from medical floor to ICU

[lisajtrn]

sorry this is a double post I first posted in the MICU / SICU section before I realized that there is a general area.

Hello all

I am new here but have cruised around a few times before.

The hospital I work for has recently finished building a brand new facility and closed the old building that I have worked in for over 13 years. In doing so they have broken up the 63 patient medical floor into 4 different areas. I had stayed on this medical floor simply because of the people I worked with and not the back-breaking job that it was.

I have now gone to ICU and have been there for 4 months since we moved into the new building.

Just wondering how long does it take to get comfortable in such a role change? I am not totally uncomfortable but some things are foreign to me and I don't like not knowing exactly what to do. For example during a code blue, I have participated in many, usually doing compressions or bagging, now my role in that has changed and I find some of the code blues very crazy and confusing.

Just want to be comfortable in what I am doing again.

Any advice?

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

I went from ER to ICU a little over a year ago. I am just beginning to feel somewhat competent. There's a great book by Patricia Benner called "From Novice to Expert"

According to her it takes 5 years in a setting to become an expert. And she says that when you change specialties you start all over again as a rookie. So I quess I was an expert ER nurse after 8 years. Now I am a baby nurse again. This time in the ICU. I look forward to becoming an ICU expert over the next 5 years.

[lisajtrn]

Thanks for the reply. During my interview the nurse manager asked me how I felt I would manage going from being expert at what I was doing to being a novice. I now really understand what she meant.