Calling all new grads/new to the ICU starting Feb. 2013!!!!

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dressagerdr

42 Posts

Tomorrow is my last day of orientation, on my own starting Thursday! Scary!! Hope everyone else is doing well :)

Been on my own for a handful of shifts! Sometimes it really feels like I'm all alone, and sometimes it doesn't. It just depends on how critical the situation is. I'm liking it, but it's a juggle. I still don't like nightshift, but I'm finding that I don't get tired at work at all. Too busy, and my mind is going too fast for all that. But it's the sleep afterwards that inhales sharply. It's not restful. Gonna try some melatonin to see if that works.

jep21

2 Posts

I am starting in an ICU for a shorter period. maybe we can compare notes.

meraki86

116 Posts

Hi everybody! I will be starting a GN position at level one trauma center in their SICU. We'll be seeing lots of trauma and burn patients as well. What kind of resources would be most helpful for me to look over before I start in July? Thanks for your help and I hope everybody is loving their new ICU position. Good luck and many congratulations to those that are already on their own!! :)

etymed

35 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care.

Chicago, Monkey, Florence, where are y'all? How's life/job? :)

Chicago Monkey, Florence, where are y'all? How's life/job? :)[/quote']

Hey there!! Rough couple of weeks. Patients have been hard and emotionally draining. Keeping people in their bed is not my forte.

At work, they have been giving me progressively harder patients. Well some leads will, some leads will stick me with the ones people don't want. Such is life!

I like nights better than I did originally, but I still find it tough on the family.

Had my first unsuccessful code a few weeks ago, not my patient but I was there when she became unresponsive. I cried after I went home just from the stress of the night. My patients were crashing at the same time. I felt like the only thing I accomplished that day was keeping my patients warm and breathing.

My time management is fine, never had a tough time with that. Just feeling a little blue from the past few weeks.

Stormy8

56 Posts

Keep your chin up! You're doing great. You sound just like me. I'm finishing up my orientation in two weeks in the CVSICU. Def have those days where you feel like you're not good enough, that anything you do, however fast you are is not enough. BUT I then try and put things in perspective. Am I practicing safe nursing? Are my patients okay? Have I caused harm?

I've learned a lot about myself working in the ICU. I'm a perfectionist. Sometimes I have to accept that things are not always going to be perfect. At the end if the day as long as my patient is safe and I was safe, I'm happy with that.

ktliz

379 Posts

Specializes in critical care.

I made 2 different errors this week having to do with IV lines... my first errors. I remember at the beginning of orientation, I would trace my lines over and over obsessively. As I got more comfortable, I would only trace them during my assessments and after hanging something new. Well, this week I took a bag down, and when I hooked everything back up, I had 2 potentially incompatible lines together. That one I caught myself, but not immediately. The second one, my charge nurse caught. We restarted Levo on my patient, and I hooked it up to his peripheral. I am so used to my patients having central lines, but this guy didn't because he had a port. I didn't even think about it... I was on autopilot, and that is dangerous. Such a horrible feeling. At least nothing bad happened, and you can bet I won't make that mistake again.

monkey2008

31 Posts

Hey guys! Still here, still alive :). I finished my Ecco program this week and I start nights tonight (but I'm wide awake at 0900). I'm off orientation and on my own at the end of July...eeeek. I have learned so much and have come so far and on most days I feel like I have everything under control. But, I'm still very much a newb and still have a very large learning curve ahead of me. Best of luck everyone!

Stormy8

56 Posts

Tomorrow is my first day on my own!! Ahhh!

Ktliz, I understand how horrible you feel about med mistakes. Made a few myself. And I felt like a dummy afterwards, rethought whether not I can make it as a nurse. It happens though. I won't make the same mistake twice !

How did it go Stormy?

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