Hey:

Cardiac and Telemetery are hard and its tough because you never know what is going be coming your way. I have been talking to a person one minute and working a code on them the next. Everyday is something new to learn. Never think you know everything and never be too great to listen to what a veteran cardiac nurse will have to say and tell you. We been there we done that. Take every opportunity to learn and go to every training class you can get your hands on. Work at it and it will reward you. Always play the game fair and always be fair to others because you never know when that may be you or a loved one on that table at someone's mercy and just pray they know what they are doing and make sure if it is you standing beside that table in an emergency you know what you are doing. You will learn but if you feel unsure or that you can't grasp the life saving practice you need to think about standing down. But If you have faith and are a hard worker and not just hard headed you will learn and prob. be a great Cardiac nurse someday.

God bless and good luck.

I needed to see this post !!! I'm a new RN and work on a pediatric cardiac floor....it can be overwhelming at times, and I agree, there is so much to learn !! I was feeling overwhelmed the other night and was starting to get discouraged as well. Fortunately, I work with a great group of nurses who are full of encouragement and are always willing to lend a helping hand. Hang in there telenurseangie !!

Thanks for your comments
Hi there. Thanks for your encouraging comments. I was coming off of a 6 day stretch and boy did it show? he he Everyone at work tells me I need to quit being so hard on myself and maybe I do... yet, I don't want to be the 'overconfident' one either where I think I know it all. I've just got to find that happy medium, I guess. Well, again, thanks for your comments. They are appreciated.

Hi, been working teli 7 years. The answer is no. You are better off where you are. On a teli floor you have someone watching the monitors, supposedly. So this is just like an extra set of eyes on all of your pts. Trust me they are just as sick on medsurg and just as likely to code. The differnce is no one will alert
you when it is happening. To make it worse you will invarably have more pts on medsurge. Usually twice as many. Is that what you want? I did not think so. I heard that too when I was coming up. I have never heard a reason for it that made sense. Trust me, stay where you are.

I come from a med-surg floor and I will always be glad I started on a med-surg floor, but that is also a personal opinion. Fortunately for me, we also had tele and until about 3-4 months ago, we monitored our patients ourselves. I agree that on med-surg there's a good chance you'll have more patients, but it depends on the facility. I came from a facility that has been pretty full staffed for about a year and a half which is amazing considering the nursing shortage. Believe me, there are days i have been so happy to have the telemetry monitors. But the bad thing about those monitors is when they are reading even when patches are off or when they say asystole when the patient is running sinus. As far as feeling like you're not getting the critical thinking, I think you've probably got it a lot more together than you think. And you'll realize the second you have a patient start to go sour, or the second you have a gut feeling something is wrong. And you will learn something new almost every day you're working. That is one of the things I love the most about nursing. Even when you think you've seen it all, something new pops up in your face and gives you a new experience. If you're comfortable on your floor and enjoy your job the majority of days you go to work, stay where you're at.

Tele
Thanks so much.... Wow, such encouragement. To hear total strangers say it rings even more true since I know it's not a biased opinion, so to speak. Coworkers, of course, just sometimes say things to be nice - or at least, one would think. So, it means a lot. I appreciate everyone's feedback. Hope everyone has a great day. Just getting in from work and going to go sleep now.

wow, reADING UR FIRST COMMENT MADE ME THINK IT WAS me, ive worked on a med/tele floor for 3 years and started officially taking tele pt's just over a year ago, i never feel like im doing things rite, and there is so much to learn, but then when my own pt crashed, everything just fell into place, hopefully your co-workers are very supportive (like mine are), and im sure ur doing a much better job than u think(like i am), stick with it, i never thought i would like cardiac nursing but now ive learned to love it and i take all the extra classes that i can, and each class more of the pieces just fall into place....when i go back home,(im traveling now) im going to apply for one of our icu's, my good friend is just finishing up orientation there and she loves it, says shes learning more about the human body and its functioning than she ever though possible....good luck!!!!!

Remember always look at the patient.. not just the monitor.