(Note: read posts in backwards order- apparently they were too long

As for what I’m doing now… I’ve worked on a gen surg/ortho unit for about 1.5 years. I really like my job and love the people I work with, but I’m actually getting ready to relocate, and will be looking for work in an ICU.

Good luck to you! Make the most of you’re CRT and orientation and ask lots of questions. (Google helps too)

CRT was like diving into the deep end of the pool. As soon as I got comfortable with the number of patients I had to care for, I had to add another one. Part of the reason I had a good experience was that my preceptor was very knowledgeable and always tried to challenge me by pushing me to perform the skills I was hesitant of, and making me analyze lab values and test results in terms of how they related to the patients’ conditions. I wouldn’t say that I was ready to be on my own after CRT, but I did learn a lot during that time.
I should warn you- CRT also includes yet another long research paper and a project. And you will have to meet weekly with a group of students and a group leader (NP) to discuss experiences, take quizzes, and talk about assignments.
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Hi Blayr,

CRT was my favorite clinical part of the program. I felt like I learned more in the first 2 weeks than I did throughout all of the other clinicals combined. If you’re in the ABSN program, the CRT will be about 5-6 weeks of working 1-on-1 with a preceptor while following his/her full time schedule. For me, that meant starting with 2 patients and, at the end of 5 weeks, completing all care for a full set of 5-6 patients. Having shadowed my preceptor the first night, I thought that I would never be able to take care of 5 patients on my own; certainly not just 5 weeks into it. My CRT was on a gen surg floor- there were a lot of high acuity GI patients along with a mix of others.

During the CRT I got to practice a lot of the clinical skills that I’d had little or no experience with including trach care, feeding tubes, inserting foley catheters, starting IVs, blood draws, EKG, ostomy care, wound care and IV push meds.
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