Unit terminology

[SpidersWeb, BSN]

I'm currently living and working outside the US but I'm expected to move to the US within 2018. As such, I'm tweaking my résumé to give potential employers an accurate description about my work experience as an RN.

I work in acute care on a unit where (1) we have 10 beds like on a normal med-surg floor but with higher acuity and (2) we also have 7 beds in one big room and each patient is hooked up to a monitor, sometimes with an arterial line or a CPAP or stuff like that but we never have intubated patients. The nurse to patient ratio is 1:5 and 1:2-3, respectively.

Patients are transferred to us from the ER, the ICU or med-surg floors after MET calls. Presentations include e.g. atrial flutter and other arrhythmias, CVAs, hematuria, alcohol withdrawal and delirium, pneumonia, exacerbation of asthma/COPD, postoperative hypotension, dyspnea, delirium or need for further analgesia, hypo-/hyperglykemia and GI bleeds. The placement is obviously based on the severity of the symptoms. So it's medical with cardiology, neurology and respiratory and surgical with orthopedics, urology and gastrointestinal.

My unit also comprises of a kind of an intensive care unit (3) where they do not, however, treat the most severe cases but they're transferred to a proper ICU at another hospital, if that makes any sense. They do treat intubated patients, and the ratio is 1:1-2. RNs regularly rotate between all of the above mentioned and the CCU but so far I haven't been given the opportunity.

I've tried to do some research to find the appropriate equivalent and I've found terms like progressive care unit, high-dependency unit and intermediate care unit. I wonder how I should make the distinction between the different units I mentioned above.

The translation my hospital uses for (1) and (2) is the same and it's awkward ("Emergency Ward"). For (3) they use the term intermediate care unit (IMCU) but I'm not sure if that's appropriate and I don't know how to distinguish between (1), (2) and (3) if IMCU can only be used to refer to a unit like this and not the "lower level" units I tried to explain here.

I'd appreciate any helpful insights, thanks!

[Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN]

What country is this? Every hospital in the US sets up their units differently. Some hospitals would call your unit a step down unit,a place in between icu and medical surgical.

[AceOfHearts<3]

I've heard Progressive Care Unit (PCU), Intermediate Intensive Care Unit (IICU), and Step-down Unit used to describe units not quite at ICU level but sicker than the floor. As stated every hospital system tends to have its own terminology. Patients on monitor are on a telemetry unit and tend to be sicker than the patients on a Med-surg floor.

In my experience ICU nurses tend to have 1-2 patients, step-down nurses tend to have 3-4, tele nurses 4-6, and med surg nurses 5-7. This is all just for my area of the USA. I know the ratios are not perfect and could be better, but I also know they could be worse based on what on what I've seen here on AN.

I've only ever taken care of patients in a private room or a room with 1 other patient. The only units I can think of that have many patients in one room are the ERs (and many have private rooms too) and the PACU (post anesthesia care unit).

[Greenclip]

The first one sounds like med-surg, maybe "complex med-surg" and the second one sounds like stepdown. At the big academic hospital where I work, several of the stepdown units are one big room with beds divided by curtains.

[PeekabooICU77]

On your resume, call it whatever your hospital and unit call it. Under your duties (and hopefully in further discussion/interview by future employers), describe it as you did above. They will categorize it and consider the experience based on what you do, not what it's called.