Is this decent experience??

Published Jan 8, 2008

2,155 Posts

Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.

Right now I am work in a high acuity PICU at a teaching hospital and by the time I graduate from nursing school in May I will have worked there for 1 year.

I get to do a lot of skills such as foleys, blood draws (central line and art line mainly), a few IVs, assessments (with the RN--I assess all our patients and have learned a great deal), suctioning, sterile dressing changes, I'm familiar with vents and the monitors and when to panic and when to not (lol!), I do ABGs, glucometer, I&Os, labs (urine, which tubes for what type of thing), etc. I've also seen a lot of things (death, art lines inserted, codes, how to vagal someone in SVT, etc). They sent me to a Basic ECG class. I'm very familiar with the normal pediatric values. I think I've started to develop a decent (for a student anyways) gut instinct about things.

I like the ICU but I also get really bored at times with it (can be very routine) so I'm thinking about the ER because I want to increase my skills and see and do a lot.

So as a new grad do you think my experience as a student is ok? I'm still scared to death to start anywhere though!

I could transfer over right now to the ED as a nurse tech but I really think I get a chance at better skills and assessment practice with the ICU right now. I know the ER nurse techs that I have talked to where I work mainly transfer patients.