New Grad ICU RN

Specialties Critical

Published

I recently graduated from nursing school in May and I am beginning my first job as an ICU nurse. As all new grads, I feel rusty on all my material as its been awhile since I've taken care of any patients or had a test to study for. What material should I look over going into this job? I started reviewing cardiac meds and we eventually are trained to take care of open-heart patients. What other things should I brush up on before starting? Thanks so much!!

Hi, I am a new graduate in a busy regional trauma ICU. I started in March with past experience as a medic but no patient care since the summer previous. It was hard for me as well to get "back" into patient care, and the first two months were tough. The other night I had my first "I really like this job" night, yippee!

People from allnurses recommended http://www.icufaqs.org which was a good interesting read although sometimes specific to the authors' hospital. I own Paul Marino's "The ICU Book" which is fabulous, and I splurged on AACN's "Core Curriculum" and "Procedural Manual" because I am a nerd.

My facility focused my three month orientation at on-the-job training only, but I hear that AACN's computer program "ECCO" is great if your unit owns the license. I also try to stay up on the journals. There are hopefully some classes in your area that you can take as well.

Hope your experience is a great one!

Great! Thanks so much, I will definately look into those books. We have a 6 month orientation so I'll have tons of time to read up. Thanks so much for the info!!

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