Neuro ICU RN wants to leave ICU

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Hi everyone,

I have been a RN for 6 years now. The last 3 years I have spent working in neuro ICU. Prior to that I worked 1 year of med surg and 2 years on a progressive care unit. I originally got into ICU because I wanted to learn more and challenge myself.

Well here I am 3 years later, burnt out. Tired of turning and bathing morbidly obese patients, tired of seeing so many poor outcomes, tired of not being able to go to the bathroom without worrying if my patient is going to die. Tired of being hit and kicked and spit on (my hospital has a NO restraints allowed rule... so literally people extubate themselves and pull out their EVDs.) There is no icu pay differential which my friends at other hospitals get. The team work on my unit is terrible so I really can't count on anyone to watch my patients while I take a break. I've tried to address this with my manager and was basically told "if you don't like it then you can leave."

I've floated to other ICUs and have no interest in working in them either. I just want to leave ICU altogether.

I've applied for a ton of jobs within my hospital (I have a contract and would have to pay back $ if I left the hospital before my time is up) and the only people who have called me back were the med surg floor. I have an interview tomorrow and I have no idea what to say when they ask me "so why are you leaving ICU for med surg?"

I know med surg will be stressful, but in a different way. Does anyone have any advice on how to answer the question because my reasons just sound like complaints and I'm not sure how to word them properly.

Thanks everyone!

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

You could just say something about wanting to learn about specialties other than neuro and that Med/Surg would expose you to a wide variety of patients with varied pathophysiology and disease processes.

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You could say that you enjoy talking and connecting with your patients. ICU patients are often sedated and you miss having that patient connection. Also, I enjoy that medsurg is more fast-paced than ICU. I found ICU to be a lot of sitting, watching, waiting. And I agree with the previous post that you get to see a wider variety which makes your day more interesting.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

"I wanted to try the ICU and I have. It has been very eye opening and I am finding the patient population served in Med-Surg is more appealing to the type of care I want to provide. I like interacting with patients."

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