What happens on CT-Surgery Floor?

[Murse7]

Hi all! I'm going to be starting nursing in the fall (well pre-clinical phase, but still excited ), and am looking for a part time job. I've been a clinical tech in an ER for the past two years, and loved it. However I'm really interested in critical care and cardiology, and am considering going on for ACNP or CRNA, but that's way down the road . I've been applying for new tech jobs in the area, and recently found one in "CTS", which I assume, from the job description, is in cardiothoracic surgery. Does anyone here work on a CTS unit? What happens here? Is it "critical care"? What types of procedures are done on these units? What is the nursing like (less intense than ICU, more intense than med-surg, etc)? Any info would be great. It's obviously a telemetry unit, but I can't find much more info than that.

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

You'll have to ask the manager as each hospital is different not only in terms of the types of Cardiothoracic Surgical Procedures performed but also in the way each unit designates Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery patient poulations. Cardiothoracic Surgery encompasses all conditions requiring surgery of the organs inside the chest. Procedures involving open heart surgery (CABG, valve replacements or repairs, aneurysms and dissections involving the aortic arch, heart transplants, and implantable assist devices), lung surgery (thoracotomies, wedge resections, lobectomies, and pneumonectomies, lung transplants) and sometimes esophageal surgery (esophagectomies, Nissen funduplication) are performed by Cardiothoracic Surgeons. Obviously, not all hospitals are capable of the more complex cardiothoracic surgeries I mentioned. Since you are referring to a CTS floor, you'll probably find patients medically stable enough to be out of the ICU but still at risk for complications of surgery such as arrhythmias, pleural and pericardial effusions, and pneumothoraces to name a few. You'll also likely see a lot of chest tubes and incisional care and dressings.