[MKZ]

I am in my fourth month as an new grad in an ICU and I am miserable a lot of the time on my unit. Not because it's the ICU, its because this particular hospital did not live up to my expectations. Choose a GOOD program. I love nursing, learning, helping....but this new grad program I just experienced (six weeks) was horrible. I had one day classroom and the rest on the floor with diffrent preceptors who were overwhelmed and overworked. There was absolutely no time to teach. Baptized by fire. And unfortunately, after all this time, I realize I owe it to myself and the people I want to help that it is not safe. But I move fast (to make up for how long things can take for me, it's no fun. In order to be safe I ask questions, and the people on my unit aren't prepared to help, I get frowns too often... They are super busy themselves.

[Christie RN2006]

Originally Posted by 502Nurse

I am a student who is also interested in SICU. I wondered
if there was a standard length of time for a preceptorship
for a new grad who wants to work in the ICU. Could anyone
let me know what the training time is in their facility?
Thanks!

In the SICU I work in, the orientation period is anywhere from 3-4 months. On a rare occasion they will shorten it if you are doing great.

[David's Harp]

I'm sorry that this has been your experience. I am still on the "student" side of the wall until May, and am beginning to send out applications without a ton of knowledge of how the different area hospitals stack up. I've been looking on this site and trying to search for blogs, but it's a matter of "who's gonna go public and expose their place of employment?!", the obvious answer being, "No one!"

Can anyone offer advice on _how_ a soon-to-be-grad goes about choosing a "GOOD program"?

Originally Posted by MKZ

I am in my fourth month as an new grad in an ICU and I am miserable a lot of the time on my unit. Not because it's the ICU, its because this particular hospital did not live up to my expectations. Choose a GOOD program. I love nursing, learning, helping....but this new grad program I just experienced (six weeks) was horrible. I had one day classroom and the rest on the floor with diffrent preceptors who were overwhelmed and overworked. There was absolutely no time to teach. Baptized by fire. And unfortunately, after all this time, I realize I owe it to myself and the people I want to help that it is not safe. But I move fast (to make up for how long things can take for me, it's no fun. In order to be safe I ask questions, and the people on my unit aren't prepared to help, I get frowns too often... They are super busy themselves.

[augigi]

Find out what their ratios are, what sort of orientation program they have for new ICU staff/new grads, how long you'll have a preceptor, when you'll be on your own etc. Get in WRITING how long your orientation will be, if it's short get in writing that it can be extended if you are not safe after that period. Speak with the nurse managers if possible to get an idea of the unit culture - do they have a lot of new staff, or experienced staff to support you as a new RN? Are they happy to teach? etc

[RNKittyKat]

If you are excited and motivated to take care of very sick people and the environment is supportive, you've got lots of physical energy, go for it! I suggest you shadow at least one shift first in your unit of choice before committing to experience the various levels of ill patients. I started in ICU with several other new grads. I believe there were 7 of us who started at the same time. We are all about one year out now. Out of the 7, 5 remain. Of those 5, two have mixed or ambivalent feelings and consider the job to be simply too much at times. Of the remaining 3 who are absolute success stories, one is an absolute natural and picked up like a sponge and made herself part of the unit like she had always been there. She is all of 21 yoa. The other two are coming along well. We all had 6 weeks of clinical orientation and 4 weeks of classroom. BTW, I am one of the two who has left the ICU. It was my choice. The other one was fired for working while impaired.

[1017RN]

Pls help, I just passed the NCLEX and need to apply for new grad program, but most of the hospitals will start the program on january next year. help!