[Annony RN]

Well, i have an ICU interview next week. Very excited! This will be my first interview for a critical care position. It's a medium sized hospital with a trauma center and comprehensive heart program. The job I'm interviewing for is in medical ICU. Sooo, what else do I need to know? Plans for orientation- how long, type of preceptors. But what else? What are the good things I want to hear vs the little red flag issues? Suggestions?

[cardiacRN2006]

What's your history? New nurse, experienced nurse....? That is what they would base the orientation on.

For experienced nurses, we give 3 weeks orientation. New grads, we give 6 months.

Ask about retention plans, and how the annual raises are given out. Are they a flat rate, or merrit?

Ask how many travelers and agency are on the schedule. The percentage of core staff vs non core...

I'd also ask the percentage of new grads to experienced nurses. (When I went through my critical care class at a different hospital, one of their ICUs had 15 new grads coming out to the unit, and it wasn't a big unit!!!)