icu career advice

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Hey allnurses a little bit about me!

I've been a nurse for a year. I started out immediately in a level 1 CVICU. I worked hard throughout nursing school because I was desperate to be an ICU nurse and ultimately a CRNA. I had a few internships in a couple ICUs and worked as a PCT in one as well. I was ecstatic to have been chosen to work in the ICU of my choice, but I was warned that they only retain 3/10 new orientees they hire. A combination of my insecurities, lack of confidence, and also lack of support led to that unit "not being the right fit" for me after about a month into orientation. I was told the ICU wasn't for me. I was devastated. I felt bad for myself but then immediately started hunting for a new job. No point in being unemployed. I applied for all types of new grad positions and landed a position in a medical/surgical ICU in a community hospital (same city) where they believed I would succeed with the right training. I've been here for about 9 months now and doing well. My patients range from very sick (and Sometimes needing to be helicoptered out) to med-surg boarders. Since I'm new I often get overlooked for the sick patients with the machines (CRRT , balloon pumps). I still hope to go to CRNA school one day and I'm wondering if should hold out and continue to gain experience here and wait for the sicker patients to be assigned to me, or hit my one year mark at this hospital and move on. Thoughts? Thanks for reading

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Specializes in SICU,CTICU,PACU.

I would say if you like everything else about the job then stay. Do you like your manager, coworkers and schedule? Those things can also really make or break a job. Also, if you do stay maybe you should talk to your manager and say you've been here almost a year and want to be trained on CVVH and/or IABP and see what they say. If they are going to hold you back another year or so maybe it is time to look for a new job, if not then maybe you stay. Hope it works out.

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Thanks! We actually took a critical care course and were trained with the machines upon hire, but they are really about seniority here. For the most part the staff is fine. Everyone is helpful. I work full time nights which the shift itself I prefer, but my fiance feels like he never sees me.

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Hi just my opinion, coming from an icu nurse. I feel that as long as your work atmosphere is decent and you're happy, you should stay until you feel comfortable handling any patient population that comes through your units doors! Meaning you being the nurse that takes care of those really sick patients. And once you feel confident maybe consider going back to a level 1 icu before heading back to school for anesthesia! :) good luck!!

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Hi just my opinion, coming from an icu nurse. I feel that as long as your work atmosphere is decent and you're happy, you should stay until you feel comfortable handling any patient population that comes through your units doors! Meaning you being the nurse that takes care of those really sick patients. And once you feel confident maybe consider going back to a level 1 icu before heading back to school for anesthesia! :) good luck!!

Thanks for your two cents! I really think that's a great idea. I'm going to stick it out here for a while until I get very comfortable with the sickest ones, then eventually move on :)

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Specializes in NICU.

Congratulations on getting past the disappointment of your first icu.Experience is what makes a nurse,where you develop a sixth sense about your patient.You are still a new nurse,I would ask you to consider staying and learning as much as you can,getting first hand experience is always a plus.Then take the certification exam ,tie it all in,then apply for whatever you want to do next.As for you boyfriend ...chill.

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Have you spoken with your manager about this? I would honestly ask.

My unit tends to have a high turnover rate due to the amount of younger nurses wanting to be CRNAs and NPs. I was concerned once upon a time about being the "experienced" nurse, but not knowing how to do everything with the sick patients. He agreed and said it has nothing to do with me. I ended up getting some sicker patients and got more comfortable with them.

Now, I have days where I just want the medsurg patient for a break from the intensity of the sick ones.

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I suggest asking for the sick patients. Often times I do not assign sick patients to newer ICU nurses because I do not want them to be overwhelmed especially if I see signs that they get overwhelmed easily. When I ask a nurse if they are ready for sicker patients and they say yes, or if they outright ask me for sick patients to be assigned to them, that is a sign that they are ready for the challenge and have hit an important milestone in their ICU career.

If you plan to go on for CRNA, then you have to have the courage to ask for the high acuity patients so you can gain the experience you need.

The year before you apply for CRNA, however, I suggest either transferring to an ICU in a large teaching hospital or taking some travel assignments at large hospitals as this looks great on the application and will give you more experience.

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I suggest asking for the sick patients. Often times I do not assign sick patients to newer ICU nurses because I do not want them to be overwhelmed especially if I see signs that they get overwhelmed easily. When I ask a nurse if they are ready for sicker patients and they say yes, or if they outright ask me for sick patients to be assigned to them, that is a sign that they are ready for the challenge and have hit an important milestone in their ICU career.

If you plan to go on for CRNA, then you have to have the courage to ask for the high acuity patients so you can gain the experience you need.

The year before you apply for CRNA, however, I suggest either transferring to an ICU in a large teaching hospital or taking some travel assignments at large hospitals as this looks great on the application and will give you more experience.

Thanks for the advice. I took it. I straight up asked for sicker patients, first in an email to my manager. No response. So I come to work and ask the charge nurses. They promised me some sick ones soon, one in particular a patient about to go on CRRT. That patient ended up not going that route, so I didn't get them but I still haven't been assigned any sick patients in these last few weeks. We are very short staffed and we have new travel nurses getting harder assignments than myself, granted I'm sure they have more ICU experience. I applied to a nearby level 1 SICU on a whim and the surpringly enough the recruiter is looking to get me an interview. I want to (and need to) be challenged!

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