Mayo Clinic Cardiac Surgery Heart Transplant ICU

[KO.SRNA, MSN, RN]

Hi guys! I recently accepted a new graduate RN residency position with Mayo Clinic (Rochester) in their Cardiac Surgery Heart Transplant ICU, and I'm very excited at the idea of starting my professional nursing career there! I've been precepting on a CVICU in California at UC San Diego for the past couple semesters. With that said, I think I'm in a decent position to transition to Mayo's Cardiac Surg/Heart Transplant ICU as a new grad, but we all know that the transition form student nurse to licensed registered nurse is extremely challenging especially in critical care.

I wanted to reach out to those nurses who started out in this unit or another critical care unit with Mayo Clinic at the Rochester campus to get some details regarding unit culture and getting through that challenging orientation. This would be a huge move for me, and it's important for me to gain a great learning experience in an environment that really supports their new graduate nurses. Based on some preliminary research I've done, I know that I can expect for it to be like I'm back in school because I'd have to study a lot (outside of work) and that there isn't much room for error. I know that this type of unit is no easy place to start your career in, so any feedback on any of your experiences particularly with the Cardiac Surg/Heart Transplant ICU (or other CVICU/CTICU/CVSICUs) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!!