I got hired to the Thoracic ICU in a major heart hospital...basically my dream job! Interviewed with the clinical manager and just really liked her! The hours are great, the staff has alot of autonomy and gets alot of respect, the pay is blowing my mind, I LOVE cardiac stuff, I am WAY excited and very confident about pt. care, but...
I am SO nervous! What did I get myself into now?
I have LOTS of Paramedic experience, so not too much rattles my cage anymore, but there is just so many new pieces of equipment to learn about. The thought of all those monitors and gadgets and drips (oh my) are a bit overwhelming right now. The manager was very reassuring, and I will get lots of training and orientation (months of it actually), but in reality, do new grads do "okay" in an ICU environment?
I just had to share a bit here. I went right into SICU fresh out of nursing school too and have done basically nothing else but critical care ever since (18 years now). I could not imagine doing anything else and would not want to.
Just remember to ask questions, ask more questions, and then ask MORE questions. Question every tiny detail of what your preceptor teaches you. Make sure you understand exactly why she turned the Fi02 on the vent up to 100% when you told her your patient's lungs sounded like a washing machine and his Sa02 was dropping into the 80's. Why did she call the MD at 2am and hope for a Lasix order maybe? Why did she titrate the Dobutamine drip when his cardiac output started to take a dip? What does that fluctuation or lack of it in your patient's pleural/chest tubes mean? And don't stop asking until you are sure you understand how to apply what you assess to action.
Those are the kinds of things that ICU nurses focus on. We tend to be a very detail-oriented, often anal-retentive lot even. And one other bit of advice that others here also mentioned. STUDY, STUDY, STUDY on your own. If you have internet at home, after a shift go study the topics that came up for you on that shift and try to apply it to what happened with your patient specifically. These two things helped me more than anything I think and this is what I also teach my own new orientees.
Best of luck to you! With the sincere desire to succeed, I truly think you can do it.
What did I get myself into now?
Meressa
4 Posts
Congrats on the news of your hiring folks!
I just had to share a bit here. I went right into SICU fresh out of nursing school too and have done basically nothing else but critical care ever since (18 years now). I could not imagine doing anything else and would not want to.
Just remember to ask questions, ask more questions, and then ask MORE questions. Question every tiny detail of what your preceptor teaches you. Make sure you understand exactly why she turned the Fi02 on the vent up to 100% when you told her your patient's lungs sounded like a washing machine and his Sa02 was dropping into the 80's. Why did she call the MD at 2am and hope for a Lasix order maybe? Why did she titrate the Dobutamine drip when his cardiac output started to take a dip? What does that fluctuation or lack of it in your patient's pleural/chest tubes mean? And don't stop asking until you are sure you understand how to apply what you assess to action.
Those are the kinds of things that ICU nurses focus on. We tend to be a very detail-oriented, often anal-retentive lot even. And one other bit of advice that others here also mentioned. STUDY, STUDY, STUDY on your own. If you have internet at home, after a shift go study the topics that came up for you on that shift and try to apply it to what happened with your patient specifically. These two things helped me more than anything I think and this is what I also teach my own new orientees.
Best of luck to you! With the sincere desire to succeed, I truly think you can do it.
An Old ICU Nurse