nurse:Patient ratio is less than on a typical M/S unit.

With that being said.........be a sponge, look,listen and learn. Don't be afraid of asking questions because that's how you learn.

Good Luck

Journey_On, BSN, RN · Sep 18, 2011

I work on an intermediate care unit. We get ER admissions, direct admits, transfers from other hospitals, and ICU transfers. Once they come to our floor, they do not get transferred to a med-surg floor (they stay with us until discharge). Or sometimes, unfortunately, they have to be transferred to the ICU. All of the patients on our floor have telemetry monitors.

On our floor, we see a wide range of patients - respiratory, neuro (we get all the stroke patients), renal, GI, etc. So it would be a good idea to brush up on med-surg conditions and meds.

I would describe an intermediate care unit/progressive care unit as a step-down floor or a floor that is in between a med-surg and an ICU.

I truly wish our floor's ratio was as good as yours! Yes, intermediate care units should have less ratios than med-surg. Ours is 5 or 6:1 on nights, and 4 or 5:1 on days. NOT safe, in my opinion, for the acuity of our floor.

Congratulations on the job!