Progressive Care RN moving to ICU after 6 months

[DesertSky, BSN]

I graduated with my BSN in August 2014 and I have been working on a busy progressive care/ICU step-down unit since September 2104. My dream has always been to work in the ICU, however I felt I would benefit from starting in the PCU/ICU step-down unit and then transferring to ICU once I had some floor experience under my belt. During the last 6 months, I have earned my TNCC certification and completed ACLS. My performance reviews have been great and lately my supervisor has been asking me to orient new nurses.

The director of the ICU at my hospital said they will have an ICU position open in May and they want me to move to ICU and begin a 3 month orientation at that time. Do you feel 3 months will be an adequate amount of orientation for a nurse with my background? Are there any additional things I should be doing in order to prepare?

Thank you in advance for your help!

[NewGradNurse2014]

Hi! I actually moved to the ICU after 6 months of experience in a progressive care unit right out of nursing school. I'm about to finish up my orientation in ICU which was about 3 months as well. I feel like things are really going well and my experience in a progressive care unit really helped me! I feel like progressive care is a really great stepping stone to ICU for nurses that are interested in getting into critical care nursing. Congrats to you on getting your TNCC and ACLS certification already! That will surely make you feel a bit more prepared. I am working on my ACLS now. Having been in a few codes already, I sure wish I would have gotten it before I started in the ICU, but I'm really lucky to work with an amazing group of nurses that love to teach! The ICU has really been a wonderful experience and I definitely continue to learn many new things each time I work. I don't know that any amount of orientation will make you feel completely prepared as much of the knowledge and skills will really come with experience. But I do feel that my 3 month orientation did give me a good base on which to at least know what I do not know so that I can always seek out help with anything I am unsure of or new things that I come across. It seems like you are very motivated and I am sure that you will do great! Good luck!