Comfortable in ICU

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For those who started out brand new to the ICU, how long did it take you to feel comfortable and confident in yourself.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

a little over a year....

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Specializes in ICU.

I started CVICU straight out of school and I've always stated:

The first 6 weeks I wanted to quit every day.

The next 6 months I wanted to quit every week.

The next 6 years I wanted to quit every month.

After that I was numb to everything so nothing bothered me anymore. Then after 10 years I just started feeling ENOUGH!

;)

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Specializes in ICU.

I'm 1.5 years in and I can now say I feel much more confident and am really excited when I get my assignment and hear it's a 1:1 train wreck. I think I'm still appropriately cautious and will always be a question-asker, but I can really see a lot of growth in my skills and critical thinking. Finally. It was a really tough first year.

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Specializes in Trauma/Tele/Surgery/SICU.

At one year I finally stopped feeling like I should cut my coworkers part of my paycheck. At two years I feel very confident in some types of cases and not so confident in others. My stomach still does flip-flops when I am assigned a heart or a complicated neuro pt.

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