I've been thinking about your advice, and I am now adding PICU to my list of ICUs that I am considering working in. I was great with two stable vents or three feeder growers. Next, for those of you who work in SICU, do you think a new grad could come to work in the unit and be okay? Some patients in the MICU are younger adults who are dealing with acute illnesses or injuries. Do the MICU patients tend to be more chronic and long term, and do the SICU patients tend to be more acute and quick to leave the unit? That is not to say there is no overflow. One of the most familiar areas in the ICU is the MICU, or Medical Intensive Care Unit. Those were really good responses, and it's great to get feedback from experienced nurses. By using the site you agree to our Privacy, Cookies, and Terms of Service Policies. Do You Have to Be an LVN/LPN Before Becoming an RN? In both ICU areas, you will find similar patient ratios with nurses usually getting two patients on every shift. That was a great post. Whichever unit will provide you the best orientation will likely be the best place to go. The biggest concern when doing this in my experience is making sure that infectious medical patients are not given to a nurse who is also caring for “clean” surgical patients. Is SICU more fluid based resuscitation where MICU is more pressor and vasoactive drugs? I think that either place would be a fine place if you are wanting critical care. The SICU is a very crazy and fast paced unit, but I have learned a lot and seem to learn something new everyday! I liked adult critical care (most of the time) but I LOVED pediatric critical care (most of the time). Sometimes with our trach patients or chronic vents we also get them up to the chair. Sad, but true. You may also see more hemodynamic changes here and may need to be skilled at reading EKGs if you are working with open-heart patients. Specializes in Adult ICU/PICU/NICU. It is easy to feel like you have too much to do sometimes, and not enough time. The main differences between our units are that SI tends to get more of the neuro patients. Their unit has a high turnover rate, and most of the patients are out of the unit by the third day post-op. Please log in again. As a new graduate, you will probably have 12 weeks of a unit orientation and mentorship program during which you will work closely with an existing nurse on the unit to learn more about caring for patients there. If the SICU fills up, MICU tends to take the rest; and vice versa. Depending on the hospital, the SICU may have surgical patients who have undergone open heart, thoracic and gastrointestinal procedures as well as the occasional organ transplant patient. It really depends on your unit, your hospital, and your confidence in your skills. Of course, there is much overlap between nurses in both of these areas. While the MICU and SICU are similar in many ways, they definitely have different patient populations that can significantly impact your daily work. These patients are either going into surgery soon or have recently completed surgery. I felt like I was simply prolonging life and destroying my own body in the process......so I ended up cutting down my hours in MICU and reinventing myself...as a PICU/NICU nurse. If you don't ask, you can never learn the answer! I am currently a nursing student, but I have a few questions regarding MICU vs. SICU. The SICU, or Surgical Intensive Care Unit, has many of the same resources as the MICU but focuses on different patients. Our mission is to Empower, Unite, and Advance every nurse, student, and educator. My first question is this: what is the main difference between MICU and SICU? If you have already been a nurse for several years, your orientation may be shortened to six weeks or longer based on how quickly you become comfortable taking care of ICU patients on your own. I had always avoided PICU because I assumed that I wouldn't be able to do it, or that it just wouldn't suit me, but after what you've said, I think it could work for me. I work in the SICU at my hospital and have also spent a few days on the medial ICU. As an SICU nurse, many of your patients. Sometimes we have patients that are very sick and need a lot of one on one care and other times we have a patient that has had a major procedure, but does well after. Depending on the hospital, the SICU may care for all surgical patients or it may care for everything except thoracic surgery patients, who will go to the cardiac ICU. They'll look like hell first before their vitals or labs start to give you the empirical evidence that your intuition has already told you. I think a unit job for a new grad can be either a good or a bad thing. I think it depends on what type of patient you want. Depending on your SICU you may have lots of vents, lots of swans, vasoactive gtts, sedation gtts, fluid resus, etc. We had a recent meeting with our head Trauma MD and we are looking into ambulating patients that are on the vent! allnurses.com, INC, 7900 International Drive #300, Bloomington MN 55425 I figured that surgical/trauma ICU would be pretty close to the ED without all the negative aspects. On the other hand, the SICU is often known as the clean unit because of the sterile atmosphere associated with surgeries. For me, the biggest thing to consider when picking which area of the hospital you wish to work in is your personality. Basically, my main question is this: what is a typical day like for you in surgical ICU? As you consider whether MICU or SICU is right for you, consider the nursing skills you will need for each. Other skills that you will need for working on either unit include the following: In the MICU, depending on the layout of your hospital, you may be caring for trauma victims, and you will often not know exactly what is around the corner. If you know which nursing job you want, you can start applying to those jobs in your area on our nursing job board. You will be on your feet most of every shift and will find that the environment is both fast-paced and exciting. The majority of nurses rotate between days and nights and work 12-hour shifts. I would say that it is once a year that I will see a Swan. Be sure to ask how long your orientation will be and what extra training they will provide. They are on the vent for one full day, then they are up walking on the second day, and by lunch or dinner on the third day they are on the step down unit. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question! Infection in the SICU is a very serious thing, and a study showed that outcomes following infection are far more dire in the SICU than they are in the MICU. Nurses in the SICU often have the following traits. We can not wait!! I wish we were using them more b/c I think they would help us with some of our more difficult patients, but I can't make the MD's place them. Most hospitals in my area have combined their SICU with their TICU, and they have one large surgical/trauma ICU. We do float to SI a lot, our units are run by one manager and we are one floor apart, and every time I have floated there I have loved it too. Patients must be closely monitored and regularly assessed for changes in their conditions. How to Deal with a Difficult Nurse Preceptor. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder mit der ganzen Welt teilen. Since 1997, allnurses is trusted by nurses around the globe. NurseMoneyTalk.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. SICU stands for surgical intensive care unit. How Hard is Nursing School Compared to Other Degrees? SICU vs. MICU is how the patient's care is being managed. I have seen others who have struggled with some basic things I learned when working on the floor, like time management. Mobile ICU. Some individuals in the MICU become long-term patients, and you may care for the same patient during every shift for several weeks in certain cases.
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