Trauma ICU vs Med-surg

[stanquim]

Hello all, I have question...I want to know something about Trauma vs Med-Surg ICU....is there anybody here that has worked both, or knows a lot about both...which one do you consider a more challenging place to work, I know in trauma, there is not a lot of medecine involved, but which one is a more challenging place to work, any feedback appreciated.

[Spiderella]

This thread is just the opposite of what I think. I actually left MSICU for Trauma because I got bored silly taking care of the same ol' ventilated corpses with myriad health problems that you can never get off the vent. And those dressing changes...ick to the stage 3 and 4 sacral ulcers...that takes about an hour just in itself. At least trauma dressings don't smell so bad and have worms growing in them....ugh.

In trauma, like it was stated, the excitement is for the first 24 hours or so, but then you usually know in a couple of days which direction the patient is headed. On my unit we tend not to have those ventilated chronic patients who hang on for weeks and months in the ICU (to me that is so draining). Traumas tend to either get better pretty quickly or crap out pretty quickly...there is very few in between. And less obese patients! And no GI Bleeds. Oh my gosh I'm in heaven!

I guess that is why nursing is so great, we each get to find our own niche.