Cath Lab RN Residency

[hilldy]

Hi, Wanted to hear from those of you who work in Cath lab (or have worked). I currently work at a large county hospital that offers a cath lab residency, to which I just applied. Before I went to nursing school in 2010, I was a patient care tech in CCU and Cath lab, and also an OR tech (in L&D). My nursing experience right out of school was on a med/surg floor, but only for 7 months. Since then, I've been working in outpatient clinics for the last few years (for the same hospital), due to my kid's needs (no holidays or weekends) so my nursing skills are not being utilized. Now that my kids are older, I'm longing to get back into either OR or Cath lab, so I just applied for the cath lab residency. My concern is that I don't have extensive bedside nursing skills, or any real tele nursing or CCU experience, and I'm wondering if it's possible to learn to be a good cath lab nurse from a residency alone (where they teach you from the ground up). I honestly did NOT like med/surg. I'm very good at hyperfocusing on one thing at a time, like in OR, or case by case procedures, but looking after 6-7 patients with vastly different issues is just not something I'm wired for, so going back to work in med/surg to gain experience is not something I really want to do. I'm not sure what they are looking for in candidates for the cath lab residency, but there are no requirements listed, other than having an RN license and being CPR certified. I've screwed myself by working in outpatient clinics for the last few years, where I essentially act as a MA. Not sure I could even get hired in CCU to get experience for cath lab at this point. Any advice or feedback would be appreciated.

[OUxPhys, BSN, RN]

Id get some ICU experience first but you may be able to get in since you were a tech.

[ACNPmomof2, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN, NP]

I worked cath lab for 3 years and IMO it depends on your style as a nurse more than your experience. I had seasoned ICU nurses train under me who were terrible cath lab nurses and a brand new grad who trained for a LONG time who picked up things quicker. As long as you have a lengthy training and are able to precept under some great nurses I think you will be just fine.