Experience for Open Heart ICU

Specialties CCU

Published

I'm a new nurse in cardiac progressive care, we mainly get patients with CHF, afib w/ rvr, SVT, cardiomyopathy, endocarditis, NSTEMI, chest pain, and other issues that require tele - PE, GI bleed, alcohol withdrawal, we do drips - nitro, cardizem, amio, heparin, lasix, albumin. Lots of chronic patients with underlying heart issues, and many of our patients are very, very sick. However, we don't have post-op cardiac surgery patients, my small community hospital doesn't do cardiac surgery. I'm also planning to cross train to the general ICU at my hospital after 1 year to learn more about the critical care environment before moving on to a level 1 trauma hospital with an open heart ICU.

Here are my questions:

  • What experience did you have prior to specializing in the open heart/cardiac surgery ICU? Did you feel that it helped prepare you?
  • Would 2 years in cardiac PCU, and hopefully cross-training to ICU make me a competitive candidate?
  • Any other recommendations to eventually get into the open heart ICU?
  • How long of an orientation did you have, and was this based on how much experience you had?
  • Lastly, do you like working in the cardiac surgery ICU, and how does your job satisfaction compare to previous specialties you've worked in?

Thanks in advance!

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Specializes in Cardiac/Transplant ICU, Critical Care.

I work in a Top 10 hospital in the country and I started on our CVT Step Down worked there for a year and then transferred to tour Cardiac/Transplant ICU. I feel that the 2 years plus 1 year of experience will prepare you very well for a Cardiac Surgery ICU. Orientation was like 4-5 weeks-ish which wasn't actually a whole lot of time since I never had ICU experience, but they gave me the tools that I needed to succeed and flourish.

I absolutely love it on my unit. Reason being we get to take care of the sickest patients in the country and get to see some very fascinating and cutting edge things. I wouldn't work anywhere else as a staff nurse. :laugh:

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Thank you!

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Specializes in BSN, RN, CCRN - ICU & ER.

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Here are my questions:

  • What experience did you have prior to specializing in the open heart/cardiac surgery ICU? Did you feel that it helped prepare you?
  • Would 2 years in cardiac PCU, and hopefully cross-training to ICU make me a competitive candidate?
  • Any other recommendations to eventually get into the open heart ICU?
  • How long of an orientation did you have, and was this based on how much experience you had?
  • Lastly, do you like working in the cardiac surgery ICU, and how does your job satisfaction compare to previous specialties you've worked in?

Thanks in advance!

As a new grad, I started on a busy cardiac progressive care unit myself. After about 9 months, I transferred to a mixed ICU where I was able to do a mix of surgical, medical, trauma, and cardiac including open heart recovery. After about 1.5 years, I moved and accepted a position into a busy CVICU.

Depending on your comfort level and the acuity of your progressive care unit, I think 1 year is more than enough PCU experience to get you in the door to ICU. Take advantage of classes offered by your hospital. I took ICU classes while I worked in PCU that were offered in order to expand my knowledge base. My orientation to ICU from PCU was about 10 weeks. I took additional classes and oriented to open heart surgery after about 6 months in ICU. Best advice - work hard and gain as much experience and knowledge as you can! I was lucky and also had some great ICU nurses who mentored me and were great resources.

I chose to move to a specialized CVICU because I enjoy cardiac so much! For the most part, most outcomes are positive and you can see patients progress and get better which is not always the case in MICU or Trauma ICU. Plus once you have CVICU experience, you can always move to cath lab or EP lab if you want a change of pace.

Good luck on your journey! Seek knowledge and stay humble and kind to both patients and coworkers and you will do great :)

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Thank you so much! Great advice!

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Specializes in BSN, RN, CCRN - ICU & ER.

I just wanted to add that you will be thankful for your time in PCU because it really helps you perfect your time management skills! It really helps to be confident in your ability to handle multiple patients because then once you begin your orientation to ICU you can focus your energy on learning new material instead of having to also learn time management at the same time :)

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I just wanted to add that you will be thankful for your time in PCU because it really helps you perfect your time management skills! It really helps to be confident in your ability to handle multiple patients because then once you begin your orientation to ICU you can focus your energy on learning new material instead of having to also learn time management at the same time :)

That was my thought as well with starting in PCU. I probably could have gotten into an ICU as a new nurse, but I didn't feel comfortable or ready for that level of care yet. I know I will appreciate being able to focus on 1-2 critically sick patients after I have experience juggling 4-5 very sick ones.

Thanks again for the great advice!

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Here's another question: what shift do you work in the CVICU? Do days vs. nights make a difference for the type of care you provide, or the amount of exposure you get to various cases?

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