What do you love about the ICU?

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I have an image in my mind of what its like in the ICU. And I've read accounts of ICU nurses that have inspired me. But I was curious: what do you ICU nurses love about it? Thanks :)

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Specializes in Surgery, Trauma, Medicine, Neuro ICU.

I love fixing things. I love getting a patient, learning what things are going wrong and spending my day working to fix it. Acidotic? I'll fix it. Labs jacked up? I'll fix it. Multiple pressors? I'll wean them! The sicker the better. They don't come often but I LIVE for those moments when we can put a big checkmark into the WIN column. It's SATISFYING to know what what you did actually makes a difference. That something you told the doctors made the difference in whether or not a patient lost his leg or that you telling your director of trauma services that he needed to see this guy whose belly was hard as a rock and just didn't look right and finding out later that he had 3L of blood in his belly.

Today we got a diagnosis on a patient who had been in the unit for two weeks sending random lab after random lab after even more random send out lab (I mean, who gets a group G strep anyway???)

And even if the patient dies...the rush of running the code or the trauma and the TEAMWORK!!!!! Plus the time my very most favorite trauma patient put his own deodorant on after almost dying more than once for two weeks straight.

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Specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.

I love being a point of reference for other nurses in the hospital. Like last night, another unit needed an ABG drawn on a pt. There's no Respiratory therapist on night shift at my small community hospital. The nursing supervisor has never drawn an ABG. So, she came down and sat with my lone ICU pt and asked me to go up and draw that gas! Which I did! SCORE!!

When in doubt, ask the ICU nurses!! We're the rockstars!

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I love the autonomy and respect from Drs. I love even though we have our own patient (1:1) there's a level of team work and support that I never felt on the floor.

I like knowing EVERY detail about a patient. Labs from 2 days ago, trending vitals: JUST EVERYTHING.

I like having the time to do things- ICU patients are very sick and you can be VERY busy, but its not the busy I experienced on the floor.

I love the technology. Yes I go home and here all the alarms and pumps beeping when I'm in the shower but I LOVE all that stuff. It's fascinating.

I like being able to spend the time to organise my patient, their room, LABEL MY LINES with obsessive compulsive tendencies.

I love the adrenaline rush.

That's just to name a few.

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Specializes in critical care.

Everything bringonthenight said.

I love knowing my patient inside and out. Putting all the little details together into a big picture. If they are awake, getting to know them and bond with them in a way that's rarely possible on the floor. Same goes for the family.

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Specializes in MICU.

Being more involved in the medical/in depth side of things, yet still working at the bedside caring for pts. The codes and RRTs. The teamwork. Seeing that patient walk back into the unit that no one thought would live.

Sounds weird, but sometimes when the pt/family finally accept that there is nothing else that can be done and hey want to withdraw care. I know that sounds bad, but some of the things that we do are torture to the pt and its nice to see that they will be comfortable and not coded at the end.

I also like the variety I get in MICU. Anything from severe sepsis to hypothermia protocols to CRRT to cath lab pts. I honestly feel like I learn something new (probably more than one thing) every day I work.

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This all sounds so wonderful to me! I got a call about a Surgical/Transplant ICU position and I'm so hopeful that it'll be the right fit. I've been interested in critical care for a while now...so I really hope they bring me in for an interview! Thanks everyone for sharing! It strengthens my resolve that I want to be that rockstar ICU nurse.

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Specializes in SICU.

Vented, sedated, and hopefully even paralyzed patients. How's that for inspiring? :roflmao:

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.

I was a medsurg nurse for seven years, mostly all midnights. It is so nice to have physicians there who not only listen to me but who also will come see the patient right then.

Also, if I'm worried about a patient, the patient's vitals are already continuously monitored, a luxury I never had on the floor!

It's not all about getting tasks accomplished. I actually have time for patient care. I don't need to rush through a med pass or try to complete my assessments as quickly as possible. I have time!

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