Was anyone ever a floor nurse?

[askater11]

Two weekends ago we had a code. There was two R.N.'s on the floor with 10 patients. 2 of the 10 patients were unstable. We had no secretary. (by the way it's a cardiac stepdown)

One of the CCU nurses came for the code. She said, "You should join us in the unit. We are better staffed. And we work as a team, we have to"

I've been considering working a Unit a long time. I work at a large hospital. We have CCU, NICU, MICU, CVICU and SICU. I won't know which unit to start at. I've worked step-down cardiac and med/surgical. I enjoyed both. I am getting burned out of cardiac. Where should I start out?

What do you enjoy about ICU compared to Floor nursing? Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[mattsmom81]

I have enjoyed set visiting hours too and it has been a big bonus for me in critical care. Now...we are seeing a move towards open visiting...which is not good news to me at all.

I myself was a floor nurse for quite a few years before moving into critical care...it seemed a natural transition into ICU for me. this was before the days of internships....I learned by OJT. :)

When I started medsurg nursing (in the 70's) it was a much more controlled setting...we had team nursing with good team members and even actually had enough help!! It is much different today unfortunately...and a very frustrating setting for those who are anal like me...LOL! I go nuts now if I can't keep track of all the details.....hehe.

Although I have enjoyed the stimulation and challenge of ICU, it can be very very stressful on it's own when you are fighting to save a life...nonstop codes are not infrequent...and when open hearts go bad and the surgeon expects us to set up a mini OR on a patient who is alive only due to high tech machines and multiple drips ...it gets wild. When we need 3 nurses on one patient due to the complexity...and the rest of the unit suffers. The quality of the surgeon comes into play here too. These are usually the type who blame everything on the nurses although we know whose skill is in question....

Got off on a little tangent there..sorry...but meant to say ICU is not for everyone. Some nurses don't like feeling they are 'the end of the line' for that crashing patient...there is nobody else to call...it's YOURS. :)

[DIPLOMATICRN4HIRE, MSN, RN]

Worked floor the entire time I was an LPN and going through RN school. Worked on a Cardiac StepDown, and pretty much catch all unit. Worked there 3 yrs and a Cardiac Surgeon, requested that 3 of the nurses on that unit be crossed trained to CVICU and ICU, so we did. It was great I loved every minute of it until I went down to watch a Open Heart Surgery and I have been in Surgery ever since. I jump back and fourth to the units just to keep my skills up to parr.

Zoe

[JohnnyGage]

The biggest difference between working in ICU and the floor -- and the part I think is most important -- is that as an ICU nurse you are able to truly know your patient. Not just name, doc, and diagnosis, but their complete medical history! Because you only have one or two patients, you are able to work your extensive knowledge of the patient in their favor. Not only is it fun and challenging to be able to have all the information you need, but the physicians will expect you to know it as well.

[HazelLPN, LPN]

I worked general med/surg for nearly 8 years before working in ICU. One day I was floated to the ICU and I was terrified! However, the people were so nice to me that I began enjoying my floats more than working on my own floor. I only had one or two paitents to take care of, everything was right at the bedside, lots of people to help you and so much to learn and absorb. One day I floated down and honestly never went back to the floor. I interviewed right at a lady's bedside. Basically consisted of "would you like to work down here full time from now on?" I said yes and 36 years later, I'm still here.

[KC CHICK]

:) Wow. With all of these responses, I'm even MORE excited to be going to the unit. I only have two more weeks on tele....WOOHOO!

I just got through with a crazy weekend on the med/tele floor I work on now. Had 5 nurses for 34 patients on sat night and 5 nurses for 32 patients last night....absolutely HATE being shorted like that. I was also charge.....for the entire weekend (fri, sat, and sun.)

I can't wait!!!

Anne:D

[nowplayingEDRN]

Having done my time as a floor nurse, I know those guys and gals deserve TONS of credit. You say you enjoyed med/surg and step-down (cardiac) so I would recommend you try SICU. Lower, nurse/py ratio and you get a blend of both worlds. You will also get to fine tune the quality and quantity of your nursing care. The challenge is amazing and the results are always gratifying. Good luck in your new venture into nursing.