STICU vs ICU

burn out · Mar 29, 2007

In a surgical trauma ICU you will see things that you will not see anywhere else. You will receive the most acutely ill patients from around your region that have some kind of trauma. You will have the most up to date equipment and knowledege made available to you. In some hospitals you will be writing the standard of care of a particular kind of patient population. Your staffing ratio may be 2 nurses to 1 patient. Your patients ages can range from 3 years old to 103 years old. Compare this to a regular SICU unit where most of the patients may or may not be acute ill or perhaps just at risk post op following a surgical procedure. Alot of vascular surgeries and older folks. The major down fall to STICU is that patient out comes are not always that great...for the most part if they survive you have accomplished something major. I wouldn't plan a life long career of STICU the burn out rate is very high..the stress level is enormous. On some patients I have actually wondered if they didn't just scrape the body off the road somewhere. Good luck but the experience and knowledege is invaluable and will stay with you no matter where you go.

meandragonbrett · Mar 30, 2007

I would go for the Trauma ICU over SICU. TICU and CVICU (including vascular) is just a preference of mine. Do whatever you feel would be most beneficial for you on a professional level, but wouldn't be a huge burden on your family. Good luck!