CVICU Practicum and I'm so nervous!

[lcb]

Hi all you brilliant CVICU nurses out there! I just got my senior practicum assignment in the CVICU and I'm SO excited but also SO nervous. I've been working as an extern in the ER at the same hospital, and I LOVE it, and CVICU was my first choice for my practicum because eventually I want to work as a trauma nurse and I think this will be good experience (my hospital has an entirely separate unit for our Level 1 trauma, where I work is the medical ER and you need two years of experience there before you can apply to the trauma unit). I've been working on getting my ACLS and I think I can finish it before I start my practicum, and I'm also working on an online ECG course, but I'm really worried about the culture shock going from ER to ICU. In the ER, everybody's always throwing trash on the floor (yes we pick it up after the emergency is over -- usually!), everything is chaos, and I can't even get the cords on the portable vitals machines to stay untangled enough to use them -- don't even dream about organized IV lines! I have gotten to help with several codes already, and I feel reasonably solid on my basic knowledge of cardiovascular/pulmonary physiology (will brush up on that too of course), but I'm really worried about the culture of the ICU, especially in such a high-acuity/high-pressure unit as CVICU. Are the nurses as mean and snobby as the stereotypes say? Will everyone give me side eye if I drop a saline wrapper on the floor in the middle of a code? Will they act like I'm stupid if I can't remember proper medical terms for things and talk about them in plain language instead (which happens to me all the time)? What should I do to optimize my experience and learning and avoid the nurses hating me? Gahhhhh I'm so excited but so scared! 

[Lipoma, BSN, RN]

What was your transition like?