CVICU to something new

[bhy7124]

Hello AN,

I am currently working in a CVICU and am about 1.5 years in (I started in their new grad program). I plan to stay through the 2 year mark before moving out of town. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions or experience leaving the ICU setting to move into something different?

I know critical care is not for me at this time and would love to explore another area. I enjoy cardiac care and was wondering if anyone has moved from a CVICU setting to EP or cath lab job and what your thoughts are?

I have also taken an interest in OR nursing but I know this is quite different and would love any input from nurses that have moved into the OR setting!

Thank you in advance for your input.

[Nursing4ever]

I know of an ICU nurse who then worked in OR and he hated it. He came back to the ICU. If you're feeling burnt out from the stress of the ICU, night shift Telemetry is pretty nice depending on the hospital. Try out different specialties by applying for per diem jobs and see what you like and what you don't like. The only way to know is to try!

[OUxPhys, BSN, RN]

Have you thought of going to a stepdown? You can still do cardiac care and if things become too critical you ship them over to the unit. If you are thinking cath lab vs EP lab I would pick EP. It's more interesting IMO.

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

On 5/14/2020 at 8:55 PM, bhy7124 said:

I know critical care is not for me at this time and would love to explore another area.

The answer depends, in part, on why you're leaving. You mention that you like cardiac. It would be helpful to know more about the things that you liked and the things that you didn't. There are so many opportunities that it's hard to make recommendations without knowing more about your interests.

Off the top of my head, I can think of tele, cath lab, stress test clinic, transplant coordinator, PACU. They're all great options, but all very different (depending on what you're looking for).

[Serhilda, ADN, RN]

I've never worked ICU, but cardiac tele was wonderful. It required a lot of strategizing with how on earth I was going to manage my time. Night shift had predictable downtime but everything else was constant movement. Patients were either doing great and bound to be discharged or you were with em back and forth all night. Little in between.

[guest769224]

I’ve done CVICU for 5 years and transitioned to Cath Lab last year. It has been a total dream. It’s a good transition because there is still so much cardiac focus. No families, patient is usually under conscious sedation (administered by RN), STEMIs are really exciting yet also stressful, we mix radial cocktails for heart caths, pacemaker insertions, etc.

It really is a cool and challenging environment to be in. Just like CVICU can be. Be aware that on-call is required. I regularly go in at 2 am for a STEMI or to emergently pace a patient (well, we did before this pandemic anyway). But the pay is time and a half when you’re called in.

You still have to use your ICU skills in Cath Lab and it is critical care. I know you mentioned something about that.

I also work Interventional Radiology and Stress Lab. Those are both high satisfaction areas with lower stress and challenges than CL, in my opinion. You could try for those perhaps. I still work CVICU once a week to maintain my skills and in case I want to go to anesthesia school in the future. Good luck!