Originally Posted by CarVsTree
I just re-read your post. I thought you had 8 years experience! I don't know that anyone will allow you to transfer to ICU with 8 months experience.
We would and do. In fact, we have taken new grads fresh out of school with fantasitic success. Of course, you have to be prepared...
1. Be ready to study. Forever. Critical care is a life-long commitment to studying books, papers, research, conferences, etc. I run our hospital's critical care orientation course (both new grads and experienced med-surg nurses) and I would equate it to about a three or four credit college course.
You will feel like you are a new grad again. I promise.
2. Do you have the time management skills? If you're spending a lot of overtime because you can't get it all in your shift, then no, you don't. I'm not talking about the occasional shift--everyone has those, but if you're constantly staying late, you're not ready.
3. How do you deal with stress? If you shut down and freeze--not for you. If you work more efficiently, then yes.
4. Families. If you think families are tough and stressful on the floor, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Be ready. You know how in school they tell you that people under stress take it out on the convenient people around them? Yup. And how. (That's not to say there aren't some wonderful, loving, patient, and understanding families too, because there are--and I think the majority. But when they're bad, they're ugly.)
5. How devoted are you to best practice? Not just lip service, but truly. How do you keep up with best practice? See number 1.
6. How do you deal with the undesirables? Most folks don't become trauma patients by working at Creative KidStuff. How do you feel about working to relieve the pain of a child molester? How do you feel about saving the life of the man just charged with vehicular manslaugher? How about the gang banger who shot a 14-year-old girl?
I love critical care. It's my crack. There are many days, though, that I would go home and crash. You will cry, you will scream, but you will also smile uncontrolably and have a lot of laughs. I think it's totally worth it. Shadow a nurse for a shift and see what you think.
One last thing: people die in trauma ICU. If you haven't faced your fears/beliefs about mortality, you will. (And no matter what anyone tells you, it's OK to cry.) Number 6 was one aspect, another is how to talk to the eight-year-old whose mother has just died from injuries sustained in a car accident and is now an orphan.
I don't want to scare you or anyone else out of trauma or critical care. But you do have to be ready and go in with eyes open. I would never in a million years survive even two hours working in L&D... I'm glad there are nurses who love it. And I know they feel the same way about trauma.
Good Luck!
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), a heparin drip or two, PCAs, a couple insulin drips, etc and I feel like I don't even have much to offer if I was hired. They know I don't have experience with much of the critical care aspect of things, but a friend of mine (who I was in hospital orientation with) just got hired there and we graduated at the same time so I guess it's not impossible.
They've since posted another job on my hospitals' site and I've applied for that one too, but with no reply.....bummer. I'll keep on trying though! 
