Picking your unit
Your first unit shapes your first year more than your hospital's name does. Med surg, tele, and step down build the base most specialty units screen for, while ICU, ED, and L&D each ask for something different. Pick the bedside you can live with on a hard week, not the one that sounds most impressive out loud.8,510 ICU / Critical Care jobs are open right now.
Guides
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Open ICU / Critical Care roles
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Experienced Registered Nurse ICU, Float Pool, JHS Workforce Plus, Per Diem, Nights
Jackson HealthMiami, FL · Posted last week
- RN
- Per Diem, Nights 7:00 PM - 7:00 AM (minimum three shifts a month)
- Per diem
- RN
Registered Nurse ICU, Full Time Night
Kindred Hospital Central Tampa
Tampa, FL · Posted 4 days ago
- Sign-on bonus
- RN
- Night shift
- Per diem
Registered Nurse (RN) ICU PRN Nights
St. Joseph Regional Medical Center
Lewiston, ID · Posted 2 days ago
- New grads welcomed
- RN
- Night shift
- Per diem
Registered Nurse ICU Full Time Days
Kindred Hospital Westminster
Westminster, CA · Posted today
$50–$63/hr
- RN
- Day shift
- Per diem
The job hunt
Join the conversation- Coming back after years away: refresher course first, or apply now?Nurses on r/Nurses and r/nursing keep asking a version of this: licensed, away from practice for six or ten years, and every application goes quiet.2 replies · Published Oct 26, 2026
- Left the bedside after a few years: what did you move to, and would you go back?The fear in these threads is always the same one: leave the bedside and regret it, or stay and burn out.2 replies · Published Oct 26, 2026
Questions nurses ask
- Do I have to do med surg first?
- No, but it is the widest door. Plenty of units take new grads directly, and plenty of specialty units still want that base year first. The answer lives in each unit's own postings and prerequisites.
- How do I know which unit fits me?
- Pace, patient population, and what a normal shift asks of you. The explorer puts units side by side on those terms, and the guides below carry what nurses say each one is really like.
- Can I switch units later?
- Yes. Internal transfers are common once you have bedside time, and many specialty doors open at the experience gates. Switching is a move, not a restart.