What to see in a SICU

[tickledlemur]

Hi all! I’m a nursing student in my final semester, and my preceptorship is in a 20 bed SICU in a major city, level one trauma center. I have been there one day and it’s awesome so far! My preceptor keeps asking me “what do you want to see while you’re here?” And I am having a hard time coming up with an answer more specific than “anything you can show me!” because it’s all so new and fascinating at this point. Does anyone have any tips as to what I should ask to see to get the most out of this experience?

[Rosie_one]

I'd ask to be put with chest trauma, always interesting as great for resp assessment, surgical chest drains (ICCs). They're complex from a ventilation stand point and as such require quite a bit of sedation/analgesia and paralysis if extremely difficult to ventilate. They can deteriorate quite quickly, so you never know what kind of shift you're in for. I work in level 1 ICU, our traumas are mixed with surgical, but if separate then:

Trache patient is always great experience as most new nurses find them very daunting. Expecially great experience when doing trache weans from vent to highflow.

Major Abdominal and or oesophageal surgeries as they can be quite high acuity. If they do oesophagectomies and a patient in the unit, they are always high acuity. You'll get lots of experience in general drains, maybe VACs, often complications such as bleeding, anastomotic leaks, loads IV/NGT med experience. Electrolyte derailment, and often interesting ABGs.

If not 100% sure, maybe ask for what you need for practice in such as IV administration experience, interested in a certain type of surgery. Asking for a high acuity pt. is always a good one. Anything you're scared of looking after haha. Best way to learn.

[offlabel]

Observe the satisfaction level of the nurses, how they treat each other and you and get a feel for how long they've worked there and how intelligently they approach problem solving.

If the acuity there is as high as you say, the rest will just come.