Trauma ICU or ER

[paigeeeee]

I’m a level 2 trauma hospital, would you choose to take a job in ER or a job in Surgical trauma ICU? I’m interested in trauma. I feel like I would see it both places but I don’t know where I’d get the most experience at. I feel like ER I could or not could get trauma patients depending on rotations but it is fast paced and I like that. But I feel like trauma ICU I’m guaranteed trauma patients at some point. If I wanted to eventually be in a level 1 trauma center which experience would be better? (They don’t have a trauma section so posted in critical care) 

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

You're comparing two very different jobs. For me personally, I could NOT work in the ED. I spent some clinical time there and I realized it's not a patient population that suits me well. There are MANY people that don't need an ED they're just there for primary care, or really no care at all. There are the occasional traumas that come in, but it wasn't too many by comparison. I also like knowing about my patients in critical care. I can learn a lot about the tests run, the results and the whole plan of care. ED nurses are excellent at stabilizing and moving out, working in a chaotic environment where they can focus in the midst of chaos around them, and I know I would struggle with that. I've been in a community hospital ICU for over four years and I like that in my shift I will usually have time to learn a lot more about the patient and get a good picture of what's going on. 

[offlabel]

Generally speaking, trauma nursing in the ER is in very brief increments and limited to the earliest and most basic stabilization events in the patient's hospital course. They're specialists in getting patients to definitive care quickly. 

 Definitive intervention (as opposed to stabilization) occurs in the OR and then in varying degrees in the ICU. Coagulopathies, comorbidities, complications of surgery/anesthesia and more all present in the ICU in addition to the primary reason  he or she showed up to the hospital in the first place. 

[FiremedicMike, RN, EMT-P]

On 8/3/2022 at 12:26 PM, offlabel said:

Generally speaking, trauma nursing in the ER is in very brief increments and limited to the earliest and most basic stabilization events in the patient's hospital course. They're specialists in getting patients to definitive care quickly. 

 Definitive intervention (as opposed to stabilization) occurs in the OR and then in varying degrees in the ICU. Coagulopathies, comorbidities, complications of surgery/anesthesia and more all present in the ICU in addition to the primary reason  he or she showed up to the hospital in the first place. 

My favorite message in Epic - IP Bed Assigned

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[AlwaysSunny, DNP, CRNA]

My questions to you are: what is your ultimate goal? Do you want to go back to school? Flight school? NP? CRNA? Or are you just interested in seeing/managing traumas? I’ve worked in a level 2 trauma center in the ER and SICU. Both were amazing experiences but very different.