My first night in ICU, I got lost--really, really lost. I have been to the ICU a lot. But always in the context of bringing my patients downstairs because they were sick. I knew how to get there...from my old floor, but I wasn't quite sure how to get there from the parking garage. So, I actually left on time for work. You know, to give myself some margin. (On a normal day, I literally have to run from the parking garage, through 2 buildings, and up 3 floors on the elevator to get to work on time. But, I get a lot of exercise that way. At least, that's what I always tell myself as I arrive breathless and a little sweaty.)
I walked up to the floor and walked around in a circle, twice, before I found the locker room. I mean I passed it the first time, but it has some funny name that's not "locker room." (And, I still don't know what it is, but I can find it now, so that's an improvement.)
I knew my preceptor because we had worked together upstairs. She couldn't remember my name, but she was super happy it was me when she recognized me.
So my first night, I had 1 ICU patient and 1 telemetry patient (the same kind I would have upstairs.) I hung a personal record 6 units of blood product on my ICU patient that first night. Fun times! But that patient was a lot better by the time I left, which was great. You know how I like to "fix" my patients.
The second night of ICU, there wasn't a lot of the ICU happening because there were only a couple patients...so I had patients like I would have had on my old floor. But the third night...oh, the third night.
The third night was when I decided that I love Critical Care.
I had 2 ICU patients with invasive monitoring, drips, and ventilators. (Invasive monitoring are blood pressure lines inside of arteries and such to have a constant running blood pressure. Drips are things that control a person's heart rate and blood pressure, constantly.) So, it was a lot busier. A lot. And it was perfect.
Then, in the middle of the night, another ICU called me to come over and help with a trauma. I love trauma.
Also, I did 24 neuro checks. That's one every hour on each patient...and then there's the charting. Because every one of those checks has to be charted. Thank goodness a preceptor showed me a ton of charting shortcuts one time. I'm so much faster at it as a result.
There are a bunch of reasons why I think Critical Care is a better fit for my lovable, but somewhat aggressive and obnoxious personality, but I will get to those in another post. :-)
