Shock Trauma

[pmednurse, RN]

For all you new grads considering going to work for Shock Trauma in Baltimore be very careful and think twice about signing the signing bonus contract. There is a reason they are paying a signing bonus. I have worked there for the better part of a year in one of the ICU/IMC units and the nurses are over worked, underpaid and not appreciated. As an example, the patients primary care team was paged for a change in the patient condition and orders were written to reflect that change. When the patient had a more significant change unrelated to the initial change, the team was again paged and wrote orders, these orders were not appropriate and the fellow was paged who did not change the orders. In the morning when the attending found out about the whole incident he was very mad at the medical team and looked at the nursing documentation and it was adaquate to build the case for nursing and against medicine. The nurse manger of the unit has since gone after the initial nurse stating that she "missed the boat" on the initial change and labeled her care as "poor" and now rides that nurse, and everything that she does, probably in an attempt to get rid of ther because she told the manager she was wrong to second quess her for something she had no control over. POOR !!!!! So I am not saying to not work there, but as a new grad you will get hung out to dry for the doctors learning curves.... Just be careful !!!!

[luvbug9956]

I did my senior year practicum on the MultiTrauma unit. I learned a lot, but I do have to agree...a bit much for a new grad. They offered me a position when I left, and I politely declined! Plus, the rotating shifts were draining...sometimes the nurses are a week on days and then a week on nights! I also didn't like the patients' conditions and had a hard time not being able to have a conversation with them...now I am in oncology and LOVE it! A lot of nurses at Towson University do their practicums and clinicals there, and I have yet to find a nurse who has taken a position! It's just a bit too much for a new grad!

[rjonesx]

Do you have a different recommendation for shock trauma nursing? My understanding was that the UMM shock trauma nursing program generally has a good reputation.

[sewnew]

is this type of dynamic/working environment isolated to umms shock trauma or does it also carry over to other areas of critical care such as the sicu or micu? i think i would like to start out in umms sicu when i graduate, but want to make sure that i will be supported during my orientation period. thanks.

[Blueorchid, ASN, RN]

As someone that has done clinicals at Shock Trauma and my senior practicum and I'm a Clinical Scholar slated to work there for the next 18 months, I don't feel this post reflects the environment of Trauma at all.

Is it a teaching hospital? You betcha. Will the med students and residents and fellows make mistakes? Heck yeah they do. I can't recall ever seeing a new nurse "hung out to dry" though and I'm there enough that I have been mistaken as a new nurse. Communication can be difficult because there are so many teams that round on the patients but the nurses working in other rooms tend to rally around someone if they're having trouble. Its very much like the environment in the ED.

And yeah I know I'm a baby and this will probably sound asinine but the OP mentions charting was done to reflect nursing care against the medical team...but why did the nurse manager only know about this situation after a problem? I mean how else could the new nurse have "missed the boat?" There are senior partners on the floor not to mention other experienced nurses that could have helped champion a case if it was serious enough. Ever notice how when someone makes a reference to a particular hospital the comments are either extremely bad or extremely positive?

I know I risk opening up a can of worms here and the original post is like 3 years old but come on guys. Trauma isn't perfect and critical care nursing isn't easy, but I sure as hell am learning alot.

[PharmaRN]

I just wanted to point out that this initial thread was well over three years old when luvbug9956 replied to it. I wonder how much the culture really has changed there in that time. Blueorchid says its more reasonable... maybe it all just depends on how much stress one is comfortable handling?

I'm also wondering if they're still hiring new grads.