New MICN

Larry77, RN · Mar 12, 2009

What is "MICN"? And congrats....

ERjodiRN · Mar 12, 2009

Larry! How is it that you have 10yrs of trauma/ed experience and you don't know what a MICN is?? jk. it stands for Mobile Intensive Care Nurse....they answer the giant radio when the medics call in with a more acute patient that either requires a higher level of care hospital designation or early medical intervention that they aren't allowed to perform without the MICN orders. maybe you just haven't worked at base hospitals or haven't heard them called that. there is also the "radio nurse". Anyway....newbie! Congrats on passing the county test! I've had my MICN certification and I was so nervous about answering the radio in the beginning. I remember running one call for so long (long transport) that i started to feel like i was having a normal conversation. The medics wanted to give the patient a medication they previously had told me she was allergic to. So...in my "casual conversation" way, i said "that's no bueno", haha. And it's all on tape! I was mortified after I said it, and it was one of my first calls so a bunch of my coworkers were in there listening to me! One bit of advice that I can offer you is to be prepared to have some medics argue with your decisions or be upset with you. I ran an MCI with a medic who wanted to send their last of 4 patients to us. we are only a level3 trauma center, and while the patient had self-extricated and had been walking around for 30min, the other 3 were CTV's in a single car multiple rollover incident that ALSO involved alcohol with all the patients. There's no way our MD would accept that, even if the guy merely had a lac....simply because of the mechanism. The medic wasn't too happy with me and said he was going to have to transport the patient because they ran out of medics. To top it off, the one trauma center i hadn't sent anyone to yet was 30min away! I didn't send him there to **** him off, it's just how it played out. I saw him a few nights later and talked things through with him, but if you could have only HEARD the way he sounded on the radio. But.....it's our job and our license! Anyway, good luck with this new opportunity! it's totally worth it, and i'm sure you'll do great!

~jodi

GilaRRT · Mar 12, 2009

Larry! How is it that you have 10yrs of trauma/ed experience and you don't know what a MICN is??

Because some of us may never work in a system or area that utilizes MICN's. I know it is hard to imagine things may work differently outside of your little box.

ERjodiRN · Mar 12, 2009

geeze calm down....it was a joke. maybe you overlooked the jk i put in there, or the fact that i did explain what a MICN was.....which was put in BECAUSE i know things work differently outside of "my little box". there's no need to be a jerk on here, or utilize this forum strictly to do so.

GilaRRT · Mar 12, 2009

No worries; however, sometimes it is difficult for us to look outside of our little boxes and realize something common place in one system may be completely unknown in another.

ERnewbieRN, BSN, RN · Mar 12, 2009

awkwarddddd.... ok, anyway guys, thanks for the input! i'm originally from an area that doesn't utilize MICNs either, so this was a new thing to me when i moved out here. the EMS system works differently from region to region so there are a lot of different things to learn going from place to place... it's fun!

Larry77, RN · Mar 13, 2009

Yeah we don't have MICN's...I answer the call system and designate where the patient goes or call the trauma, code etc...if the medics need medical advice we give the call to a doc and they delegate tx. BTW I was not offended by your comments at all...:) Good for you on your new cert...no more pt care then???? I miss pt care because I just recently took a designated charge job...wondering if you will be in the same boat...

Is this MICN system used more in areas that don't always have medics? We always have medics in our area...they do have BLS transports but all that means to us is the medic is driving instead of the EMT and the EMT has to do the chart and report off to the ED RN.

allnurses Guide · Mar 13, 2009

I didn't know either! But congrats on your achievment! Any new certification takes hard work. Good job!

Medic09, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Mar 13, 2009

Gila beat me too it! Must be a New Mexico thing; even from Kabul. :coollook:

If you hadn't explained it, I would have thought by the name that MICN is a transport nurse. Especially since my certs used to include MICP, P/NICP. Those were courses (shame they don't exist anymore at UNM) for paramedics trained in critical care transports.

So, if you're the radio nurse (like Larry, in our ED we just answer and deal with it or pass it to a doc) why is it 'Mobile'?

(JBudd, how did you sneak in there?)

GilaRRT · Mar 13, 2009

Honestly, I thought MICN was some sort of pre-hospital provider title like the PHRN.

Congrats on your new job as well.

Medic, I hear ya. We had full scope paramedics working in the the facilities down here and now things have changed significantly. Too bad, as it was great having their skill set available.

ERjodiRN · Mar 13, 2009

with the micn certification i believe you're also qualified to do critical care patient transports with private ambulance companies.....that and the fact that you're giving guidance and orders to paramedics who are en route to whatever facility is why it's considered "mobile". where i work the micn still does patient care when able. we are in charge of the flow of the entire ed, so if we're trying to help someone we often get pulled away to get pt's discharged or to their rooms if we have a long wait in the lobby.