Really getting nervous now! Did I make a big mistake?

Specialties CCU

Published

Ok, so I have accepted a transfer into the CCU, will start in about 5 weeks. I have been an RN a little over a year, worked open heart stepdown 3 years total, (2 as a tech). I have my ACLS as well. Well, just a bit ago I went down to put my days on the blank schedule to orient. One of the older nurses introduces herself and as we chat she asks how long I've been a nurse. When I tell her, she replies, "Oh, I thought we were getting someone with experience." Well, I DO have experience, just not years of it! Doesn't my year on stepdown count for something?

So afterward she was very nice, welcomed me to the unit. But it kinda made me nervous! Maybe I SHOULDN'T be here. I mean, I KNOW I am a fast learner, and I DO have experience with vents, complex IV drips, and central lines. But I do not want to go to this unit just to have nurses who try to make me feel inferior because I am confident in my ability to provide safe patient care. I know I have a lot to learn but come on, its not as if I am fresh out of school with no clue about how to do anything. I am the one a lot of my co-workers on the floor come to for IV starts and even some questions. I am in graduate school as well part-time. I wanted to work CCU to gain additional nursing experience and expand my knowledge base and skills. Plus, I have three nurse friends from school who work here.

Sorry this post is so long. Just a vent. I am rethinking maybe I don't belong with all these alpha personalities. Any thoughts? Anyone felt this way before going into critical care? How do you deal with these comments and having to prove yourself to these nurses? I just want to come in and take care of my patients, not have to worry with "proving" myself to my co-workers. I think I proved enough with passing boards and continue to "prove" my competence as a nurse each day I come in and care for my patients. Sorry, just a really long vent.....:angryfire

Specializes in Burn ICU, CTICU.

lovern,

Don't sweat it. Everyone has their own opinion, and some people feel strongly on this issue one way or another. The important thing is that you want to learn, and that you are willing to make your experience what you want it to be, reading policies/procedures, becoming well versed in meds, protocols, etc, so that you feel comfortable, and not intimidated. And DON'T have an apologetic tone when people ask you where your experience is, I hear new people on my floor say "I only worked in step down" or "I just worked in a really small hospital" all of the time, don't do it, own your experience, you are a nurse, you know more than you think you do and more than you are giving yourself credit for. Some people, not just nurses, but in all walks of life, look for reasons to bash others, or to downplay their knowledge, it sucks, but it sucks to walk through life pissed off and pessimistic, don't let them affect you. One last rant, don't let them discourage you from asking questions, b/c in my opinion, the scary nurses are not the one's who ask the questions, but the one's who don't and who assume they know it all. Work hard, study hard, and relax. As with anything, if you like it, you'll want to excell. If not, move on to something that you do like, no apologies. Life is too short to do anything you don't love.

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Specializes in Med-surg, Critical Care.
lovern,

Don't sweat it. Everyone has their own opinion, and some people feel strongly on this issue one way or another. The important thing is that you want to learn, and that you are willing to make your experience what you want it to be, reading policies/procedures, becoming well versed in meds, protocols, etc, so that you feel comfortable, and not intimidated. And DON'T have an apologetic tone when people ask you where your experience is, I hear new people on my floor say "I only worked in step down" or "I just worked in a really small hospital" all of the time, don't do it, own your experience, you are a nurse, you know more than you think you do and more than you are giving yourself credit for. Some people, not just nurses, but in all walks of life, look for reasons to bash others, or to downplay their knowledge, it sucks, but it sucks to walk through life pissed off and pessimistic, don't let them affect you. One last rant, don't let them discourage you from asking questions, b/c in my opinion, the scary nurses are not the one's who ask the questions, but the one's who don't and who assume they know it all. Work hard, study hard, and relax. As with anything, if you like it, you'll want to excell. If not, move on to something that you do like, no apologies. Life is too short to do anything you don't love.

Wow! What an awesome post! Thank you for those encouraging words. I will definitely keep those in mind as I start in CCU in two weeks! Thank you! :nurse:

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
wow! what an awesome post! thank you for those encouraging words. i will definitely keep those in mind as i start in ccu in two weeks! thank you! :nurse:

hello, lovern,

just wanted to wish you all kinds of luck in the ccu. you are gonna love it.

and, check out this sticky about helpful information for the unit

keep us posted!!

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i also just transfered to a cicu about a year and a half ago and still feel like the new kid on the block. most all the nurses have been there a very long time. they also love to share their knowledge. i have been at my hospital for 17 years and many of those years on a telemetry unit. i was also an lvn for many years. my dream was always to work in the unit. many of the experienced nurses tell me you need to spend a few years there to really feel comfortable. i too am striving to be the best cicu nurse i can be. hang in there! you hang in there and you will do great in your new unit... as i am also hanging in there too.

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Lovern,

I have been an ICU nurse for over 10 years now....and I still have to prove myself each and every time I start a new job. It's the nature of the game! We ICU nurses want to make sure the people making life and death decisions are doing it with knowledge and confidence. Don't let one nurse's comment bring you down cus it sounds like you WILL make a good ICU nurse from reading the passion in your words!

Denise:cheers:

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Welcome to Critical Care. In the CVICU, you'll find a lot of great nurses. unfortunately, some are going to be type a alpha personalities that feel threatened by new people or are xenophobes. Also, youll find burnouts and malcontents just as much as you find them in medsurg or stepdown. Your best bet is to do your CVICU/ AIBP/ Fresh Heart training there and don't take any S*** from the idiots who are dragging this profession down by eating our young. If, after you are competent as a CVICU RN, you don't like your coworkers, do what I did... Work registry for $$75 an hour in different hospitals where you're not on staff and don't have to deal with the politics of the near-retirees that try to sabotage young RN's. But for now, mind your P's and Q's because that CV training is going to earn you hundreds of thousands more dollars over the course of your career.

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Hey...

Was wondering how your first few days in CCU went! I just got accepted in to a Nurs Extern program and I chose to be put in to the CCU to gain experience before I even graduate... and I am scaaaared. lol

Let me know how you did!

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Specializes in Med-surg, Critical Care.
Hey...

Was wondering how your first few days in CCU went! I just got accepted in to a Nurs Extern program and I chose to be put in to the CCU to gain experience before I even graduate... and I am scaaaared. lol

Let me know how you did!

Well, I have been in CCU for about a month now, and I LOVE IT! :nurse: My manager has been wonderful in working around my grad school schedule, and placed me with a great preceptor who is close to my age and loves to orient new CCU nurses. I have been rotated to cath lab for pulling sheaths, respiratory for extra vent management experience, dialysis, and was sent to surgery to watch an open heart. I also have a critical care educator who coordinates all those rotations, and stops in at least once a week to make sure I am satisfied with how my orientation is going. She serves as sort of like a liason between me and my manager, to evaluate my progress and make sure we are both satisfied with how things are going. I definitely have about four more weeks on orientation, which will make a total of about nine weeks orienting, which is great IMHO considering I am not a new grad. I LOVE being able to have more in-depth knowledge about what is going on with my patient, more autonomy, the ability to work more closely with patients and families, and just the challenge in general of learning more and improving my assessment and other nursing skills. It has been a wonderful transition for which I am so thankful I took the plunge and decided to do despite my fears. I wouldn't change a thing........

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Specializes in ICU/CVICU.

god will be with you , you dont need to worry about what an uncompassionate person thinks or says about you, they need company in their misery

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After 25 years of nursing experience with most of it critical care and emergency, I can tell you that what makes or breaks you in these areas is the level of confidence that you portray. I went directly into a 12 bed intensive care unit with 6 other new grads. I know most nurses don't see this as the best way to enter the work force, but I never regreted it. Words of wisdom spoken to me the first week in the unit carried me through the first few months- "You see all these nurses walking around looking like they know what they are doing? In three months that will be you. You may not always 'know' what you're doing, but you will look like it. And in another six months you WILL know what you're doing."

It's a great place to learn and improve real assessment skills. Stay positive and know that you will meet many "alpha" nurses in critical care. It goes with the territory. But, showing that you are willing to learn without being intimidated, is the way to earn respect.

Good luck. You sound like you can do this!

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HillNPstudent: I totally know how you feel! I just started in the ICU after having one year of tele/cardiac exp as an RN and 2 years as a tech. Some of these "adrenaline junkies" give me the hairy eyball everyday and one even told me that I would have to "learn how to critically think finally." It's hard not to take offense to it. It's as if some of these nurses think that we have been working at a first aide station rather than a hospital! It's kind of insulting. I will be the first to admit that I am totally green in the ICU, but I am teachable and learn fast. I think it's just a power thing. Don't take it personally. Just do your best and show them that you are willing to learn from them, not take over for them.

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