justin.d.duff

Hi Milk. Thanks for the reply. CVRU is the CardioVascular Recovery Unit. They get the heart transplants, CABGs, ventricular assists, valve replacements, etc. It also serves as a quick recovery unit for VATS procedures, fem/pop bypass, and other lower acuity patients. I'm guessing it is the same as any cardiovascular ICU elsewhere. You confirmed the thoughts I was having about acuity and knowledge base. Now I'm stuck with deciding (for the sake of a better experience) whether or not I want to eat and sleep with my family like a regular person. I would also have to take weekend call once a month. ...decisions!!!

Hello, I'm a senior nursing student graduating in just a couple of weeks and I have two different ICU offers, CVRU and Neuro ICU. It has always been my goal to do anesthesia, therefore I'd like to get some advice on which ICU will better prepare me for anesthesia school. The CVRU is my guess because of the inherently higher exposure to hemodynamic monitoring, vasoactive drips, ventilation, etc., however one of the anesthesia schools in my area supposedly doesn't like CVRU experience due to shorter times spent with the patients. It doesn't really make sense to me--high acuity is high acuity. Anyway, the Neuro ICU offer is a day position (CVRU offer is nights), making it very attractive to a new grad with two small children and another due at the end of this month; the con is that it's at a slightly smaller hospital with lower acuity levels. Any advice would be greatly appreciated... Justin