CCU as a psuedo New Grad

[CarolinaPeachRN]

Hello fellow nurses! So I am glad to report that I recently accepted a job in a CCU in Atlanta, GA and could not be more excited! I graduated from nursing school in May of 2012 and have been working on a med-surg floor for the past six months. I am eager to get to work in critical care, as it is my dream to become a CRNA. I became ACLS certified in Feb because I knew it would help make me more marketable when I started looking for a new job. I found it really helpful, but doe anyone have any other suggestions about how I can help bridge the gap (good books, etc) before I start at the end of May? Any suggestions would be great. ?

[ckh23, BSN, RN]

This website is an excellent resource for nurses new to the ICU

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[CarolinaPeachRN]

Thanks !

[Bee12]

You are in almost the same situation as I am! I also want to be a CRNA, and just graduated December 2012. I'm currently working on a Cardiovascular ICU in a inner-city Level One Trauma center. This is the beginning of my seventh week(out of 16) on orientation and I can tell you that I feel that it definitely would have been beneficial to work for a couple months on med/surg or lower acuity floor just to get the basics down. ACLS helps a little, but I've found that realistic code situations are really different when it comes to CVICU because the patient's often just went under open heart surgery or have open chests etc when they code. Right now the main book I have been using alongside all of my orientation materials is Mosby's Priorities in Critical Care Nursing. I took a critical care elective during school and this was the textbook we had. It is incredibly detailed and the cardiac section alone is hundreds of pages so I would recommend checking that out. I would also recommend to make sure that you really good at interpreting rhythms and knowing the criteria and interventions for them. I hope this helps you a little bit! Good luck! :)

[marilynbaker]

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this may help :)

congrats!