Transferring to ER from CCU/ICU....

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Specializes in Critical Care Float - ICU / ED / PACU.

hey everyone.

I'm starting a new position in the ER in the next couple of weeks and looking for some words of wisdom / advice on how to transition ok.

Here's a little about myself:

I've been a CCU/ICU RN for about a year now - came in straight out of school and made that transition fairly easy. I work a a private, communitiy hospital - not a major trauma site, but we do get some, and ship them out to the level 1 site quite often w/ life flight, and I'm constantly hearing code blues' on the over head page all of the time.

Working on the units - I've been through quite a few codes, and feel pretty comfortable with reading strips, noticing changes, and assessments, etc. I just came back a few weeks ago from maternity leave and found they shut down my smaller unit d/t low census and feel a little rusty, but coping... I've always planned on doing ER in the future because I know that I will love it, but what makes me nervous is that i also know that ER is a completely differernt world, and find myself getting more nervous the closer my start date comes. From what I've heard, I will have a 3mo orientation.... which sounds great!

Any major rules, tips I should know about your dept?

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Specializes in Trauma/ED.

There are many, many posts on this exact topic so I recommend using search to take a look at them.

That said, the hardest adjustment I've seen ICU/CCU nurses have is time at the bedside...we just don't have it. We do not have time to look at lab trends, do complete head-to-toe skin assessments etc. We also do not know what disease process we are working with, we are treating symptoms. You will be surprised at what silly s/s brings people into the ED...

Take a look at other posts...this topic has been beaten to death on this website...good luck, I'm sure you will do fine...get some good running shoes :)

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I was a CCU/ ICU nurse once as well. Have been in the ER for a few years. It is a big change. To a CCU Nurse you will have some advantges. You will feel comfortable with IV drips, Monitors, and vents. What you will find different is Peds, Trauma, and belive it or not routine clinical care. Everything comes to the ER. From the worse to very little at all. You never know what you are going to get next or how much of it you will get. easy to get swamped in the ER. The best way I can describe CCU verse ER is CCU is controlled for the most part. Even when it is bad it is much more controlled. ER is like a chaotic ballet. It makes sense only if you are in the flow with the rest of the ER team. Like CCU they are a tight group for the most part. They are a different breed of nurses than most. You either love it or you don't. Very few exceptions in the ER world. They thrive on the unexpected and love Trauma for the most part. Have little use for Drama that you will see in the ER. Many CCU nurses make the transistion well. if you like to be on the edge and be challenged then this should be a good fit for you. Good luck and enjoy.

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I went from a nursing home (1 year) to an intensive care unit (2 years) then to an ER. I always kid that going from ICU to ER was a much bigger challenge than nursing home to ICU.

In ICU you are maintaining patients, in the ER you will be stabilizing. Often you will not have IV access or a patent airway. There will be a lot of learning but your experience with critical patients will help you immensely.

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Specializes in Critical Care Float - ICU / ED / PACU.

Thanks guys! I have a feeling I'm gonna love it - I've always planned on crosstraining in the future - so it's just going to be a little sooner than I planned~! :loveya:

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Specializes in ICU.

Hi Neko..I just read your posting about transitioning into ER from ICU/CCU...I was wondering how are things going for you since this posting in October? Do you like the ER and was the transition easy for you? I am a new grad and will be starting in ICU next month. My plan was to originally do ER, but after talking to various recruiters and ER nurse managers from my area, a majority of them recommended for me to take Tele or ICU to gain my critical thinking and organizational skills bc the ER can be too fast paced for appropriate training/ teaching. Any words of advice?? Thanks! It's greatly appreciated!

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