What is it like to work in the CDU?

I did an observation in the CDU about a week ago. The nurse told me that she's it as far as medical treatment goes. There's a consulting psychiatrist, but all of the counseling is done by addiction counselors in that particular unit.

The desk area she sits at allows her to see the rooms with detox patients in them, and she periodically passes out pills on a schedule. At the beginning of nurse's shifts they do a withdrawal assessment and take vitals. She said that's all of the assessment they ever do.

Once they're detoxed they move into "outpatient" status where they are no longer under the care of the hospital but merely "board" there with a written agreement to abide by certain rules the counselors make up.

Frankly, I could do this all day. I just sat around talking to people and giving out Librium. They only had four on detox that day and none of them were wild so it was pretty chillax. Having been (still am) a police officer my encounters with addicts in all of their phases made me at peace with much of it. I was preparing to see people in DT, which I've seen several times too, but we didn't have that that particular day.

The nurses there worked two 16's and an 8 every week which I thought was cool. They'd do a 16, an 8 the next day, and another 16. That's my kind of work schedule. Get it done.

I'mthatguy, I think the OP means "clinical decision unit" (formerly "observation") where patients of varying specialties are admitted on a 23 hr basis pending diagnostic reports, change in symptoms, etc.

Well damn. I thought it was chemical dependency unit where patients are monitored 24 hours a day.

Thanks for your reply...ebear is correct. I know that it is like a "sister unit" to our ED that's why I thought I would pose the question in the emergency nursing section...

Thanks for your reply...ebear is correct. I know that it is like a "sister unit" to our ED that's why I thought I would pose the question in the emergency nursing section...

I didn't see it in the emergency nursing section. I saw it on the homepage.

Hey there! I work in CDU in my hospital. We are in fact, a sister unit to the ED. We are also a sister unit to CPEU(chest pain evaluation unit). This pretty much means that we could be floated to any of those 3 units if understaffed. Our CDU pretty acts like a 23 obs unit, ED holding area or pre/post surgical area. We do not accept patients under 18 years of age, pregnant patients over 12 weeks along, high acuity or critical patients, any patient on any complex drips and no trach or vent patients.

We most commonly care for chest pain patients(stress test, cardiac enzymes, echo, etc., etc.), GI bleeds, Abd pain with n/v, pancreatitis, CVAs, Hypo/Hyper glycemia, behavioral health(when the ED is full), Cellulitis, and Sickle Cell Crisis just to name a few.

Our unit usually flows on the same pace as the ED because we receive most of our patients from the ED. On average, most of our patients stay on our unit 3-4 hrs during the day before being admitted or discharged. If at night, the patients usually spend the night before being transferred or discharged the next day. We have 14 beds and usually operate with up to 5 nurses on days and 4 on nights. Each nurse usually cares for 3-4 patients at a time. We have two techs on each shift.

For the most part I enjoy working on the CDU. Much better than working on a MED-Surg floor with 6-7 patients with 20-30 medications a piece. Best of luck to you!!!

Hi ATYLER'08...thanks for your reply....your CDU sounds just like the one we will have. Mostly cardiac (which I love). I'm glad that you enjoy it. That's what I was hoping to hear. Your last sentence sums it up for me!!!

I know this an older post, starting my first nursing job in a CDU in 2 weeks. Am very grateful for the opportunity & landing a hospital position. Will be working 7pm-7am shift. Wish I could say not I'm a bit nervous about the challenges and being able to "cut it". Thanks for your post.

I could have written this verbatum, lol.

I know this an older post, starting my first nursing job in a CDU in 2 weeks. Am very grateful for the opportunity & landing a hospital position. Will be working 7pm-7am shift. Wish I could say not I'm a bit nervous about the challenges and being able to "cut it". Thanks for your post.

Ok, in nursing school, the instructors don't really let you ask for help or work together because they want you to learn to do the skills yourself. In real nursing, it's teamwork.

You aren't just thrown in to figure it out on your own (or darn well shouldn't be). They will take you from 0 to 60 over the course of months and then even when you are off orientation, you will keep going back to the people you've learned to get answers from.

Never worry about saying "can you help me out? I've never had to do this before" at any time in your career. You won't be judged any more than you would judge (for example) an OB nurse saying that while hanging a cardiac drip.

Also, Emerg and CDU is great! Apart from the "frequent flyers" you see, people come and go, so you never have to deal with them for more than one night. You'll really appreciate this when you get the needy ones who press their light 20 times an hour.