Hello guys,
I am debating on whether I should take a Med-Surg job, in which I will have 6-7 patients (nightshift with a combination of adult and peds) or ICU (nightshift/adults-peds). Both of these positions are at a rural medium sized hospital.
My goal is to have a broad range of knowledge and experience when it comes to health and nursing in general, not necessarily a higher level of skill(ICU). So my question is, which specialty will help me reach my goal. Keep in mind that even though this ICU has 3 patients at night, it's not a really high level acuity ICU.
Edit: Most of the time, there's a 5:1 patient load on the med surg floor but can go up to 7 if staffing is low. This is happening due to many of the nurses retiring and other nurses not willing to drive 35-45 minutes to work here because of opportunities in the city. ICU patient load depends on the acuity of the patients. Most of time there it's 2:1 but a lot of suicidal patients are admitted to the ICU if there's no room on the psych floor and no beds in another hospital.