goodbadugly

California and New York are unionized. They protect their nurses with strict staffing guidelines and have plenty of help, ie: lift teams, doctors in house, pharmicist all night, etc... They make you take a lunch break of @ least one hour and in New York, they made us take a sleep break of 2 hours. Now the ER is different, That is control chaos to say the least, and that is putting it mildly. Try to give me sixteen pts and i'll tell you were to put them and then put them there. That's crazy you would be trreated like that and put up with it; for the lady that commented below. Nursing is hard work..angels of God are not suppose to have easy jobs, or everybody would be an Angel...a Diety... It's a calling, a chrisitan vocation.. Somebody has to do it... Joseph

Dear Wish and Want, Being a student in ICU is much, much different than being a Staff Nurse. Even after an internship and residency, it takes 10 years as a Nurse to get proficient and be able to handle the complex cases. You need to start out on a Med surg floor and master your skills. These clients generally are not trying to die on you. Next you need to work in the ER, you will work under the close supervision of Doctors. You will be able to anticipate the needs of your patients after a short while and will see a cornicopia of simple to complex cases and it will serve you well. Not only will you be able to respond to the needs of your ICU patients in a crisis, you will be able to care for your family and friends and their emergent needs. Trust me, i have been a nurse for 40 years. Florida is notorious for mistreating their nurses. I refuse to work there. Any non union state, the hospital dictates nurse to pt workloads, no lunch breaks, no nothing and will triple you up because of their inability to staff adequately. It is because they cannot keep nurses. The population they serve are old folks with multiple co-morbidites and take a ton of meds. Good luck, don't wish for something you don't really understand, you might just get it.

Dear ICU Burnout!! There are only 2 states that will treat you right, California and New York. Every place else pretty much sucks. I have worked in ICU for a long time. It takes 10 years to get real good at it and by then it has lost all of it's luster and was never fun. It has it's moments, but generally your job is to keep dead people alive. There are so many different jobs in the medical field, donot stay in a place where you are unhappy. The greatest thing you need to protect is your mental health. Your sanity will depend on you stepping up and refusing to take unsafe assignments. As they say, you need to grow a 'pair".