Ortho, Adult Surgical or Rehab (stroke/TBI)?

[Wrench Party]

Hi all,

I have the option of interviewing on one of these units for a new grad program. Where would I gain the most useful experience? I'd eventually like to work in critical care.

[RNewbie]

Probably adult surgical. I think that it would be a good transition to critical care. In ortho you deal with the same things over and over, not alot of variety. I've never worked rehab but it's less acute and I would imagine that you would care for the same people on a long term basis and wouldn't get a lot of variety either.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

NOT rehab if you want your sanity! I don't care about what people say about rehab being less acute... that depends on the facility. The place I worked as a CNA took people sick enough that we got codes at least every couple of months, which is pretty rare for a rehab facility to my understanding. Also, with strokes everyone has movement problems and leg weakness, but it is part of the plan of care to get them back to functional status so you will be taking these people to the bathroom, as in the BATHROOM, not a bedpan or a bedside commode, and many of them are so heavy (strokes are more common in diabetics/obese) that it takes at least two staff and a mechanical lift to move them. It's not uncommon to have three staff members tied up giving medications to ONE TBI because he is violent and biting/hitting/kicking staff. TBIs are often strong young men, so there is a real risk of injury when you are working with this patient population. We had one who was particularly confused punch his mother in the face so hard that she lost four teeth. Oh, and family is encouraged to visit all the time at my facility, so they notice when it takes 30 minutes to answer a call light because every's fighting with a bad TBI to hold him down and will bless you out when you finally get around to helping their family member. They don't buy the explanations until they experience TBI behavior for themselves (as in the mom who got punched; she was awful to us until that happened to her and then she was magically nice again). I am of the opinion that rehab is the unit from the really dark hot place down below, and I have serious respect for anyone who WANTS to be a rehab nurse! I am always very excited to float because my floats are usually easier than working on my home floor.

Also, adult surgical would probably give you the best experience for ICU. :)

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

Hi all,

I have the option of interviewing on one of these units for a new grad program. Where would I gain the most useful experience? I'd eventually like to work in critical care.

I agree with pop. While rehab is great for some people, it would not be ideal if your goal is ICU. I echo the surgical unit recommendations. Ortho is fine, but if it is strictly just ortho you won't see much variety.

[Glycerine82, LPN]

I work acute Rehab and I love it. Its hard as hell even for the nurses but I find it extremely rewarding and interesting. We get everything from CVAs to Quads.

What I do hear the nurses say is they don't have a lot of med surge experience BUT at our facility the ratio is 5:1

29 beds 6 Nurses (sometimes 5) and four CNAs. Not bad, really.

[nurserecruiteradvoca]

as a recruiter i would definetely say ortho . we get a lot of needs in that aea. defineteleey not Rehab that will not help u get into critical crae