From psych to ICU?

[Grogon]

Hello Nurses, maybe someone is in a simular Situation and can help me.

I work on psych since my graduation in Germany. While I was in nursing school I die my clinical finals on a neuro rehab icu.

It was interesting but difficult at the same time for me. After my finals I chose to go to psych instead of med surge floors and all that crap. In Germany its basically you get all patients and that wasnt my thing. I preferred icu cause I had 2-4 patients for the day and could do everything I learned in school all Kind of assessments. On med surge Germany is overwhelming. Most of the time I had to wash patients.

Either way. I was scared of being alone on ICU after school so I went for psych. In Germany I chose the "mixed" psych. Its basically mentally disabled handicapped patients with psych disabilitys.

Its getting stale, I feel like I am nothing because let me be honest. I do nothing nurse related. I talk and talk and talk and listen and listen and so on. I got no IVs I got no real emergencies. I do a lot of group therapy.

Example of a client:

54 years old, mental age around 6, needs help in every ATL ( washing clothes, himself, going to work, sleeping rythem, etc) and I badically Assist in Daily Tasks like go shopping etc. cause they cant use money correctly or just buy crap lol.

That wouldnt be the Problem if that would be it. He is also diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder and shiziphrenia, addiction (spending money and Media) lol.

Thats Kind of all my patients but I am working with them since 4 years. I feel stupid and worthless cause I only work with the same clients since 4 years. Sometimes a new one moves in and we start working with them so they intergrate to society and feel good in daily tasks. I just somewhat feel worthless cause its not hard as ICU or med surge. Like right now 10/15 clients are at work, the other 5 are taking a nap and Im like drinking coffee. I have stressful times, but a lot of downtimes

TLDR: My Main question: how can I get back to ICU without experience?

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

I'm sorry that your current position is not what you're looking for in your career. You are still early in your career, and while I'm not as familiar with the opportunities in Germany as here in the US, if you want to make a switch to ICU, you can be successful. Given that your current position is not in acute care, are there any hospitals that have transition programs to help nurses with orientations like new graduate programs? Some hospitals here transition nurses from long-term care or subacute rehab with similar programs. However, you may have to be willing to go back to med-surg for some time. Transition directly into ICU could be a challenge, both to get hired because of your recent experience and to get back into the swing of acute after a break. I hope that you're able to find a way to get into ICU, sorry I don't have much concrete to offer, good luck!

[CalicoKitty, BSN, MSN, RN]

I don't know how it works in Germany. In the US, you would probably want to get any hospital med-surg or specialty med-surg (telemetry/cardiac, neuro, oncology/cancer) type unit, then transfer to the ICU after gaining 6 months or 1 year experience. There is still a lot to learn in a medical/surgical unit, so it will feel like starting over (and then again in the ICU!)

Good luck!