Similarities/differences between Trauma ICU/Regular ICU?

[Guest1157033]

Hey guys!

I'm a first year nursing student from Ohio, recently accepted into the honors program at my school, and I could REALLY use some insight/advice from some experienced ICU nurses for my honors project.

The project I was assigned is "comparing/contrasting the similarities and differences between traditional ICU and trauma ICU patient care."

The goal of my project is to learn how patient care can differentiate between these two settings of critical care, as well as to understand the special considerations for how that care is implemented.

My professor and I are in the process of trying to set up a job shadow, but with the pandemic it's hard to know if that will happen or not. Either way, I want to feel like I'm doing as much research outside of the job shadow as possible in order to get a better understanding, as ICU is where I ultimately would like to end up when I graduate.

Any information/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

[Okami_CCRN, BSN, RN]

This is a great student project to help you understand the patient population, diagnosis, and level of care patients require in different critical care areas. When you mention traditional ICU, I think you mean a mixed ICU; for example, smaller hospitals may not have the patient volume to justify specialty critical care units. Instead, these units see a variety of critically-ill patients suffering from STEMI, PE, sepsis, post-operative care, etc. 

To help you in your project it may be beneficial to chose a different critical care area such as medical ICU vs. trauma ICU, or cardiac ICU vs trauma ICU. You may find it helpful to research what kind of diagnosis are prevalent in each area, along with typical patient age, typical diagnostic imaging, and advanced hemodynamic monitoring. 

 

[LovingLife123]

Trauma ICU focuses on trauma patients.  Medical ICU is usually those with ongoing, chronic conditions.  
 

what do you think a trauma patient would be that would require ICU care?  What kind of conditions would require medical ICU care?

[Guest1157033]

1 hour ago, Okami_CCRN said:

This is a great student project to help you understand the patient population, diagnosis, and level of care patients require in different critical care areas. When you mention traditional ICU, I think you mean a mixed ICU; for example, smaller hospitals may not have the patient volume to justify specialty critical care units. Instead, these units see a variety of critically-ill patients suffering from STEMI, PE, sepsis, post-operative care, etc. 

To help you in your project it may be beneficial to chose a different critical care area such as medical ICU vs. trauma ICU, or cardiac ICU vs trauma ICU. You may find it helpful to research what kind of diagnosis are prevalent in each area, along with typical patient age, typical diagnostic imaging, and advanced hemodynamic monitoring. 

 

Thanks for your reply! Sorry, I should have been more specific. My project is comparing a MICU vs. a trauma ICU.

[Guest1157033]

1 hour ago, LovingLife123 said:

Trauma ICU focuses on trauma patients.  Medical ICU is usually those with ongoing, chronic conditions.  
 

what do you think a trauma patient would be that would require ICU care?  What kind of conditions would require medical ICU care?

Thanks for replying! Based on my research so far I've learned that MICU primarily focuses on the care of the critically ill or unstable patients following extensive injury, surgery or life threatening diseases, whereas trauma critical primarily focuses on patients who are in critical conditions due to traumatic injuries ranging from falls to gunshots, stabbings, motor vehicle accidents, etc.

[RNperdiem, RN]

The above is correct. I find that MICU patients tend to be older with more chronic conditions. Their ICU average length of stay tends to be longer in MICU. These days our hospital MICU is the Covid unit. When describing to my sons what kinds of patients go to MICU, it was by a process of elimination. They are not surgical, burn, cardiac or cardiothoracic surgery patients. They are everyone else. "kind of like a junk drawer of diagnoses" is the way one of the sons put it.

SICU/trauma has a big focus on preventing post-op complications. DVT prevention, atelectasis, infection prevention, early mobility and fall prevention. Pain control is a bigger issue in SICU. We do more wound care and take care of various drains. We deal with orthopedic traction in SICU in addition to splints and spinal precautions.

[Guest1157033]

2 hours ago, RNperdiem said:

The above is correct. I find that MICU patients tend to be older with more chronic conditions. Their ICU average length of stay tends to be longer in MICU. These days our hospital MICU is the Covid unit. When describing to my sons what kinds of patients go to MICU, it was by a process of elimination. They are not surgical, burn, cardiac or cardiothoracic surgery patients. They are everyone else. "kind of like a junk drawer of diagnoses" is the way one of the sons put it.

SICU/trauma has a big focus on preventing post-op complications. DVT prevention, atelectasis, infection prevention, early mobility and fall prevention. Pain control is a bigger issue in SICU. We do more wound care and take care of various drains. We deal with orthopedic traction in SICU in addition to splints and spinal precautions.

That’s amazing! Thank you so much for your insight! How many years of experience do you have working in MICU/Trauma ICU? Which one are you currently in and what made you choose? 

Would you say there are any other special considerations between MICU/trauma ICU, perhaps in terms of protocol or patient care? Are there any “personality types” that tend to be more successful in these settings than others? Thank you again for all of your help!