Med surg patients tend to experience fewer code blues, as they typically aren’t as chronically sick as your average pcu patient. nevertheless, you can still experience this in med surg, too. med surg rooms will typically contain less equipment. if the patient starts deteriorating on the med surg unit, they will go to progressive care (unless. The other difference is that in the icu you may care for 1 or 2 patients, while in the stepdown, the ratio is 1:3 or 1:4 (depends on the hospital). if you have the chance, ask if you can shadow a nurse in the icu and the step down units. then you can observe the level of care for each patient and decide. good luck!.
Understanding progressive care units (pcu) progressive care units, also known as step down units or intermediate care units, are specialized healthcare settings designed to accommodate patients who require a level of care between that of a general medical surgical unit and an icu. these units cater to patients with complex medical conditions. In most icus, the nurse to patient ratio is 1 to 1 or 1 to 2 maximum. the term "progressive care unit" (also called step down unit, intermediate care unit, transitional care unit, or telemetry unit) may be used in varying ways in different facilities. but, often it is an intermediary step between icu and a med surg floor. these patients still. On the other hand, the med surg nurse will have a higher nurse to patient ratio. on a progressive care floor or step down unit, the nurse may only have four patients at a time. however, the majority of floor nurses have from 5 to 11 patients during a shift. Also known as progressive care nurses, they provide specialized attention and care to individuals who don't quite qualify for the intensive care unit (icu) or general medicine, also known as med surg, floors of a hospital. for those interested in step down nursing, learning what the job entails can help you decide if it's the right career.
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