Which unit is best? MICU/SICU/CCU

Published

Specializes in Pre-hospital, & E.D..

I am contemplating CRNA school. I am curious which area of Crit Care CRNA schools look at most favorably? Medical / Surgical / Coronary.

Thanks.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Most schools I've talked to prefer adult SICU.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Trauma/SICU.

i've been told sicu and cvicu is what they prefer since the sickest patients tend to be in these two units. more swan and drip management with these units usually.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency.
Most schools I've talked to prefer adult SICU.

yep, that !

Up Vote Up Vote ×
i've been told sicu and cvicu is what they prefer since the sickest patients tend to be in these two units. more swan and drip management with these units usually.

i'm not sure how you can justify who the sickest patients are. it seems to me that in most icus the patients are they because they can die from whatever they've got. if you can die from heart failure in the cvicu or from sepsis in the micu, i dont see how you can say one is sicker than the other. different units use different treatment modalities for their patients, you will see more swans and vads in places like cvicu or ccu, but you probably wont see the variety of disease processes that you might in the micu, though nothing is absolute. i cant disagree that schools may prefer cvicu or sicu, but i worked in micu and got in, and i know people that worked in picu and got in too. its not so much where you work as what kind of nurse you are.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The best adult ICU unit is the biggest one in the biggest hospital in the biggest city you can be hired in, preferrably a county hospital. You will see very sick patients because usually they wait till the last minute to get help before coming in because they don't have insurance and don't see a doctor regularly. Also, the larger hospitals 1000+ beds get a wide variety of patients. A teaching hospital is even more of a bonus.

As far as medical, surgical, or cardiac, I think they all have plusses and minuses. Personally, I've worked a lot harder on bad GI bleeds, septic shock, and bad GSW patients than i have on a heart going bad. However, hearts usually have more toys to play with (chest tubes, swans, etc.) Now that's from a nursing standpoint, as a patient i wouldn't want to be in any of the situations.

If you can't get in a huge urban mega hospital, don't distress. One director told me that if I had my CCRN and a year of experience, he didn't care if it was a 4 bed ICU; so take that for what it's worth.

Good luck,

Andy

"Boomer Sooners! Nice job Rhett, here's an extra $20!"

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Trauma

Up Vote Up Vote ×

A couple of directors that I talked to said SICU or CVICU/CCU--usually see the most hemodynamic management, drip titration with this population--usually.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in SRNA.

The answer is none of the above. You want a unit that does swans, pressors, etc. - but that will vary by hospital. I know in my area one MICU specializes in sepsis and nearly all of the patients are swaned and on mulitple pressors - where their SICU rarely swans and does fluids instead of pressors. Another hospital less than ten miles away is the exact opposite. Both are Level I trauma centers, go figure. So I guess what I'm saying is ask the hospitals what they do before taking a job there. In this market you can afford to be picky.

Hope that helps and good luck!

-S

I am contemplating CRNA school. I am curious which area of Crit Care CRNA schools look at most favorably? Medical / Surgical / Coronary.

Thanks.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion