IF I work part time, is "1 year ICU exp" still 1 year?

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The school I will be transfering to requires an AS in nursing as a prereq to their BSN program, so I'll have some time to work in ICU while I'm getting my BSN. Thing is since I hear nurses commonly work 12 hour shifts I can probably do only 2 shifts a week (maybe 3). Is this enough to satisfy the 1 year ICU requirement or are the programs going to consider it less because I'm working part time?

Thanks

Working with extremely sick patients, learning to prioritize patient problems, learning how to resuscitate a patient (not just CPR - fluid wise, blood wise, drug wise), learning to glance at a monitor and within a few seconds, see a rhythm, HR, BP, CVP, or PA and come to a conclusion to what the problem is. You need intense experience with ventilated patients, patients on pressors, septic patients, patients with bad hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys, brains, (though hopefully not all in the same patient!).

You are right - working in an ICU is very different from being a CRNA. But the value of the ICU experience is not learning how to recover a fresh postop CABG - it is learning to critically think beyond the obvious, understand the physiology behind a disease process, rapidly make decisions to remedy patient problems, and anticipate future problems and head them off.

I only worked in the ICU for a little over a year before anesthesia school started, much less than some of my colleagues, but I can tell you that when I am reasoning my way through a patient problem, I frequently refer back to my ICU experience with regards to the various pathologies I saw there. Not only that, you will find that in the ICU, you will not always have a physician at your bedside or in the unit. ICU nurses are routinely expected to make rapid interventions when needed without a physician present - you will often give dangerous drugs to a patient or resuscitate a patient without a physician there, and you must be constantly on top of your game.

Sorry to sound so rushed - I am on my way to bed and I am pooped! Got a test on Monday and I'm in the OR the rest of the week....gonna be a long one. I will write more when I am not so tired.

:yeahthat:

Exactly what she said. My experiences from the SICU and CTICU have been invaluble, both during the didactic portion and especially now in clinicals. Just make sure, when you start working, you take your learning experiences SERIOUSLY! Pop your head in rooms with the sicker patients with multiple drips. Ask someone to teach you the dynamics of the IABP/Swan/CVVHD/ECMO/VAD or whatever is available. And if you're lucky enough to work with some stellar respiratory therapist, pick their brains often about ventilator settings. It will behoove you in the end!

I mention "popping your head in the sicker rooms" for a reason - if you are only working part time, you will probably NOT be taking care of these patients in the beginning - especially as a new graduate. Think about your priorities with work and home life - it's only a year (assuming you get into the scchool of your choice the first time) and there are solutions for multiple problems if you look hard enough.

Good luck!

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You're right I would have less experience, thats reminds me of another question I had - What exactly do you gain from working in the ICU thats carries over to your job as a CRNA? I'm not a nurse yet so forgive my ignorance. The only thing I could think of is the experience of working with sick patients in high stress situations. Otherwise they seem like completely unrelated jobs.

Critical care gives you indepth knowledge of physiology, pathophysiology resusitation, drugs, care of a patient that is in a very vulnerable position, astute observation and electronic monitoring of ECG, pressures, ETCO2, pulse ox, BIS,etc. Instead of managing your time for 6-10 patients you learn to concentrate on a few and know everything about them. You also learn to integrate multiple parameters simultaneously and quickly make critical decisions. Take a look at the Core Curriculm for Critical Care Nursing and I think that it will be clear to you . It is faster paced and nurses take on more responsibility. Your question has really made me think. I hope that I have expressed myself clearly.

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Alpha 13,

One thing I think that you need to remember is that there is a lot of competition for the positions available. When you apply you may be competing againist people with 3 or more years of ICU experience under their belt. Something to think about!!!!

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Returning to the original question about part time ICU...

I know a guy who spoke the the program he was interested in applying and told them he would only be able to get part time experience before applying because he wanted to keep his Fire Dept job for its flexibility with school. What they did accept, and he starts this fall in that program, was 2 years of part time ICU experience. They stated that would be equivalent of 1 year full time.

I thought that was pretty interesting!

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40 x 52? No vacation time, no sick days, no training days? That is harsh.

I dont know if the schools get really particular about getting that year of experience, but one full time equivalent is 2080 hours. All it is is 40 hours a week

multiplied by 52 weeks. But three days a week with 12 hours per shift is considered full time for nurses which only comes to 1872 hours in a year. If your time in the unit is somewhere around there before you would start school, I would think you would be in good shape.

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40 x 52? No vacation time, no sick days, no training days? That is harsh.

I have been following the thread about new grads in the ICU. I was skimming articles that are out this month. I only read the abstract but you may want toget the article.

Hiring and Mentoring Graduate Nurses in the Intensive Care Unit.

Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing. 24(4):175-178, July/August 2005.

Ihlenfeld, Janet T. PhD, RN

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