刚从 护理学院, many nurses go to work in a hospital setting, most often on the 医疗/surgical unit. These floors are a great place to get your feet wet in the "real world" because of the variety of patients and 医疗 diagnoses. Should you consider moving into a specialty, 比如重症监护, once you have gained some experience? Or perhaps you should seek direct entry into a critical care 护理 job?
什么是重症护理?
Critical care refers to care for the most acute and unstable patients in the hospital population. 例如, the intensive care unit (ICU) and coronary care unit (CCU) are examples of critical care 护理. While all types of nurses work in 医疗/surgical units, working in critical care requires specialized experience or additional preceptor training due to the complex care provided, 许多护士都获得了学位
AACN认证 to document their advanced skills and knowledge.
期待什么
While other hospital units may utilize LPNs, you'll need to be an RN to work in critical care settings. 也, you should expect 12 hour shifts exclusively to reduce caregiver changes with such unstable patients. The care is far more complex with this group of patients, but you'll find much lower ratios here than on a typical 医疗/surgical unit where nurses may care for anywhere from four to eight patients at a time. 与此同时, an ICU nurse usually carries a patient load of one to three, 视病人的视力而定. 虽然这听起来更容易, note that even one patient can keep you hopping around for the entirety of your shift.
受欢迎
If you choose critical 护理 as a specialty, additional doors open in your career. Because critical care is a specialty, those nurses experienced and certified in this area are generally in even greater demand. This translates to more bargaining power for better wages and flexible working conditions.
我在哪里注册?
If all this sounds good to you, consider a couple of different career paths. Most nurses enter critical care after spending a minimum of a year or two on a 医疗/surgical floor, and sometimes they work in a cardiac telemetry unit as a stepping stone before going into a critical care setting. 然而, another possible option to consider is finding a hospital that offers a special new graduate training program, 就像现在很多人做的那样. Because of the need for critical care nurses, some hospitals offer an extended training and preceptorship to route new nurses directly into ICU, CCU还是急诊室. Critical care 护理 offers a desirable niche in your job search as well as lower nurse to patient ratios, 许多护士更喜欢. If you haven't considered this specialty before, you may not know what you're missing.
