Which ICU should I choose for senior practicum?

[nursingjudgment]

I am a nursing student in an accelerated program and have been told by my clinical instructor that she would support my working in an ICU for my senior practicum. I have been working very hard to make this happen the entire time that I have been in school, and I am really excited. I mean, REALLY excited.

So I'm wondering: any input as to what ICU I should choose? My options are CCU, neuro ICU, MICU, SICU, and burn ICU. The hospital I would be working is known for cardiac, so that seems like the obvious choice, but I would really like to explore my options and I would love some input.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

I think it really depends on what you are the most interested in! Are you interested in the often hopeless elderly adults with ten zillion health problems (MICU)? Are you interested in working with people who have a higher chance of being "fixed" and being able to go home, maybe (SICU/CCU)? Are you interested in having the same patients for potentially months and months at a time, and dealing with a lot of pain issues (Burn)? Are you interested in doing repetitive questionnaires every thirty minutes for hours upon hours on the same patient (neuro)? Just kidding on the neuro, sort of - there's a lot more to neuro than fresh strokes who have received tPA, but that's just the most tedious patient population IMO.

Gross generalizations, obviously. I liked MICU the best because of the variety and complexity of the patients, but I had some classmates say it was too depressing because they liked to see people get fixed more often and go home to their families. I have some coworkers that really love the neuro patients, but it's really difficult for me to imagine why they do. What have you enjoyed most in school so far?

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

Do what will interest you the most. If you love cardiac, CCU would be a good choice. If you love neuro, then go to the neuro ICU. Not every hospital has a burn ICU, so that would be a good learning experience. It all depends on what you enjoy the most and what your interests are.

[nursingjudgment]

Thanks so much for the response! I think I definitely like to see my patients get better, which is one of the reasons I was concerned about MICU, but then again, "variety and complexity" sounds great! It's hard for me to say what I have enjoyed the most in school so far, because I generally tend to enjoy it whenever I get a complex patient, whatever the issue. I would say the most interesting patient I have had so far was one who had an unexplained electrolyte imbalance and thus needed four different lines which were being continuously monitored and changed. However, I have the impression that I would get patients like that on most ICU floors, correct?

I think it is difficult to decide on my interests because I still have had only a small amount of exposure. Honestly, I just find it interesting whenever I get to do anything that requires me to use knowledge of pathophysiology. (I know that every patient requires knowledge in order to understand the problem, but for some patients you really need to use knowledge in order to treat, and I love that).